The Sleep Wars, part 2

Night 2

Saturday night starts off much the same as Friday night. AJ falls alseep on the couch by 9 and is moved to her bed. Two hours later, she wakes.

It is a repeat of the night before. Thankfully though, this time without the horrid screams. Just normal, every day screaming, yelling and conniving to get out. Much the same pattern as the night before ensues. The only changes being this time I don't go in her room at all. The 5 minute interval is met with me telling her to go to sleep at the gate. This time also, instead of me even attempting my own bed, I just head straight for the couch.

It continues. 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 then 15 repeats. This time though, it only took 1 hour and 37 minutes for her to fall asleep, at the gate with Doggie and Blanket of course, but whatever, it's improvement. She does the usual slight wake up, call for me, and falls back to sleep after I tell her to.

At 5AM she's awake again. Stands at the gate "Mama, all done". Ugh! My cue to start the day. I get her out, she uses the potty, heads to the couch. While I'm getting her the asked for juice, she falls asleep. Sadly, I'm now awake for the day, while her and M sleep for another 2 hours. At least Sam and I got a good walk in that morning. (I did let M know I was leaving and it was up to him to listen for AJ).

Night 3

Fall asleep on couch, move to bed, awake and at the gate 2 hours later. Everything follows the same as Night 2. No horrible screaming, no real screaming at all, just the yelling and trying any word she can think of to be let out of her room. This time, it only took a total of 46 minutes for silence, and asleep at the gate. I begin to think that we may be on to something here. However, it's now Monday morning and M politely informs me that I look like a zombie. Thanks for that!

Night 4

Because of M's kind comment that morning, he generously offers to take Monday night so I can get some rest. I agree of course. AJ is half his kid, so the sleep issues are half his problem. Plus, he's been home the past three nights, he knows how the routine is going. Right? Um... well

I'm not sure exactly how the night goes. I know AJ wakes up after the requisite 2 hours of sleep in her bed. I know M gets in and out of bed a lot, but honestly I'm just too tired to care.

When the alarm sounds I realize M isn't in the room. I head to the living room and find him asleep on one side of the couch and AJ asleep on the other. I wake him up for work and ask how the night went. He said okay. That she was up every two hours. Interesting, since this hasn't been her routine for the past few nights. I then ask how he handled it. He informs me that he laid down on her floor until she fell asleep then went back to bed, and kept on doing that all night long. WTF!!! Where had he been during our conversation of "we're not going to sleep on her floor anymore". Was he even there when I spent the past three nights getting up every few minutes to get her back to calm down and hopefully fall asleep on her own, alone in her room? I try not to yell. I try not to get mad. But I have to ask why? Why would you ruin the past 3 nights of work? He replies "it got her to sleep and then I could go to sleep, so what's the issue?"

In the words of Charlie Brown AAARRRRGGGGHHHH

Night 5

I get home from work yesterday and find AJ is sleeping. It's 6PM and mother in law, who watches AJ on Tuesdays informs me that she fell asleep at 3:30 and she wasn't sure if she should wake her or if she might sleep through the night. What? You mean the kid who for the past 2 years has slept more than 9 hours consecutively so few times I could count them on one hand, you think she will sleep through the night? 3:30PM-6AM. Really? I wake the monster.

Anyway... AJ finally falls asleep around 9:30PM. Not too bad considering the late nap. At 10 I go to bed. M asks if he should move her to her bed or leave her on the couch. My only response is "why?"

2 hours later, she's awake, at the gate. I start off with my usual routine outside the gate, tell her to go to sleep, yadda yadda yadda. I take one step away from her room and the screaming begins. Oh thank you M for doing things differently the night before. Now she's back to thinking she can get her way. The whole cycle has started over. I've now stopped looking at the clock for intervals. I just lay on the couch, telling her to go to sleep whenever she stops yelling long enough to take a breath, and when she seems like she needs it, go to the gate so she can see that I am really there, do care, but will not give in. It wasn't as bad as Night 1, but it wasn't good either.

I guess I'll be on sleep duty from now on. I wonder if M planned it that way?