Dear Zoo

 

Out of the many books that we read to Elise, "Dear Zoo" is definitely her favorite.  Bryant has done most of the bedtime readings over the past few 2 months, but since I am taking over sleep-training now, I have started to read to her.  In "Dear Zoo", every page has a flap that you open that uncovers a different animal.  A few nights ago, I noticed that when Elise uncovered the monkey, she started giggling.  I thought it was random and didn't think anything of it.  Tonight, when I read it to her again, she started giggling when she uncovered the monkey and she even pointed to it and kissed it!  I wondered if it was a fluke, so I tried it again, and she giggled, pointed, and kissed it again!  I put the book away to read her other books, but then she started getting restless and was looking over the chair to where I had dropped "Dear Zoo".  She started whining and then I realized that she wanted me to read it again.  So I did, and she laughed, pointed, and kissed the monkey.  So hilarious.

Speaking of sleep training, I started it again tonight.  It wasn't as bad as I expected but the crying is always excruciating.  I put Elise down in the crib and she played for 10 minutes, not realizing that I was putting her to bed.  She then gave me this look like, "time to pick me up mom" and when I didn't, she whined and then full out ugly cried. I picked her up once and then at one point, I was hugging her while she was standing, nearly in tears myself. My mind was racing the entire time, second-guessing everything. After 10 long minutes, she eventually calmed down and laid down while I shush-patted her and she almost fell asleep. Then out of nowhere, she got up, was in the best mood ever, and then hardcore played for 30 minutes. Huh???  The last 10 minutes, she didn't even look at me, was kind of in a drunken stupor, and then eventually fell asleep. Oh, and during the whole 30 minutes of playtime, she held a plastic block, and is still holding it now as she's sleeping.

Here's hoping the next few nights improve.  Our sleep consultant recommended that we work on bedtimes first, then move onto night-wakings, and then lastly naps.  Praying that all of this works with minimal tears!