Sunday, January 17, 2010

Operation: Carson Sleep Alone - Phase 2

We have reclaimed our bedroom!!!


I haven't updated since we first moved Carson into his own bed in our room back in October. He has done SO well with wanting to sleep by himself and refused to allow anyone else to even sit on his bed unless we were reading a story to him. The "big boy fairy" also helped out by leaving small rewards (ie. Gormiti's) under his pillow every few weeks as a reminder for how big he is getting. We figured we would give him about a month or so to get accustomed to sleeping alone before moving him into his own room.

Over the holidays we put a lot of thought into what we could do to make the transition easier. We decided to get him walkie-talkies for Christmas and Brian's parents bought him a tv for his room.
On New Year's Eve, while everyone else was out partying, we played musical furniture in our house, exchanging dressers and beds from each room and hanging Carson's tv.

We thought it would be best to have the guest bed in his room at first, so that one of us could sleep in there until he felt comfortable sleeping alone. Brian was nominated as that person, and I enjoyed hogging our whole bed in the room by myself.

By his second night, Carson decided that NO ONE needed to be sleeping in his room, except for him. So when Meme & Pops came to visit, they had to use the blow-up mattress in Deacon's room. We didn't even try to force the issue; if he is ready to be independent, we were not about to stand in his way. We are going to leave the extra bed in his room until after Deacon arrives, just in case he regresses any.

The only issues we are having now, is getting him to go to bed at a decent hour without putting up a fight and once put to bed, not coming out 20 times. On the positive, once finally asleep in his bed, he doesn't come back out!

Today we made a purchase to help us tackle our final bedtime obstacle of staying put:
This is a reward chart, where Carson can earn stars for doing chores and such around the house, one of the items being:
We have once again bribed him with opportunities to earn Gormiti's (hey, don't judge...). Based on how many stars he earns during the week, he receives money for his allowance, which can then be used to purchase his beloved toys.

I'll let you know how it goes...
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Since I posted pictures of the other bedrooms, I figured I would go ahead and show you the final product of Deacon's nursery with curtains as well:

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