39…10…5…3…1
Sadly these are not the winning lottery numbers. If they were, I’d be really excitedly telling you that I am NOT moving to Kansas. I’m staying here and now going to do whatever the heck I want! Well, Royal did say he’d still want to go work at NIAR even if we won the lottery, so I’d probably still be moving to Kansas. But I wouldn’t be selling my house and I’d be buying myself a private jet. But it’s really hard to win the lottery when you don’t buy tickets. Hmmmmm… Anywho…. these lovely numbers are the number of time I’ve had to put Jayden back to bed. When I decided to convert his crib to a bed, I did a little reading in my sleep book. Yes, I have a sleep book, a fantastic sleep book! Jayden was a HORRIBLE napper as a wee little one. He liked to take 15 minutes naps, just enough time for me to take a shower, or eat lunch, or not really do anything. So I bought a book on sleeping and how to get your kids to sleep and so far the methods work great, so I read up on what to do when they are sleeping in a bed and get out all the time, because I knew there was no way Jayden was going to just stay in bed because I told him it was time to take a nap. Even though he promised me all he would do is sleep in his new bed. You saw the picture….
I haven’t had any troubles with him at night (fingers crossed) just during nap times.
2 days after I converted his crib, that is when all the fun began. I put him down for his nap, and it just happened to be on a day when I was deathly ill, so all I wanted to do was take a nap. A couple minutes later I hear the door banging. It was Jayden trying to get out. That day, I put him back in his bed 39 times before he finally went to sleep. The next day, I put him back in his bed 10 times, the next day 5 times, then 3, and today I only had to put him back in his bed once and he stayed there! Hallelujia! Tomorrow, maybe I won’t have to put him back in bed at all!! We’ll see. :)
well, i have to say, you tried to convince me it works and i didn’t really believe it. i think i just didn’t have the patience to make it through that first day when the numbers would be 39 or more…
if he doesn’t get up tomorrow i will still be surprised, even though the numbers are showing that it is very probable that he has actually learned something through this method.
hmmmmm, what have i learned?? will i take action on my new, found, very reliable knowledge?? we shall see, we shall see.
If this method does not work for you do what I tried once on my nephew Brendan. His mom was not very happy with me when I did this, I only did it once, but it did work. Brendan was out at Nana and Papa’s house and would not stay down for a nap. Kaylee was pretty frustrated, so I decided I would help out. I was not a parent at this time, but I thought this would be a piece of cake. I went into the room with him looked him right in the face with the sternest look I could muster and told him that if he got up again Uncle Bubba would rip off either his left leg or his right one, whichever he chose. Brendan looked at me with complete horror, laid down in the bed and did not get up. Kaylee was pretty amazed that I had gotten him to sleep until I told her what I had said. My wife, Kaylee, and their mom, Leslee, all looked at me with disgust. I thought it was genious. Later Rachel explained to me that if you make a threat like that you have to be ready to follow through, and I obvioulsy was not really going to rip his leg off, but he did not know that! I would never do that again to any child but if you are desperate, it did work.