Going to sleep

I’m ecstatic as I write this at ten minutes to 11:00 on Monday night. After a very eventful Easter weekend I feel like Louis and I have reached a good common ground for getting him to fall asleep. As Maria from “The Sound of Music” says, “let’s start from the very beginning, a very good place to start…”

Mary and I have been at our wit’s end recently trying to figure out how to get Louis to fall asleep in his own bed. The arrival of Leo, grandparents spending the night, and trips home to Wooster for Easter have thrown any semblance of a schedule off track. To get him to settle down and ready for bed we have been trying any combination of the following: bath, books on the couch, books in bed, singing in bed, story telling in bed, watching Discovery channel on the couch, up to make “pee-pee”, up to brush teeth, Mommy sing, Daddy sing, Grammy sing, Oma sing. Regardless of what we have been trying we still have to stay in Louis’ room by his side until he physically slips into unconscious sleep before one of us can leave his room and get on with our evening. Clearly, this has cramped our style and more importantly, our ability to hop up and take care of Leo’s two-week-old needs.

After a great Easter weekend with Mary’s family we came home tonight armed with some ideas. Mary’s cousins all shared different success stories on the same variation. Once its time for bed, after you’ve read the books you want to read or sung the songs you want to sing, the parent should tell the child it’s bed time and then sit quietly by their side without saying anything until the child finally falls asleep. I gave it a try tonight and although it didn’t work magic, I can see where Louis and I are headed in our going to bed routine.

After he and his Mom brushed their teeth, put on Louis’ pee-pee protector which is a shirt with snaps under the crotch (I’ve previously mentioned his problem playing with the pee-pee at night) he came into his bedroom, hopped up on his bed and we read three books. I kissed him, told him it was bedtime, and turned off the lights. He stretched out for about a minute and then hopped up looking for a hug. Without saying a word, I plopped him back down, head on his pillow and covered him up with a blanket. In no more than three seconds he flung the blanket off and tried to climb up to me in my chair. Saying nothing I put him down, covered him up, and… well you can see where this is headed. We did the up and down thing about ten times in a row, and he started whining more and more, “I want Daddy. Daaaaady. Daaaaady.” Finally, when he realized that wasn’t going to work he stayed lying down and played with his blanket. Just when I thought he might be drifting off to sleep, Louis popped up as fresh as daisy and told me, “Daddy, I go pee-pee. Go pee-pee.” Seeing as how Louis has not once gone pee-pee in his potty I knew this was a ruse and simply shook my head and placed him back down on his pillow. From there it was a few minutes of relaxation with different pleas of “I want Mommy” or “Where Grammy going?” thrown in to test the waters. After about thirty minutes and a few bars of Louis’ singing “moo-moo ma-ma, moo-ma, moo-moo” to himself he actually went to bed and I was able to tip-toe out of the room.

Now, granted I have had to go back twice while writing this because he has woken up with a start to find Daddy gone, but he is now snoring like a champ and should last through the night. I’ve been told that some people have had success scooting their chairs away from the child’s bed and toward the door a little more each evening until the ultimate goal of putting the child in bed and leaving them to fall asleep on their own is reached. I think I’ll move my chair a little farther away tomorrow night and see what happens.

Now, lest you all think that I’ve completely forgotten about our second born, Leo, I’ll share the following photos and let you know that he is doing great. He turned two weeks old today and is looking more and more like his big brother every day. Its been crazy to get to know a different boy with a different body, a different cry, and a different personality. I’ve spent the past two years getting to know Louis from head to foot, now I'm beginning to realize how unique a person Leo is going to be. Enjoy the photos of Leo, Louis, and the great family we are surrounded by. Just click on the two brothers for the full set.