Sleep chart

Welcome to 2010!!!

This month is absolutely insane for me with work commitments, but we decided to plan a special treat for ourselves at the end of the month - a semi-spontaneous trip to Disney World! I have a conference at Disney in June, and we discussed having Ryan and Ade come down to meet me similar to what we did when she was almost 1. I started checking out flights and plans, and between the excitement for the trip, and the realization that it would cost loss/be more convenient to go sooner, we decide to just book for the end of January. And, now we just have to wait 3 long weeks.

In other news, Ade had gotten back into the very bad habit of requiring someone (aka, mommy) to stay in the room with her while she fell asleep, and being on ninja alert for any move you made to leave the room, seemingly even after she had fallen asleep. This started roughly after I got back from Sweden, but I only think it was loosely related.

So, with 2010 came a new sleep rule - the sticker chart. I explained I would be leaving the room and she needed to go to sleep by herself like a big girl, and she would get a sticker in the morning. The book "Llama Llama Red Pajama," a gift from grammy, helped a lot. I explained that if she got stickers for a whole row (a week) she would get a new movie. So, the first night, after our normal routine, I explained I would pat her back for a minute and then leave the room for a minute. And we would keep doing that until she felt like she could fall asleep on her own. I left and went back in 3 times, all with a total bedtime of under an hour. The whole week she went to sleep by herself, though many nights did require me to go back in and pat her back for chunks of time. Last night she went to sleep all on her own the first time I left the room! Feels like it did when we were spoiled for a while there with 20 minutes bedtimes... We keep telling her proud we are, and telling everyone what a big girl she is. She is very proud of herself, and she got her first movie this morning as a reward.


On the blue side of 2010, the director we love at Ade's daycare was unexpectedly let go yesterday, and it breaks out heart. He has made a huge difference at the school. Now we are thinking about whether we might want to change schools when Ade turns 3...

A parting anecdote illustrating the heartbreaking things that kids say...
Me getting Ade out of car after school one day: "How did you get so big???"
Ade: "Because I don't know how to get little again!"
Waaahhh - I wish I could tell her how! My little baby!!!