bedtime battles

Bedtime has been a real battle lately.  Yes, this is nothing new and this blog post is not meant to be another 'poor me... my child won't go to sleep... I'm so frustrated... I'm sure she's the worst sleeper ever' venting session.  A bright spot occurred last night.  It may never repeat itself again, but it's worth noting.

After an hour and a half of laying down with Adeline in her twin bed (some background... since the rocker is now in Hayes's room, our bedtime routine in the new house has been to read books, soft music, then lay down with her in her twin bed until she falls asleep, then transfer her into the crib for the night), Addie was still talking and wiggling up a storm.  She wasn't being bad, just definitely not being sleepy.  It was a pretty typical night... she would do things like lay still for a few minutes, start looking sleepy, then start talking about something completely random or wiggling around to wake herself back up.  One conversation she had with herself went like this: 

"Dada, beard."

"Insee (Uncle Lindsay), beard."

"Mama? Nooooo."

"Addie?  Nooooo."

"Dada, beard!"

Funny, but still... she was supposed to be sleeping.  It was past 9:00 by this point.  Anyway, I was so frustrated that I left the room hoping that Robert was home (he had a late meeting) and he could take over.  

Well, Robert wasn't home yet.  But... she was quiet in there, so I decided to let her be.  If she got up and played and tore her room apart, so be it.  I needed a break.

5 minutes went by... still quiet.  10 minutes... 15 minutes.  By this time Robert was home.  I figured I should check to make sure she was still alive.  (Geez... wish I had a video monitor so I could spy on her.  Come on Craig's List... help me out!)  I cracked the door and low and behold, she had pulled the cover up and was lying still, eyes closing.  She was almost asleep.

5 minutes later we checked again and she was sleeping like a baby.  Like a baby in a 'big girl' bed.  Robert thought she looked so grown up.  All I thought was "Holy $*&@!"  Classy, I know.  But seriously, this scene was totally shocking to me.

We debated letting her stay there all night, but decided not to ruin a good thing (she is mostly sleeping through the night these days) and Robert transferred her to the crib.

I know that it was probably a fluke and will probably never happen again.  I hesitate to even think it, but I can't help but hold out hope that maybe, just maybe it will work again.  Could there be hope on the horizon for a day that Adeline goes to sleep peacefully... by herself... and in less than 2 hours?!  Surely not...