Routine's

Ever since Lenora was born all I've heard is "routine routine routine" well Lenora and I have never been in to routines. We like waking up late, eating breakfast on the couch, watching cartoons, playing whenever we want, eating lunch whenever we're hungry, and just doing what we please. It's always seemed to work for Lenora during the day but lately we'd been having trouble getting her to bed. For MONTHS we'd lay on her floor yelling at her to "go to sleep, lay down, and stop talking!" Sometimes she'd get so worked up she'd puke. Then after she finally went to sleep she'd wake up after about 4 hours and we'd have to put her toddler mattress in our room at the end of our bed in order for her to go back to sleep. Over the summer we decided to try switching her to a twin size bed. So in August we bought her a brand new mattress and moved her to her big girl bedroom! The switch went fairly well and she willingly went into her new room. 

Once she moved into her big girl room we started story time (prior to that she wouldn't sit still and let us read her stories, she'd throw fits because "she wanted to read". After story time she'd insist that one us stay and lay with her until she fell asleep, and again we'd end up yelling at her to go to sleep. Sometimes is would take 30 minutes until she fell asleep. Then again, about 4-5 hours later she'd wake up and DEMAND that we lay down with her. Usually we'd just give up and lay in bed with her just so we could get some sleep and then she'd sleep ALL night, but the second we left she'd sit up and yell for us. 

After about 3 months of that one night she woke up right when we got comfortable in bed and I said "enough is enough" I let her cry for 15 minutes and once she started kicking the wall I went in and just sat on the end of her bed. Once she stopped crying, all I did was explain to her why we needed her to sleep in her own bed my reasons were: *we bought you this brand new mattress, *decorated this room for you, *that mommy and daddy have their own room, and their own bed, *we all need lots of sleep to grow big. The main thing was telling her how proud we'd be if she slept all alone (praise has been a BIG thing for Lenora) There might of been other points but I can't remember. It took about 20 minutes of talking and reasoning, but finally she just says "okay, you go get into your bed" strange, so I left and went into my room and cried because she didn't need me anymore. 

That night she slept all night ALONE for the first time in MONTHS! That morning when I woke up I had had the best night sleep in a long time. I felt like a new person! When I went in to get her the first thing she says to me is "are you proud of me, I slept all by myself" and yes I was proud of her! To this day she continues to go to sleep alone, sleep all night, and wake up happy! 

I can get Lenora to do almost anything with PRAISE. All I have to say is "I'll be proud of you" and her face lights up and she is willing to do anything! 

Since then we've started a bedtime routine just to help get things done for bedtime. I LOVE it and so does she. Bedtime is a lot smoother now and we get a lot more accomplished before bedtime. I just made one up in WORD using clip art. In the bathroom she has another checklist that says "brush teeth, floss, and mouthwash." This checklist has been our savior with getting her to go to bed on time! 

I still don't like routines, but I do LOVE lists! Yes we do read FIVE books! We usually start her bedtime routine at 7 pm, and after everything is done it's usually 8 or 8:30 pm which is a perfect bedtime for her (especially since she doesn't nap!)