For awhile now, we've had a tough time going to sleep. They would get slightly better, but then went down hill again. I think it started the night she got sick in her crib. I'll spare you the details. Trust me when I say, it'd probably freak me out from going in my bed, if I were in her situation.
When it was on an upswing, we had figured we'd try Operation Binky Removal. Zoe only uses her bink at night and in her crib. We had talked it up for a couple of weeks....talk about how the Binky Fairy would come, take her binky to new babies who needed them, and then would leave a gift. At first, Zoe wasn't buying it. In true Zoe fashion, she would tell us, "Only SANTA leaves toys!" After we explained that the Fairy could also leave toys, and even asked her what she would want, she requested a Rapunzel doll. You see, she saw the movie (her first) over Christmas break, and LOVED it! At that point, we thought she was okay with it. Zoe was a bit hesitant with the whole losing the binky situation, but she went with it...until push came to shove.
We set up a nice container to put the binky in...she wanted to cover it with a cloth, and as she did that, I asked her to say bye-bye to it, and to tell it to be good to the new babies it'd help. We thought that'd work...the Potty Fairy worked, so why not the Binky Fairy??
That night was rough. There was lots of crying, saying she was scared of the dark, etc. The next day, a Saturday night, she was so tired from falling asleep in the car, she just went right down without fighting with us. We thought we were on our way to success. The following night, Sunday....yeah, that was bad. Back to a similar MO as Friday. She asked for multiple stories, asked for us to sit with her, keep the door open, etc.
Monday night was so rough that she had a tough time sleeping, and then woke up at around midnight. Nearly inconsolable. I stayed up with her until 4am..at least I think it was 4am. That's when I finally made her shut her light and *I* fell asleep on her floor.
Tuesday night, we gave in. We gave it back. We need our sleep more than we needed her to NOT have the binky. Concessions were made...she had to send Rapunzel back to the Binky Fairy. She can ONLY have the bink IN the crib (not running around upstairs like before), and she doesn't get it at daycare anymore. She knows, when she wants her Rapunzel doll again, she just has to give back the binky. I have a feeling we'll be hiding the doll for awhile!
Even with the binky back, we still have had tough nights. She doesn't want to sleep by herself and insists that we need to be with her. Last night, we just let her cry until she fell asleep. It didn't get to the puking stage, thankfully, but it was still hard to listen too.
Tonight there was no fight.
And, yes, she's still in a crib. She loves that thing. We've talked about big girl beds, but she's not really interested. She did tell us that OUR bed is her big girl bed. Um, no, but we'll convert her crib to a bed when she's ready. Like, when she goes off to college at this point. ;)
