Sleep is something that always has been precious to me. I was one of those that would be in bed by 10:30 in college and it progressively got earlier since being out of college. I never truly understood the meaning of sleep deprivation until having children. Neither of my girls were good sleepers until around 9 months. Ella was a bit easier than Reese but she wasn’t sleeping through the night unilt 9 months. Reese didn’t sleep through the night until she was about 18 months. From 9 months on it was simply a matter of going into her room and replacing a pacifier, so it was really no big deal. After 18 months we had a newborn that hardly would sleep for longer than 3 hours at a time so Reese got ignored more at night, which ended up teaching her to self sooth. Sounds sad but I think it was for her own good.
Since 18 months though Reese has turned into a super star sleeper. She goes to bed around 8 and it is common that she will sleep in until 9 or sometimes 10 on the weekends, if only she did this before Ella when we could reap the benefits of sleeping in too. Ella would be up no later than 7 when Reese was sleeping in. It has been nice though because it gives us some one on one time with Ella in the early morning and by the time Reese is waking up it is time for Ella’s morning nap so we get an hour or two of one on one time with Reese as well.
However, Reese discovered that she can get out of her bed and open her door a week and a half ago. Reese has never even attempted to get out of her bed before. Two Saturdays ago at around 9 I thought I heard her calling me so I went and looked at the monitor and sure enough she was sitting up calling me. I went up to her room to get her and she said “Mom, I have been calling you and you not come”. So I told her that she is allowed to get out of her bed and open her door if she needs to or if she is ready to get up. Since she sleeps so well I didn’t think that this would be a problem. Well, she only napped for about an hour that afternoon before getting out of her bed, she woke up on Sunday morning at 7 and only napped for about an hour (she usually naps for 2-3 hours on the weekends) and each day she would get up earlier and earlier. By Friday she was yelling for me at the top of the stairs at 5:05 a.m. and she would be up for the day. She woke up one night yelling for us at 2:30, at which point we just put her in bed with us and slept miserably the remainder of the night. On a few occasions she woke up her sister by yelling for us at the top of the stairs. We. Had. To. Figure. This. Out. So, last Sunday I brought up Santa Clause and told her he would be coming with surprises soon but ONLY if she listens and obeys her parents AND if she stays in her bed at night unless she is scared or hurt. Since then she has stayed in her bed…until this morning. I heard her rustling around at around 5:45 this morning so I watched her in the monitor. She was searching for a pacifier but couldn’t find one in her bed so she got one off of her table. Then she was looking all around for Lyla (her lamb), she was peering over each side of her bed and then she found her in the pile of animals at the foot of her bed. She then laid back down. So I turned off the video and laid down myself. I waited a few minutes and then turned it back on…she was not in her bed and the room was illuminated. So I walked out of my room to the foot of the stairs and saw her standing in the landing with her light on. I brought her down to lay in bed with me.
I am praying hard that we get past this phase and that she again becomes a super star sleeper. Until then I am thankful that they are so loveable and cute because it erases most of my frustrations.
Also, last week I took Reese to the cutest nail salon that has little girl pedicure chairs. She LOVED it!
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