Tearful on Your End

Last night I let Curly Baby cry.

And you know what?  Nobody but me woke up.

It was 11:30, he was sporadically raising his voice.  He had had a good full snack at 7:45.  I honestly didn't think that 4 hours later he was hungry.  He had gone straight to bed after that snack, and there are days where he can go 5-6 hours without wanting to eat.

And I was tired, SO tired.  I had only been in bed for about 45 minutes, just long enough to hit that really deep sleep.  And being pulled out of it by a loud baby was like swimming in syrup, I just couldn't get my brain to start.

But then the sporadic raising of his voice turned to whimpering and crying, so I got out of bed.  When I opened the bedroom door, there was Curly Baby, standing in his crib.  He started to really cry when he saw me.
In normal circumstances, I would've picked him up, nursed him, rocked him, put him back to bed fully asleep.  But after several months of feeling like this child really should sleep through the night, and a few nights when he did, I decided to be tough mom.

I laid him down, gave him his bear, covered him up, bounced the crib mattress a little, told him I loved him, and walked out.
I took my cell phone to bed with me.  11:42.  I was going to let him cry for 10 minutes, and then I'd go back in.  (I discoverd one day while baking cookines during nap time, that if I leave him alone for more than 8 minutes, he'll settle back down and sleep longer!)

I never looked at the clock again.  I woke up around 3:00 am to a dead silent house, smiled and went back to sleep.

Now, it is 7:35 and Curly Boy is still asleep.  So obviously, his deep sleep was disturbed a little (he's usually up by 7:00), but all in all, I'm kind of proud of myself for letting the baby cry.

Maybe now I can get a full night's sleep on a regular basis instead of only once a month.

Post Title from The Holiday