Success

After returning home from two trips in two weeks at the same time that Lilly developed separation anxiety and learned to crawl, naps were not at their best. (Not to mention, she was waking up 2-3 times a night.) So I can't help but celebrate our recent success in the sleep department!

Two days ago I got to work on helping Lilly learn how to fall asleep on her own again. I was getting frustrated because she would sit or stand up every time I laid her down, unless she was sound asleep. I finally realized I had to just let her sit up so she could learn how to lay back down and fall asleep. 

So when she got tired I put her in her crib with her pacifier (that's a different battle for a different day). Of course, she immediately sat up and then stood at the bottom of her crib and cried. I hate hate hate letting her cry, so I can only last about 5 minutes at the most. Then I went back in, held her, and put her back down. This worked for both naps that day. 

The next day she didn't cry at all! I couldn't believe it. I mean really, how did I get so lucky?! I peeked at her through the crack in the door, and watched her spend about 5 minutes sitting up playing with a pacifier. Then she started crawling to one corner and laying down, then crawling to another corner and laying down, until she found what I can only assume was the best corner and fell asleep. All by herself! I was ecstatic, to say the least, and she went to sleep in the afternoon just as easily and only woke up once last night!

I guess she decided that fashioning her hair into a mohawk during her nap was a better way to be rebellious...

This is seriously how her hair looked when she woke up from her nap!

Today, she cried for a couple minutes so I went back in once to comfort her. When I left again she protested a little and then fell silent. When I went to check on her this is what I found. . .

Yep, she fell asleep sitting up. And she had dropped not ONE but ALL THREE pacifiers I had left in her crib onto the floor!

I moved her into a more comfortable position. . .

And she's been sleeping soundly for the last hour. Hurray! 

Here's to hoping this continues. . .at least until we go to Hawaii next week. :)