Bump In The Road

Between the end of September and mid-October, Cam traveled 3 out of 4 weekends and I think it's at least partially what caused a rift in Reagan's great sleeping habits. The same day Cam returned from his 3rd and final trip, we also had her 2 1/2 year check up at the doctor. He explained how 2 1/2 is the real "2's" and how she'll tend to answer no to everything and how we can help her get through the next half year with minimal frustrations, etc. That very night (as if he's psychic ... or maybe she listened to what he said!), I got about as much sleep as when she was an infant. Twice in the middle of the night she woke up very upset demanding to sleep in our bed and both times after an hour of attempting to reason (it always worked before!), we ended up in some compromise just short of her actually coming in our bed. She's asked this before and has gotten to on special occasion but has always listened to reason when we tell her she can't. There was no reasoning with her this time. She was beyond distraught about me leaving her to go to sleep and I wasn't ready for an all out tantrum at that hour. She finally reluctantly ended up on our bedroom floor when it became clear to her that I actually wasn't going to let her sleep in our bed.

It took a few days, but things have settled back down and we've worked out a new "deal". As long as I hold her hand for an extra minute and tell her I'm going to check on her "lots of times", she's perfectly fine with going to sleep on her own in her bed again. Phew!