So I think We've Done It!

So Wednesday night (day 3) was so bad that I was too exhausted to write about it the next day. Jane screamed in her bed for almost 40, Mars and I went in twice, and in a very no non-sense way, we let her know that we were sorry she was having a tough night, but that she was fine, and should snuggle up with her blanket, and go to sleep. The interesting thing is that she never really was screaming or asking for a passie, she seemed to completely get that a pacifier was not an option.

Finally after nearly an hour she got quite, and seemed to go to sleep around 9:45pm. The bad part was that she woke up around 5:15 that morning, and was then completely up! She was cranky and Mars and I were even crankier.

But that must have been a turning point because Thursday, Friday, and all through the weekend it has been fine. No crying before bed, and sleeping all the way through till 6:30am or so.

I feel nervous saying it, but... success, success, success. Thank you Dr. Holden, thank you Martin and Pareen, and thank you to all the mom's who gave us advice on how to get this done.

Now what do we do about Macy? No passies for her at all, stop sooner, arg! There is always something.

No Pacie - Night Two

So I can't say that night two went as well as night one. Jane asked about her pacie a couple times during the day, but then would say, "we have no more pacies, we gave them to the dentist." Nap time went pretty well, she seemed to sleep about the same.

But bed time was a different story. She didn't really ask for it specifically, but she seemed to just be sad and quick to cry in general. Though she toddled off to bed pretty easily, she was up again around 10pm, and just could not seem to get herself calm and soothed down. She didn't ask for the pacie, which I guess proves that it is good to just visibly get rid of them (in front of her like we did), because she seems to totally get that they are gone. She just doesn't have another skill developed yet to soothe herself to sleep. So she had some water, plenty of hugs and then we put her down again.

She talked herself to sleep, but woke up this morning at 5:40am (about two hours earlier than normal) and since bed is now much less appealing, she wanted to get up right away. Mars and I were pretty exhausted, but hadn't really discussed what we would do in the morning, so we got up with her up. If this happens again we are definitely going to insist that she say quietly in her room until at least 6:30am.

But once we were all up in the kitchen having breakfast, in the dark, she was so tired. She clearly didn't sleep well, and she kept crying and getting into trouble, and had had three major tantrums (which had actually been on the decline lately) and two "thinking times" (which are kind of our versions of time-outs) before we even left for pre-school.

The pre-school drop-off went well though, and I let the teacher know she may need a few extra hugs today, so who knows.

No Pacie - Night One

So today we did it. Though the big girl bed had not continued past the first two nights, we had planned that when Jane had her 2 year old dentist appointment that we would quit the pacifier, finally.

So the plan was, we go the dentist where Jane has her first teeth cleaning. Dr. Holden would tell Jane that she is a big girl who is too big for pacifiers. At the dentist they have a big baby bottle shaped bin where kids can put their pacifiers to "give to other babies who need them" and then the big girls and boys get to pick a toy from the special toy cupboard. We would augment this, by adding a special gift that would arrive from the "Pacie Fairy" (an idea we stole from our good friends Martin and Pareen) right before bed. We thought that bed time would be the hardest time, since it was the only time that Jane could consistently have her pacifier.

So we did it, and each step went off with out a hitch yesterday. At bed time there was a moment of great sorrow, but luckily the Pacie Fairy gift was a very snugly blanket and a cute pair of slippers, which were a great distraction. She asked to sleep in her crib, which we were fine with, and she slept all the way through to the morning, so...

After Day One the score is Brownsens: 1 and Pacifier: 0

Two firsts

So some big firsts.

Jane, by her own request, is sleeping in her big girl bed for the first time tonight. The bed has been in her room for months, but we weren't pushing it. She would hang out in it, cuddle in it, read books in it, but would always ask to sleep in her crib. Then she started sleeping in the big bed at Grandma Read's house, and then a few naps at Grandma Sues on the trundle bed, and all of a sudden tonight she said she wanted to sleep in her big bed. So who knows we will see how it goes. we told her if she wakes up, that we would put her back in the crib to help her sleep, but so far so good.

Macy laughed today for the first time. I wasn't doing anything in particular, I was just looking at her, and talking to her as I always do, and then there it was a little giggle, and the biggest smile. I loved it.

Mars leaves tomorrow to go to Los Altos for an over night, and it will be my first time having both girls for the night, and Saturday day all by myself, but I know I can figure it out. Go me!

Getting Ready

It's been a month, and a crazy one at that. The girls are funny. Jane is whip smart and totally hilarious. Macy is so lovable and very easy going, and that seems to suit us just fine. Mars is back at school, and been teaching for two weeks, I am trying to make sure I make the most of my time off before going back to work. The dogs wonder if we remember we have dogs.

Our past months included a trip to the hospital (including a 911 call, but everyone is okay) a trip to Lake Tahoe, my birthday, and a very sticky LA heat wave. I could use some time to myself, and sometimes a good day full of nothing to do, but I guess that will come (maybe a few years from now, right?)

As Jane says, when she wants to express the opposite of nobody, "Yes-body is here."