It Takes A Village

The recent daylights savings really wreaked havoc on my the family's precious sleep.  And, not being the brighest tools in the shed, we also decided this would be the perfect time to transition Mad Dog from his crib to a bed.  I know, I know...not smart.  Needless to say, it was an ugly couple of weeks.  My son, who was a pretty great sleeper...was out of bed a hundred times, would finally fall asleep from sheer exhaustion, but would either wake in the middle of the night and/or get up at the crack of dawn.  He was cranky and frankly, so was I. 

I knew I needed help when I was actually dreading going home from work and dealing with the never-ending bed time routine night-after-night.  So, I did what every mother would do...cried for help from my Facebook "friends."  It was either that or military school. 

Shockingly, I received over 25 comments.  For one, I felt better knowing this was a normal part of toddler development and secondly, because they truly did save the day!  I took all their advice but nothing worked as well as this glorious invention...

Let me introduce you to The Good Nite Lite.  Where was this in the 2,000 parenting/sleep books I read? 

In a nutshell, the night light is a softly glowing blue moon through the night which turns into a sun in the morning.  You can pre-set the times you want your child to go to sleep and when its okay to get up in the morning.  The first night, he was excited to get a new night light, kissed it goodnight and went to sleep.  (Note...this light isn't that good.  While we were waiting for the light to arrive, we did use some of the other advice we got (if you want it, let me know!), I just think this light sealed the deal!)

He woke up at 5 am the next morning and started screaming.  I used the intercom on his monitor (whatever, I didn't feel like walking up the stairs) to softly explain that he couldn't come down until the sun came up.  Although he did cry for a bit, he FELL BACK TO SLEEP!  The next day and ever since, he has been going to sleep without any issues and when he wakes up he chats/sings until the light turns yellow.  I can't help but smile when I hear him say, "Mommy, it turned yellow and orange, come get me!"  I am going to try and set it for 10 am on the weekends and see what happens...just kidding!

So, there is something to be said about it taking a village to raise kids.  I guess, as we enter 2010, the village now equals Facebook.  Whatever, I'll take it!