She sleeps.

That's right, Skylar is SLEEPING. By herself. In her own room. All night long. Thank you Jesus.

I try not to complain about her bad sleeping habits too much because she's otherwise a really happy, healthy, normal child. However, the last 3 months things have gone from bad to worse. It got so bad the last few weeks that she would wake up screaming every 45 min-1 hr. It would also take me an hour to get her to bed in the first place, often longer. I got lots of advice from people, most of whom had kids who were really great sleepers and thought I should just stick her in her crib, close the door and come back in the morning. That works for some kids, but I didn't feel like it was right for Skylar's personality.

Reading and applying sleep book principles became my part time job. I tried everything, from the No Cry Sleep Solution (including precise lighting to mimic the moonlight, correct temperature, white noise, music, memory foam toddler pillow that cost twice as much as mine, etc) to Ferber (the big guns!).

Crying it out didn't work. The first night she cried for over 4 hours with one of us either checking at intervals or laying on the floor by her crib. By the time we got it down to about 45 minutes we went on vacation. I wasn't willing to put either of us through that again. Honestly, I didn't feel like it was the best route to go in the first place but I was desperate. In the end, I think it only made things worse.

After wracking my brain for the better part of a year and praying constantly for an answer, it hit me last friday. She hates her crib, stop trying to make her like it. I called Micah at work and asked him what he thought of a big bed in her room. He was all for it. We took down the crib and put up the bed that night, and she was thrilled.

She loves sleeping in it. She even goes to sleep by herself. No fighting, no crying....it's miraculous. She went from waking up twice the first night to not waking up at all by last night. Every time she walks in her room and sees it, she gets excited all over again. She doesn't climb out either. I listened to her lay in bed and jabber over the monitor this morning until I went in to get her and I laid there thinking so this is what it's like.

Even better, she's happy all the time from all the rest she's getting! She barely whines at all.

Did I already say, thank you Jesus! Oh I did? Well I am having a revival right here in the family room.

Now I just have to teach myself to start sleeping through the night. I am wired to wake up at one hour intervals and I'm having a really hard time going back to sleep.

Skylar had her 18 month appointment today and she weighed in at 23 pounds, 6 oz and nearly 32 inches tall. Can somebody hit the pause button please?

I decided to follow her around one afternoon and document her life in pictures. It mostly consisted of weird toddler things like laying on the steps staring at nothing for an impressive length of time: Trying to sneak things in the trash can when she thought I wasn't looking:

Lots of climbing:
Sitting and pondering:

Eventually she caught on to me and started hamming it up:

I liked having a toddler before, but having a sleeping toddler is perfection.