So the last few months have really been a battle with Kai's new found sleep rebellion. Actually, I think it was only a couple weeks on and off, but when you're sleep deprived it seems A LOT longer. Anyway, right around the beginning of the year the child refused, and I mean REFUSED, to fall asleep on his own. I'm seriously shocked (and a little proud of ourselves) that the kid did not end up sleeping in our bed every night. It was dreadful. After trying every possible solution that any parent had ever given us, we finally discovered that if we held his hand for a couple minutes he would fall asleep within minutes and we could walk out without any major World Wars being started. For reals. Before this discovery it was HOURS (literally) of torturous screaming, putting him back in bed, more screaming and eventually leading to Brian and I getting into an argument on the "best way" to handle the rest of the night. It was ugly. So holding the hand seemed like a great compromise from all parties...until that little sucker got used to us being in there. It went from a couple minutes to some nights a full 45 minutes of standing there holding his hand until he fell asleep. Finally, one night when Brian was out of town for a game I had had enough. I had been in there for an hour, easily, and the child was still not even close to falling asleep. He kept tossing and turning taking big deep sighs. So I just took my hand and left. I was over it. After listening to him scream for a solid minute or two (no that is not a long time but when you are listening to your own child scream for that long, it seems longer) I walked in and told him "ENOUGH"...yep, I was pretty darn proud of my sternness. I gave him some snuggles and explained that Mommy and Daddy were no longer going to hold his hand, but if he wanted we would sit in his basketball chair until he fell asleep. So I plopped myself down and he was OUT within minutes. GENIUS, I know. After talking with Brian we decided we would slowly make our way out of the room in hopes to get back to where things used to be as far as nightly routine is concerned...currently we have given up the chair and lay or sit on his floor for a few minutes before army crawling out. Yes, I am quite the sight with my big pregnant belly doing an army crawl across his floor. Once in awhile I'll see his little head peek over the side to make sure I'm still there. It's really cute and he typically only seems to do that right before he rolls over and passes out. We've even got to a point where there are nights I tell him I'll sit outside his door and we don't hear a peep from him. So I know you're probably thinking that we're crazy, but guess what, we were LOTS and LOTS crazier when we weren't getting any sleep and constantly arguing over possible solutions. Trust me.
I tell you all this because last night, for whatever reason, I decided to check on our little guy before I went to bed. It's something I really only do when Brian is out of town. It just makes me feel better knowing that he is still all bundled up in his warm little blankets and snuggling his Jelly (his lamb) before I go to bed. So I walk in and this is what I see (see above picture). Yep, completely sprawled in the wrong the direction. Here's the thing though: I think I MAY have army crawled out just a little too soon and it looks, from the picture, that he had JUST checked to see if I was still there and then just decided to lay down and fall asleep. I mean seriously, that's what it looks like, no? I stood there and debated for a couple minutes on whether I should adjust the little guy, but in the end decided against it. Here's the thing...about 2 hours later I wake up to "OHHHH NO! MOMMY WHERE MY BWANKET GO?!" It was WAY better than waking up to screaming, I think I even smiled as I stumbled into his bed to help him get situated. And he fell right back asleep without any problems. Love my boys!!!
