Nolan was thrilled to get to sleep in this miniature rendition of a big boy bed. We put him down at 8 o'clock as usual, and he played and jumped and danced in the pitch darkness for two hours. Todd and I came into his room intermittently to try to convey that it was time to go to sleep and took turns wrestling him onto the bed (so much for being careful with my back!) Our efforts were thwarted once and for all when Nolan realized that he could open his door and come out and say "Boo!" to us, screeching wildly like a madman. It was all a big game to him...and Mommy and Daddy were losing!
Before Nolan's "Dance Dance Revolution" partyWe surrendered to the will of our wired little boy and brought him into bed with us around 11 pm, hoping he'd settle down. Finally, at 11:45 he fell into a deep solid, practically comatose sleep. We placed him in his bed and were delighted that he didn't wake up or cry when he fell off the mattress and onto the floor somewhere around 3 am. He had wonderful carpet marks all over his body this morning when he woke up.
Today's strategy for the bedtime battle is this:
- Wake Nolan at 9:30 am and only allow him 9.5 hours of sleep instead of his normal 12.
- Play hard all day and skip the afternoon nap.
- Pray that at 8 pm he'll be so dog tired he'll forget about the novelty of the big boy bed and fall quickly into a dreamy state of sweet slumber.
Todd also was online early this morning to purchase a "real bed" in hopes of luring Nolan into staying in it. We ordered a red plastic Lightning McQueen toddler bed that we hope will do the trick! All things "A-Queen" in our house are huge hits, so hopefully this bed will be the ticket! Wish us luck!
1 comment:
Oh wow, Charla, your story brings me flashbacks! I empathize! I can't tell you how hard it was to get Marshall to sleep in his bed. It was completely trial and error -we switched "methods" about 4 times - even got a lock on the door but then after a week of no sleep (night waking and screaming) we gave up. He used to fall asleep next to the door. Now we let him come out if he needs us but we lay down with Marshall until he falls asleep, which can take anywhere from 5 min-1hour! And most nights we have to hold his hand until he's asleep! Samara is ready to sleep in a bed but I have decided to keep her in the crib until she can crawl out - I'm not ready to face the bedtime battle yet! It's amazing how kids can out-endure us, isn't it? Let me know how it goes, my prayers are with you!
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