Old Habits Dying Hard

Lucy is a horrible sleeper. I mean terrible. By far the worst of my three kids.

I like to blame it on her November birthday. The boys, both spring babies, were getting the hang of the whole living on Earth thing while the weather kept getting nicer and nicer. They wanted to lounge around in their diapers at 3 months old, wear just onesies in the yard, chill naked for a bit after a nice cool bath. Not Lucy. For her it just kept getting colder and colder and colder. She was born the same weekend we saw our first winter flurries. Any Chicagoan knows that is not a sign of warm days, but (quite literally) freezing ones.

My teeny tot learned quickly that you can avoid feeling so darn cold (even in huge puffy blanket sleepers) if you cuddle up with mom & dad. So that was how she preferred to sleep, with us. Put her down, hear her scream, pick her up, watch her sleep. A nightmare for any parent.

Naturally, we went to friends and took their advice to put her in her car seat. She slept in that thing beautifully until she could wiggle when, go figure, it was nice and sunny June and she didn't care so much to be held by anyone. We had a wonderful summer with her sleeping so soundly, all by herself.

But here we are in September/October where the weather is chilly again and Lucy does not want to be chilly alone. We are seasoned parents, so we have covered all of the bases. Warmer clothes, calming bath, blankets all tried, all failed. She wants me, and nothing but me will do. The problem, I want sleep. A full night worth. By myself.

So, I introduced her to Laurie and George. Laurie, a long ago friend of Rex's, lives on this small round disc and sings sweet somethings to Lucy every night before bed. (She also sings really loud silly songs from the same disc during the day, but Lucy has not made that connection yet.) George, a curious little fellow, was a gift from Lucy's fave Aunt Lisa, Uncle Mike, & cousin Gretchen when she was born. He's been sitting in the corner of her room, waiting for the right time to be noticed for about a year now. His persistence has paid off greatly, as Lucy now cuddles with him whenever she is tired.

For the last three nights, Lucy, Laurie and George have gone to bed on time and slept all night with no complaints. At 11 months, I may have finally found a solution to this first problem in the life of my budding drama queen.