Yea! So today she got up at 5:10 and was super talkative and wanted her shirt off, etc. Every excuse in the book not to stay asleep. She started getting really upset so I picked her up and waffles her around the house to show her it's dark, everyone is asleep. We need to be quiet so we don't wake up daddy. She can be quiet in her crib if she doesn't want to sleep anymore.
She got quiet, I got her back in her crib and she started then softly talking, totally not going back to sleep, so I figured I'd try to show her she could do it by herself.
I kept it dark, walked out and told her I had to go potty and is be right back. I did, she was silent and I saw on their monitor she just stood at the end of her crib waiting. So I went right back in. Then I said I was going to get a friend for her (that's what we call stuffed animals). I brought her one, kept it dark and asked her who it was. She guessed right :-) we did this three times and then when she asked me for a hug (one of her new excuse to get on me/touch when not asleep) I asked her to hug one of her friends. She did and giggled.
So this worked for the hour we need to get to the candle on time of 6:15. When it came on we celebrated and she said "candle on, up on mommy please!" With a giant smile.
So that was good, but we were up an hour early.
I thought I'd watch her for sleepy signs and nap early but no morning cat nap (we APOP those in the car between 8:30-9 ish after really bad nights. "Let's go get breakfast tacos...").
Normal morning, not quite enough physical activity it's super windy cold out today. So we took a longer "little walk" before nap. I was aiming for an hour early at noon but she kept wanting to walk/explore, etc. I got her in her crib at 12:30. Likely too late, but no sleepy signs. She's impossible to read still unless she's super tired she just keeps winding herself up...
I just got her down. I did a mix of WI/WO and gentle removal with me sitting on the floor, as opposed to laying in the big girl bed, or sitting in the chair. I'm trying to her farther away from her, not in any of the old standard places in her room, while avoiding winding her up too much. It's tricky! She finally went to sleep at 2! It's still a great time for the overall day schedule. I figure we just get her in bed before 7 as per usual unless she only naps under an hour.
Ugh, yesterday was so perfect! She napped for an hour and a half in her crib! She rarely naps that long, and she went down in ~15 minutes last night and slept through until 5a. So I know she got enough sleep total for yesterday, but it kind of jacked our day today.
Any tips from this? I rarely do nap duty, it's usually my husband so that might also be what's throwing her off. Lots more mommy time than usual. :-)
It's so nice to be with her during the day as opposed to just the quick after work rush to dinner, bath and bed. Not looking forward to that again after the holidays. Next week we're back to normal with her in school (half day care at the church) and DH as primary for day, me working full time, and hopefully getting home a little earlier so we have more family time.
Ready for a new year!
