Big Things Happening Here!

I am a little embarrassed, but very proud to share the latest milestone has happened in our household. For the past year, we've had a little 3 year old muchkin sleeping in our bed. Leah has been in our room for awhile and we've been trying for a very long time to get her to sleep in her own big girl bedroom. Sometimes she would do it if one of us laid with her (all night), but she was very resistant to wanting to be in her own room....all by herself. She would often tell me how much she loved to sleep with me and that cuddling was her favorite. Part of me loved the cuddle time with my sweet girl (because I know it won't always be like that), but the other part of me wanted to regain the whole bed back. Every time we approached the topic with Leah about sleeping by herself, she would tell me she would do it when she was 'big.' I asked her what that meant and she explained that when she turned 5, she would be big and then could sleep by herself. Hmm - that wasn't going to work.

Ever since last year, Leah has been a HUGE fan and believer of Toby - our elf on the shelf. One day I told her that Toby would be so proud of her if she slept in her room all by herself. He would report it back to Santa and Santa would be so happy. (She is also obsessed with Santa). The idea of sleeping in her room was starting to cross her mind. For the next few days, I kept talking about Toby (although he had yet to make an appearance in our house...since it was only the beginning of November) and that if she slept in her own bed, maybe he would leave her a special surprise.

Leah finally told me that on "Friday" she would sleep in her room. So, that Friday, Leah she was all prepared to sleep in her bed. At bedtime, I tucked her and she told "she could do this." After about 10 different times of needing something and getting out of bed (wanting something to drink, having to go to the bathroom, needing to give me a kiss, wanting to tell me goodnight), she finally laid down and went to sleep. All....by....herself. About two hours into her peaceful sleep, a tiny little body came crawling into our bed. I was proud of her, but knew we had some work to do. The next morning, Leah asked me if Toby left her a present. I had to tell her no because she didn't sleep in her bed all night. I told her that once she slept the whole night through, Toby would leave her a special surprise. She seemed to get it. The bedtime routine the next night was about the same. She needed all sorts of things before she eventually went to sleep. She slept for another good stretch of time before making her way back to our room, waking me up to tell me she was scared. Ugh - would this ever work?!

On the third night, she did wake up again (around 1:00 am) and came into our room. This time, I decided to walk her back to her room and tuck her back in (instead of letting her get in our bed). After I tucked her in, she went right back to sleep and stayed in her bed the rest of the night. She did it! I felt she earned her special surprise from Toby. When Leah came downstairs that morning, there was present sitting on the couch. She opened it up and was so excited to get the Furreal Friends Unicorn! She started screaming to me, "Mom - look what Toby brought for me!!! He is so proud of me!" From this day forward, Leah has been a big girl and slept in her bed, all by herself every night!!! It took us a long time to get here, but she actually likes to hang out in her room now and will proudly tell us that is a big girl!! Love her!!!!