success

Well, yesterday was a huge day in our house. Jake took a nap in his bed and fell asleep all by himself and then repeated this incredible accomplishment last night for bedtime! In fact, his nap today was 2 1/2 hours, and he fell asleep all by himself again. He did fuss a for a few minutes for nap and bedtime yesterday, as well as nap time today, but tonight he went down without a peep! Hopefully this is the new reality:)

For those of you who have asked, we started the transition to the big boy bed last Monday. Last week was all about getting used to the bed and understanding that this was where he would be sleeping now. For the entire week I laid down with him and stayed in the room until he fell asleep. Then I got up, and he finished his nap. The first day was a lot of explaining, reminding him to keep his head on the pillow, and that it was time to take a nap. He initially tried to get out of bed to play, but I told him no and then popped his hand when he tried again (our method of discipline). That was the end of that. Thankfully he responds well to this form of discipline and understands we mean it when we say, "No, sir." His naps were much shorter last week than they had been, but he did take one each day.

This week I tried to leave the room and get him to fall asleep on his own without me in the room. However, I was not prepared for the onslaught of tears and terror-stricken face on Monday, and I gave in and laid down with him until he fell asleep. I was ready and had my game face on the next day:) Since he seemed afraid, I thought we would try leaving the door open on Tuesday and Wednesday. Needless to say, this was not the best idea in hindsight. I think he thought we were playing a game because he did not nap at all until I laid down with him (after more than an hour of trying). He would crawl to the end of the bed and get out of bed to peek around the doorframe to where I was sitting in the hallway. I could see the end of the bed, but he couldn't see me if he was in bed. As soon as I would say his name, he would scurry back into bed and lay his head down. Clearly he knew this was nap time and that he was supposed to be in bed. This proved to be a good time to reinforce what we expected of him (i.e. being quiet, staying in bed, and laying down). He made it very clear that he understood what was going on. All of this probably helped to get him to where he is now. I definitely thought this process would take much longer than it has. Hopefully this information helps some of you and answers your questions.

This is how Jake fell asleep last night. We moved him up onto his pillow before we went to sleep:)

And this is how I found him tonight. As you can see, he is still a very mobile sleeper and doesn't really use the bed like a bed:) All in good time!