The Last Hurdle

While I was on the subject of Keely last week, I meant to discuss a milestone that she finally seems to have achieved. But first, I must make a confession -- one that mothers don't always like to admit, and will often stretch the truth about -- in order to look like better parents. I am guilty of letting Keely sleep in our bed, and not just for a short period of time, but for years. She must have started shortly after she was moved into her twin bed, when she was just about 2 years old. I am not certain that she slept in our bed consistently since that time, but I do know that it had become a quite regular habit. You see, I like my sleep. No, I mean I really like my sleep (just ask my dad how I used to yell at him for trying to wake me up at 11 AM on a Saturday!). Keely always started out in her bed, falling asleep on her own. But at some point in the night, she would come into our room and I would pick her up and put her in the middle of us. Most times, I would have no memory of this and then would wake up hours later extremely uncomfortable because I am now squeezed on the edge of the bed because of the girl next to me. I was rather inconsistent about bringing her back to her room, and when I would try she would throw an absolute fit. I would usually cave and then we would end up back in my bed. I even tried a stint of laying in her room with her, but it was (a) uncomfortable and (b) I could not leave her room without her waking up so then (c) we would end up back in my bed again. It was a vicious cycle, and I really felt like it would never end. She would always wake up (for the day) in my bed, and there were very few nights that I could remember that she ever stayed in her bed all night. We saw the doctor for her kindergarten shots and she told us of a method to try. Keely understood what we were talking about, and kept telling me she could do it because she is a big girl now. But in the end, she had to do it on her own time and her own way. I can now proudly say that the past two weeks or so, she has slept in her bed all night and most of those nights, we have not seen her in our room until she either woke up in the morning (and by that, I mean 7 AM) or I had to wake her up for school. Even the nights that she has come into our room (now measurable because they are rare occasions), she has gone easily back into her bed and it's just one time a night. I can assure you also that I had virtually nothing to do with this new behavior, except that I became more vigilant about bringing her back to her bed. I wonder how long it will take me to get used to waking up to my alarm clock and wondering why I haven't seen Keely since I put her to bed :) And now that I have sufficiently jinxed our new routine, I will stop talking about it.