sleeping update

Well, it has been almost a month of no pacifiers for Brooke, and I'm happy to report that we are surviving. Yay! I was pretty convinced that Brooke had given up naps for good after the pacifiers were gone, but it seems that she is finally back in the habit of taking a nap most days which is sooo great. Many of you gave me some advice just to stick with the nap schedule, which we did. There were weeks in a row without a nap, and I was tired. Brooke is still sleeping in a crib, so at least she couldn't escape during that time, but just hearing her talk loudly, sing, etc was not very restful. I haven't been sleeping well at night, so I have been counting on some rest time during the day.

Brooke has never been a huge fan of blankets or any comfort item except her pacifiers. I started trying to think of things that would help replace the paci and make her bedtime routine special. One thing we did was to give her a pillow to sleep with, she had never had one before and thought that was pretty cool. We also bought her this Glo-E bear that lights up and changes colors. It shuts off after 30 minutes. She really likes watching the lights before bedtime and it seems to calm her down. The one problem with Glo-E is that the bear is HUGE! It was only $12 at Walmart and I bought it online, so I had NO idea that it would be so big! It is 36" tall, so he just sits across the room on her twin bed. Not really the cuddle bear I was picturing.

Our other "trick" has been to use Brooke's new favorite thing as a motivation to take a nap. I realize that bribing your child to take a nap probably isn't best, but oh well...it seems to work sometimes! Brooke's new favorite thing is the show Wonder Pets. Until just recently she really didn't want anything to do with TV, movies, etc. Then she saw Wonder Pets, and she is hooked. It is nice to have a little distraction for her at times when I'm trying to feed Hailey or put her to bed.

Anyway, we were shopping a few weeks ago and Ken found this:

I couldn't believe it...two of Brooke's favorites, fruit snacks and Wonder Pets! What could be better! So if she takes an nap she gets a couple of these snacks afterward.

Hopefully we're back in the routine of her actually sleeping during the day, it really makes for a much easier afternoon/evening when she's had a nap! I'll keep you posted!

Now on to potty training and moving to a big girl bed...