One thing that had gotten really bad was Sophie's nightly visits to our bedroom. Sophie always goes to bed in her bed and very rarely fights us on it, but the sleepovers were getting bad! We are talking about coming in at 2:00 and us putting her back in bed at 3:00 and then being back in our room at 4:30 or 5:00 at which point we would just let her stay because we were getting up soon. We would tell her over and over that she needed to stay in her bed at night and that she was a big girl. We talked about when Maggie gets here she is going to have to be quiet and that Maggie may be in our room because she is a baby and we can't wake her. We tried every angle and nothing worked.
It came to a head this past Sunday. Sophie came in our room at her usual 2:00 and Klint put her back in bed at 3:30. We went back to sleep. She came back in our room between 5:30 and 6:00 (I was half asleep so I really don't remember.) She decided she wanted to sleep on top of my pregnancy pillow (Side note: This is the best pregnancy pillow ever!!! I highly recommend.) Well, she kept rolling off on top of me or on top of Klint. It was awful! Then, Klint tried to roll over and get away from her and banged his arm on the night stand. He just got up and went to the couch at that point. Sophie went and asked him why he left and he told her she needed to stay in her own bed. She came back and asked me if what he said was true and I told her yes. I repeated again everything I have said to her a million times. She told me okay and went back to sleep in Klint's empty spot. I knew that we hadn't gotten through. Well, because we had hardly any sleep the night before, we were really late for church. Another turning point for us in this battle...it was starting to interfere with everything.
Sophie likes to count down things and she really needs something she can physically see. So I made a chart to help her track her nights in the bed. I showed her the chart and explained that every night she stayed in bed she would get a smiley face on her chart. We explained again how she had to stay in bed all night and she could get up when we called her. She agreed and we hung it on the fridge. She has to make it six days in a week to earn a surprise (A movie from the $5 at Wal-Mart). Below is the chart.
Sunday night: Was rough! Sophie did stay in bed all night, but she had me up all night! At 1:00 she needed another kiss and a hug (as tired as I was, how could I deny her that?) and then at 3:30 she woke me up to tell me she needed to go potty. The next morning we told her we were so proud she stayed in her bed and didn't get in bed with us, but she didn't have to wake mommy and daddy to go to the potty. We told her she had a night light in the bathroom and she was a big girl and big girls go all on their own! She did get a smiley face.
Monday night: No Sophie in the bed! Woo hoo! Another smiley face and she didn't wake me or her daddy up for anything.
A friend, Jessica, suggested I order her an alarm clock that tells her when it is time to get up. I ordered it Sunday because I wasn't sure just the chart would work (in fact I am still a little skeptical it will continue to work.) and I thought I don't want her to yell to ask if she can get up when we have a sleeping baby in the house. This clock is really neat. You set the time and when it is that time, the clock turns green letting them know they can get up. I thought it was a very neat concept and one that would be easy to teach her. She is also interested in time right now so we can maybe start teaching her time with this clock. I'll update once it comes in on how it works.
So, two nights in and we are doing good so far. We reminded her again tonight about her chart and I hope that inspires her to stay in bed. Wish us luck!
Look at that face!!! So sweet! (And no, she did not wear this in public!)
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