Well, after Dexter climbed out of his bed on Monday night, we removed the side of Dexter's crib to make it an official "toddler bed."
Tuesday night was pretty good. He laid down to go to sleep like normal, but it took some effort to get him to stay down.:
I sang him his ABCs and laid him down (as is our usual routine). Dexter tucked into his sleeping ball. I left the room and closed the door.
1-2 minutes elapse.
Dex: Opens door. Pokes head into hallway
Me: "It's sleep time." (puts him back in bed, closes door and leaves)
Dex: opens door. Pokes head into hallway.
Me: "It's sleep sleep time."
Dex: goes back into the bed.
Dex: gets up, closes door. opens door. closes door. opens door. pokes head into hallway.
Me: "It's sleep time. Got to get back in your bed."
Dex: slams door. stomps around room. Opens door. Closes door. Opens door. Turns on the lamp. Turns off the lamp. On. Off. On. Off. Closes door. Reopens door. (repeat for maybe 3 or 4 minutes). walks into hallway.
Me: (failing in my attempt not to laugh) "Time for sleep."
Dex: Giggles and walks farther down the hallway.
Dennis intervenes. Much of the above was repeated, except Dennis (sucker) offered to sit there until Dex fell asleep. (I'm sure I would have similarly caved eventually. In any case, Dexter didn't take him up on his offer.)
It took maybe another 5 minutes of Dennis putting him back in the bed over and over again, but eventually he stayed.
And after that, he pretty much slept through the night! He had one brief wake-up at 4:52, but he went back to sleep on his own.
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Wednesday night was awful. AWFUL. Lots of drama putting him down, then he woke up at 1:11. I heard him cry, then I heard his door open. I managed to intercept him in the kitchen. I put him back in his bed.
He got up.
I put him back down and sat there with my head on his bed. He tucked into his sleeping ball and started to go to sleep. I told him good night and left and closed the door.
Whoah. After that, he was REALLY upset. Wouldn't lay back down for anything. We went back and forth, snuggling, rocking, laying down, sitting next to the bed, you name it, until about 1:50, when Dennis took over and managed to get him to go to sleep after some rocking. (I tried that!)
Then, at 2:30, he was up again. UP UP UP. And not happy at all. Wouldn't lie back down. Did consent to a diaper change. (That might have been during the first wake-up. I don't know.) He asked for (and got) a banana and some milk. Then we tried to go back to sleep. No way.
Thinking he might be scared (why? I don't know.) and hoping to just get some sleep that night, we offered to let him sleep in our bed. He agreed but of course never even laid down once he got there.
Eventually, Dennis ended up going into his room with him at about 3:15. I don't remember what happened (Dennis - can you fill in here?), but Dexter was PISSED at Dennis from about 3:30 to 4:00. He finally fell asleep at about 4:30, and Dennis slept on the floor in his room. (Yes, we know that's wrong. But we're so freaking tired.)
And yes, Desmond stuck with his usual schedule during all of this, waking up every 2.5-3 hours to eat.
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We were pretty terrified of what Thursday night would bring. But it was a lot like Tuesday night. Dexter went straight to sleep with ZERO problems. I think he was pretty tired. He did wake up at about 11:20 and cried for several minutes, but he never left his room.
He woke up again at 2:30 but put himself back to sleep.
I heard a thud (I think) and 2 short cries at 4:00, but we didn't hear from him after that.
At least, we didn't hear from him until 6:30, when he woke up and came and opened our bedroom door and scared me half to death. I had heard him wake up, but I didn't hear him leave his room.
So, here's hoping for more nights like Tuesday and Thursday and no more nights like Wednesday. He's spending Saturday night at Grandma's, which is great but also kindof bad timing since we're trying to establish this new routine. Hopefully he doesn't climb out of the pack-and-play at Grandma's.
