Sleep Training

Client One is out of town this weekend. She left with my mom and went to Atlanta to visit with a couple of her Great Aunts. This is the first time she has ever gone out of town over night without me. In many ways, it is liberating. I'm back to being able to concentrate on only one child. Client Two is getting lots of extra Mommy attention. I'm actually getting some stuff done when he's napping, too, since I don't have to entertain Client One or feed her or (even better) clean up after her. But I miss that little booger, too. As ornery and exhausting as she can be, she's fun and cute. She also helps me out with Client Two, despite the fact that's she's only three. Some days we're just one "Keep on eye on your brother" away from a Supernatural episode. Okay, it's not that bad, but she does help to entertain him when I'm fixing lunch or using the restroom. The house is definitely quieter.

I'm taking advantage of the opportunity to sleep train Client Two. While they do not share a room, there is only a thin wall between Client One's room and Client Two's room and their doors face each other. Client One is a light sleeper, so letting Client Two cry for any extended period of time is sure to wake her up. She also tends to get very concerned about her little brother when he cries so even letting him cry it out when she's not trying to sleep doesn't work. She actually paces outside his door with a worried look on her little face. It's actually pretty cute.

Last night was her first night away and our first attempt at sleep training. I let Client Two cry for five minutes, then I went in and calmed him down without picking him up. Then I let him go 10 minutes. Then 15. Then 20. And so on and so on until it had been about an hour and a half. Then, I went in and rocked him for about two minutes and he fell asleep. Normally he would wake up an hour or so after going down, but last night he actually slept for about 3 hours solid. He only woke up twice, too, which is pretty much a record here recently.

I continued the sleep training to nap time today. His first nap went pretty smoothly but he was pretty tired. His afternoon nap was a different story. He cried for about an hour with me going in twice before I finally gave up and rocked my sweet boy to sleep. 

Tonight was night number two. I resolved to let him cry for 30 minutes before going in. He definitely had less gusto than last night. Last night he stood most of the time, screaming as loud as he could. Tonight he sat, mostly leaning against the side of his crib, crying and whimpering rather than screaming.The gaps between his crying got longer and longer and right as I was about to go in, he stopped. After a couple of minutes of silence, I poked my head into his room. He was sprawled out on his stomach but he was dead asleep. (And breathing. I checked!) I did a happy dance out of his room.

I remember sleep training Client One and it was a pain. Of course, we lived in an apartment so I was a little worried about waking the neighbors. I also was working with Client One and had to be up at 5:00 am so I had less endurance. She cried and cried and cried. One night it went on for over two hours. It was stressful. It was a little easier with Client Two. I love having the video monitor. It put my mind at ease that he wasn't hurt and just sleepy.

Client One will be out of town for one more night. I'm hoping tomorrow goes even smoother and we will be done!