My son, Keenan, is 18 months old. A week and a half ago we moved him to a toddler bed (crib with one side taken off) b/c he was attempting to climb out of his crib. It's been a less than smooth transition, with him waking up anywhere to four times a night, running to his door and crying, needing our help to get back to sleep. This has messed up his daytime routine, along with daylight savings time-- he's waking up for the day an hour earlier than he used to, his naps are shot to pieces, you get the idea.
I came to the boards and did some heavy duty reading yesterday, and in the afternoon after a failed nap attempt I took him to Wal-Mart where I let him pick out big-boy bedding (adorned with Elmo, who is K's god lol) and a pillow, and the entire afternoon I talked up his bed, what a big boy he was, he "helped" us make the bed, etc. He started showing sleepy signs around 6:15, which is an hour earlier than usual (gee, maybe b/c he's NOT SLEEPING) and was in bed by 6:50. He only woke up twice, once when he fell out of the bed and once at 6 a.m. DH put him back in bed both times, and K was back up at 6:30 or so, talking and fussing, but not outright crying, so I let him go until 6:45, and then we got up for the day. I tried to put him down for a nap about 20 mins. ago, and he's been in his room the entire time, fussing, talking, singing, walking around, banging/kicking the door, etc. I should just leave him, right? He obviously knows where his bed is and how to get in it by himself. My only concern is that he's cold-- I left his jeans off so he'd be warm under the blanket and have less incentive to get out of bed. Too bad it didn't work!
I want to make sure I understand the walk-in, walk-out method as well. Leave his room, start counting to five if he cries (not fusses), then go in, lead him back to his bed, tell him it's sleep time, and leave. Repeat until my legs fall off or he doesn't cry. Is this right? How long do I keep this up for naps? He *will* eventually give in and sleep, right?
