Sunday, October 25, 2009

Operation: Carson Sleep Alone - Phase 1

I love being a mom, and feel like I am pretty good at it. That being said, I am by no means a perfect mom, but hey, who is?

Our biggest struggle with Carson has always been bedtime. As a baby, he loved sleeping alone, but would need a bottle to fall asleep. This habit started a cycle of him waking up at night with a wet diaper, we would change it, then he would need another bottle to get back to sleep, waking a few hours later with another wet diaper. He was 18 months old before he slept through the night (after we finally broke the bottle-to-bed habit). Once we tackled that obstacle, next was getting him to fall asleep in general. I went out of town some time around then and came back to find Carson sleeping in our bed. We were so grateful for him to be sleeping through the night, we didn't even mind having him in bed with us.

It's been almost two years of him sleeping with us, and would have probably continued until he was 20, had I not gotten pregnant. Our goal is to get him sleeping in his own room before Deacon arrives. The past month we have spent getting him accustomed to a bedtime routine, which consists of a bath, brushing teeth, and a bedtime story before bed each night.

We had a full sized bed in his room, but wanted to get him a twin. Brian's aunt & uncle exchanged ours for theirs on Friday and we decided to move to the next step of getting Carson prepared to sleep alone. We moved his twin bed into our room, so that he can get used to sleeping in a bed alone, before we move him into a room by himself.

Last night was our first attempt.

Carson was so excited to help Brian put the bed together, and really did a good job!

After the bed was put together he had to test it out by jumping on it...

What our room looks like as of now.

Teeth Brushing

Story Reading w/ Dada

...and Momma


After we were done reading, we put on the movie "Horton Hears a Who." About 30 minutes into it Carson said he was ready for bed and wanted to turn it off. He asked if Brian would pat his back for a minute. It was literally a minute before he told Brian to go back to "his" bed. And that was it! He fell asleep, no problem!

SUCCESS: Here is our big boy this morning sound asleep in his own bed!

The "Big Boy Fairy" left a present under his pillow: Blue Hairspray!!

Carson was so proud as he sported his new 'do at church today!!

We are going to let him sleep in his bed in our room for the next month, before we move him into his own. Please pray this milestone will come easily!!

1 comment:

The Norman Family said...

YAY! You go girl! My friend had that same issue with her son and she did the same thing - put the twin bed in her room and she literally moved it a foot away from her bed every day - all the way down the hall and into his room. It worked! Good luck!