Naptime

I think I just won the "putting the toddler down" contest we didn't know we were having. I was cleaning up the kitchen after lunch, and Daddy was playing with Karston ... who turned fussy. Much resistance to the nigh-nigh suggestion. I called out my suggestion to set him down on his bed, but got some questions about those simple directions. So I walked out of the kitchen (Karston was headed my way), scooped up my toddler, and headed to his room. He stopped crying while I was walking there patting his back. I set him on his back on his bed, said Nigh-nigh, and walked out. He stopped crying about 20 seconds after I left his room. Daddy waited two minutes, said he was surprised, and headed in for a peek when I called him back. The way this routine works is that you must wait at least ten minutes before checking on the child! How do I know it's ten minutes? (Actually, nine works too.) When Karston was very small, I learned that after 8 to 10 minutes of nursing while asleep, I could set Karston down and he wouldn't wake up. Daddy thought he saw toddler eyes before he made the U-turn, so I'm glad he didn't peek any more. What makes it works is the non-negotiable aspect. I set Karston down, I tell him to go to sleep, and I leave. There's no coddling, no cuddling, and no mercy (within the first ten minutes). And he falls asleep quickly! I think Daddy was being too nice; but he is a really nice guy and a great daddy, so that's no surprise.

We're finishing the second week of putting Karston to sleep at night in his own bedroom. Initially, Daddy wasn't sleeping well because he was so used to cuddling Karston to sleep! And I admit, it felt weird to be able to pull covers up over myself. Daddy has to have covers, and Karston freaks out under covers. Even on a king-sized bed, the covers aren't wide enough to cover one person, drop down to leave someone in the middle uncovered, and then come up to cover me. So I wear more clothes to bed.

But this setting him down when it's clearly naptime, and he only makes noise for twenty seconds ... I could get used to this! It's worked for the past month, so I think we're really making progress on sleeping (for all of us). But you know, it might be my naptime too ... *yawn*

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