Progress

UPDATE: Klaire woke up one time last night at around 11:30, I thought, uh oh...this is early to start! But she stayed in her bed! Ya Hoo!!! I went in, tucked them both back in because Grace always has to chime in and tell me the status of what is going on "Klaire cryin" and get in on the kisses and hugs, then I simply left the room. For the night! This mommy is so happy..and hoping this continues, that would be the best Christmas present ever! Sleep!

OK I know I said I wasn't going to blog about this anymore. But I lied, and trust me I'm tired, crabby and living on caffeine and you don't want to mess with me...ask Brian :). After another weekend beginning with no sleeping, no naps and completely out of control kids I was at my parents house just to get out of my house and a package came in the mail for me from my sweet sweet Aunt Jerri in TX. It was this book:
I thought another book of tips and suggestions, we've tried super nanny and although I think she's great and we use her time out technique, her nighttime thing didn't work for us...maybe because there are two in the same room, and it still included me sitting in their room. Anyway I leafed through the book and read exactly what the girls are doing. EXACTLY. He uses the graduated extinction method and does not endorse cold turkey cry it out, which also does not work for us at this point because they are too darn stubborn and will cry until the morning, I believe. He talks about the fact the kids have certain conditions that they grow accustomed to in order for them to fall asleep (he compares it to us needing a pillow to fall asleep, yes you can sleep without it but you'd probably rather have it and wake up at night without it). Somehow when we switched their beds me being in the room got included in these conditions...and I need out!!! To make this short I tried the technique which basically gives the girls the power to keep the door open, Brian switched the lock so we can lock it from the other side. If they stay in bed, door stays open. Get out of bed the door= shut for 1 minute, happens again then shut 2, then 3 etc each time after that allotted amount of time you go back in so they don't feel abandoned and tell them the rules again (it even comes with a chart-perfect for middle of the night when you can't think straight!). I tried it at naptime on Sunday thinking we'll just try this now instead of bedtime when hysterics are more problematic. Well it worked. It took two "rounds" the door shut twice (don't get me wrong they were hysterical) and they were jumping back in their bed and asking to get covered up...as long as the door could be open-they are totally smart enough to figure this out, and they did. They were sleeping in 10 minutes. Hmmm.
SO last night Klaire was up at 3am already an improvement from the normal 10 pm. I went in there told her if you get out of bed, the door has to shut. That's it. Kisses, hugs, tuck back in and I left the room with no tears. We did this twice, and she gave up. Went back to sleep. YAY. I didn't even have to shut the door the threat was enough! Now I'm not going to say we're "cured" but last night was better and I feel like we have a process to follow. I also had them watch me take the rocker out of their room. "No mommy rock?" That's right! I put it in the playroom so we can still rock when they are sick or sad...but it was too easy for them to ask for when it was sitting there.

So that's the recap...THANK YOU JERRI, for the book. I think we might be on to something!!!:)