Naked as a jaybird

I'm not sure how naked a jaybird is, but last night, that's how Aidan went to sleep.

But, let me back up.

I am pleased to announce that Aidan kept all 5 of her books last night. Excellent getting ready for bed, little bug!

(We have many animal names for Aidan.)

We are starting to get the getting ready part under control, but the actual going to sleep part is turning into a production. Last night we:

Snuggled in the rocking chair and read 5 books.

We turned out the lights and snuggled in the big bed.

Aidan changed clothes 3 times.

I put her in her crib, but (not a smart mommy move, I know) relented and we tried snuggling in the chair one last time.

I finally put her in her crib, as we were getting no where, and told her good night.

She cried while Christianne and I felt guilty and like bad mommies (maybe one day she'll read this and understand we didn't try to be mean). And I tried to comfort us by saying, "Crying is a natural response to feeling frustrated and not getting what you want."

After about 15 hours (well, actually 20 minutes), Aidan went to sleep.

When I went in to check on her before we went to bed, she had taken off her PJs and her diaper and was sleep on her tummy, legs pulled up and to the side like a little frog, with her bare bum in the air. A very cute sight, I must say.

I am standing there wondering how I'm going to get the diaper back on her because I am NOT waking her up. Fortunately, she was hiked up enough I could get one side of the diaper over her hiney and the other under her front and do it up enough to stay on for the night. Next, I tried to figure out if she was sleeping on a wet sheet. Fortunately, she's getting ready to potty train and has a bit better bladder control, so the bed was dry. I don't know what I would have done if it wasn't.

(Don't worry, Aidan, I wouldn't have let you sleep in a pee soaked bed. I promise.)

This morning, it was evident that the diaper had leaked some, but overall, it was all good.

Our new plan is she has 20 minutes to go to sleep and after 20 minutes she goes into the crib, asleep or not and then we only go back in if it sounds like she's so upset she's about to have a psychotic break. I'm not sure those are the exact words we used, but that's the gist of it.

I'm sure part of this is related to the fact that the pacifier has gone bye-bye. It really helped her gear down from the day. She's only asked for it once since it disappeared, for which I am grateful. However, I'm eager for some more self-soothing skills to kick in! We've got evening things tonight and tomorrow, so we probably won't get a chance to implement the plan until Monday. We'll see how it goes.