Sleep

Sleep has always been an issue for us with Isaiah. First born, he wouldn't sleep unless held. Then at 4 months we flipped him over to his stomach and he slept through the night all on his own. He did great until 8 months when he started waking and wanted to be held. Of course, I picked him up and held him. Then sleep training at 9 months, no too bad, and he slept through the night again. But then as I'm sure most who have had to sleep train can tell you, any interruption, a vacation, illness, whatever, and you are back at square one. Sleeping well, sleep training. Sleeping well, sleep training. It's the worst. I want to say it wasn't until Isaiah was 2 that we really had sleeping down and were confident and comfortable with his sleep. As I tell anyone, I never like to talk about Isaiah's sleep because it never fails that as soon as I get comfortable enough to say that Isaiah is a great sleeper, that very night, he will wake and start off on another difficult period. This has literally happened to me four times. The very night on the same day that I have opened my big mouth to talk about good sleep and it's over. So, why this post? Remember when I posted about Isaiah's big boy bed? I waited a good two weeks at least before I uttered a word on this blog because I wanted to be sure that he was truly doing great and sleeping well and through the night. What happened the night I clicked post on that blog? You guessed it. He woke up at 1AM and threw up (isolated incident, had a cold but nothing else). Since then, we haven't had a full night's sleep without him getting out of bed to come into our room and it's been the last few weeks that he's actually managed to weasel his way into our bed too. I will say though, to his credit, he was a champion sleeper all through the critical months with Nolan. He slept through Nolan crying and waking every three hours or sooner to eat. But as soon as Nolan figured out his night sleeping, Isaiah's got disturbed. I write this post because I want documentation. And it is with a happy but also slightly sad heart that I write, the crib has been put back together. No more big boy bed. It's been a while now that he's scared to be in his room alone. And when the lights are out, everything becomes a monster. His toys, his light on the ceiling. He even told me one night (before he had the big boy bed) that he just has to cover his face with his squares and then the monsters can't get him. We were having such a good stretch of good sleeping, I thought it was a good time to transition to the big boy bed. It's clear to us now, we may have jumped the gun. I think that crib is a comfort zone for him. He feels safe and enclosed. He actually looked happy and relieved tonight when he saw it. I'm curious to see if he makes it through the night tonight without waking us up. I don't know how many three year olds still sleep in a crib and I wonder how long he'll be in there. He has never attempted to climb out, nor does he seem interested in trying. But if it gets me my night of sleep back, I'm willing to let him stay in there as long as he wants! And don't expect a follow up on this blog. You can assume no news is good news, because if having the crib back works, you won't hear me utter a word!