Night 1

We have recently started the "big girl bed" switch and we were running into some major snags. Wouldn't go to sleep with out Ted or I in there with her, up 3-4 times throughout the night, and waking at the BUTT CRACK of dawn - which is SO not our daughter. So nights are exhausting and days are even more difficult as she is beyond tired and grumpy. After talking with Kori and Nikki yesterday I decided the only way to overcome our night time issues was to let her start crying it out. We had dinner plans with my small group bible study last night so Teagan stayed home with a babysitter. I told her not to worry about putting her to sleep - that we would try and be home as soon as we could. After dinner Ted and I ran to the store and purchased a child lock for the outside of her bedroom door. When we got home Ted installed the lock and we began her bedtime routine. When we were getting to the last book I left Ted on his own knowing that I would be too emotional after the day we had had. So I ventured to the kitchen, got a bowl of starbucks java chip ice cream, crawled into bed (video monitor on - sound off... so I could see, not hear) and began watching the bachelorette. Ted explained that he was leaving, that we loved her, and that she could not come out of her room.

Then the crying began... on the screen you can see her gather her blankets and jump out of bed... then you hear the door rattle... she realizes "crap, i think i'm seriously stuck in here.... then the screaming begins. I can see in the monitor that she had turned the lights on, but I couldn't see where she was or what she was doing. SHOCKINGLY enough, the crying was off and on (with an occasional beating on the door) for only 20 min. When it stopped the lights were still on and her bed was still empty... so we waited a good while and then like two overly obsessed parents we tip toed to the hallway, crawled down the hall, and peaked under the door. Ted unlocked the door and for a minute had me panicked as he couldn't find her... then we saw this.

Now, I know I am 34 weeks pregnant, tired and overly emotional. But this just made me sob! For several reasons. #1 ~ because she looks so big. #2 ~ Because I know that in her anger she gathered her blankets and thought "I am just gonna sit here until they come get me". #3 ~ Because I was so happy that this all happened in 20 min as opposed to 2 hours. #4~ Cause she is just so dang precious. So Ted lifted her into bed - she never made a peep. At 6am she woke up, went to the door, realized it was locked and never made a peep. 3 hours later she is still sleeping in her room. I KNEW that this little girl needed more sleep than she was getting... Thanks Nikki and Kori for convincing me it is ok to show a little tough love and lock the door. For all you that are freaking out that we tried this approach the door is now unlocked and open so that when she wakes up she can come running out. :)

Now we will see how nap time goes...