For those of you in the inner circle of our personal triumphs and failures, which are very few lately, since I have been so swamped with work, that I haven't talked to any of you, are familiar with the issues we've been going through with Lyla sleeping. With the heaviness of work at day job, and the massive amount of work I have had for Fold between events and custom orders, I have already been coming home late, then working until 1:30 or 2:00 a.m. to keep up. So, Lyla not going to sleep has not been easy. Especially since we never really went through the not sleeping phase with her. She always slept. Now, I feel like we have a newborn. Either she's up until 11, or she's up a million times in the night. All scenarios end with her not staying in her room/bed.
For those that don't know the events as they occurred, let me briefly take you through it:
1. Lyla was born two years and three months ago, and from the tender age of three weeks, she slept through the night until two months ago.
2. To days before vacation, she woke up with what seemed like a bad dream. Scared, clutching us, we took her out of her crib, and held her for a few minutes, then put her peacefully back into her crib.
3. Vacation-Sleeps like the wee angel she (was). No issues, nothing but a few routine wake-ups, she's a jem.
4. Day one home from vacation, and she screams bloody murder in the crib when we try to put her down. She also started school at this time which wasn't easy for her, so I thought maybe it's all related. So many new things, new kids, new peeps. I would be pissed too.
5. Next two weeks continue, and we start troubleshooting every solution under the sun to figure out why she suddenly won't go down. Enter night lights, stuffed animals, singing, lights on, door open, fall asleep in our room first then to crib, turtle milky way light, new songs, new books, vaporizer, blow-up mattress on floor, Dora sheets (which were at least well received), big girl bed, sitting with her until she fell asleep...
Sitting with her until she fell asleep became the new norm, since I refused to let her a. sleep in our bed, b. fall asleep elsewhere in the house c.scream for five hours, which is what she did when we let her "cry it out" in her crib.
Well, at first it wasn't bad. We'd wait in there for a few mins, and then slip out. Then, the time in there got longer and longer, and her ability to sense us leaving got greater. She would be dead asleep, and I would sneak out, but if a bone cracked in my ankle, or a floor board would creak, she would wake up and call for me/us. So, we would have to wait until she was so out of it that the noise of leaving (which is not loud!) wouldn't wake her up. The funny thing is, she takes a nap for our nanny every day without issue. She also slept at my parent's house in her own bed without issue. Of course, it's only with us that this occurs.
Well, after a month and a half of almost an hour and a half each night in her room, and about 500 games of Word Mole on my Blackberry to keep me entertained in there on the chair (high score of 2001 suckas), we realized it was no longer fear but manipulation on her part.
So, two weeks ago we decided to do boot camp. I figured it would take four to five days max to shake this. Well, two weeks later, we're no closer to her staying in her bed. She is up until 10:30 or 11 each night, once she was up until midnight chatting it up with us downstairs and yelling, "Go Ravens" during Monday Night Football. (Did I mention Lyla knows almost all the starters' names for the Ravens?)
The little thing puts on this voice, and says things like, "Hey Mommy, can you sing the mountain song or a lullaby, " "Can you hold my hand," "Can you sit in the chair," etc. She's super cute, and it's so hard to resist her, and over the past two weeks we have caved, and patted her on the back, or stayed in a few minutes for her to go down. She's like Edward. I know he wants to suck my blood, and potentially kill me, but I give in to him anyway. Lyla is the same. She is so charming (and pale for that matter). However, doing that hasn't helped the departure each night. So, twice, I have done the full blown Super Nanny approach. I put her back in the bed the first few times and console her. (side note is we had a gate in her doorway and the stairs of which she scaled both, so we have since taken both away, and she can just climb in and out of her bed now). Then, I just don't talk to her, and I simply put her back in the bed. Of course, as soon as I put her in, she climbs right out. Then the pleading and little voicing ensues. She usually will sit in her doorway or the hallway and calm down, but she never goes back into her bed. Monday night she started singing jingle bells (btw, the kid has perfect pitch), last night it was Mary Had a Little Lamb, last week it was a full story about a pink dinosaur. Last night, I kept a tally, and I put her back in 21 times. I finally let her be in the doorway, and she proceeded to put her blankie down on the floor, lay on it, and fall asleep. This is the second boot camp night she's done this. She absolutely refuses to stay in her bed, but will sleep on the floor in the doorway without issue.
So, I thought I would share this sight with all of you.
For all of the screaming, crying, late nights, no down time for us, frustration, and of course concern you feel when going through this, you have to stop and grin at how precious she can be when she finally throws in the towel. And look at those legs! They go on for miles.
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