With special thanks to Jewel…

Tonight, for the first time EVER (at least that I can remember), Little Bear fell asleep on her own. As you know, it’s been a long road and I am sure, had we let her “cry it out,” we would have gotten here faster. Since my last sleep post, we put the side back on the crib. We started following a fairly strict bedtime routine beginning at 6:30 pm and ending with one of us sitting in her dark room as she fell asleep in the crib. To be sure, there was a little crying here, but it was angry crying, we were never out of her sight, and it didn’t ever last long. Sometimes, we would only have to sit for ten minutes, other times, an hour.

And then tonight, I went and stood by the door for awhile (channeling Supernanny again). She didn’t seem to mind, so I opened the door and stepped into the hallway. Still no fussing. I walked out and closed the door and… fifteen minutes later, she was out. Granted, she did take her pants off somewhere in there but you can’t have everything.

 

So there she is. Our sweet sleeper. It’s bittersweet, but it makes me proud for all of us. Proud that she is able to fall asleep on her own, and proud that we didn’t ever have to resort to letting her CIO. It only took 16 months.

Chatterbox

Little Bear has been talking a lot more lately. Often, she’ll mix signs and words like she does in the following video with “cook” and “bed.”

And an older one, because I think I forgot to post it earlier….

Enjoy!

Night time prayers

 

“God made the sun and God made the trees.

God made the mountains and God made me.

Thank you, God, for the sun and the trees,

For making the mountains, and making me.

Amen.”

Can you find a match?

Inspired by a “Memory” game at an overpriced toy store, I came up with this craft idea for Little Bear. I took 3x2 inch balsa wood squares from a craft store, 3x2 inch wallet prints of our close friends and family, and 3x2 inch scrapbook paper that I cut, Modge Podged them all together, and got these:

She is just at the age where she loves finding matches and identifying her favorite people:

I just feel like I have trading cards of my parents, etc. It’s pretty fun!

New family member

Remember me? I’m still here… sort of. This 365 thing is hard. Like working out but at least I don’t get fatter not doing it. Anyway, we welcomed a new member to our family tonight. We’ll call him “Other Dog” since I wasn’t very creative in giving Dog a pseudonym to begin with-hah! He came to us from a family out in the country who couldn’t afford him anymore. Despite being nervous to be in a new home, he seems sweet and everyone in our house likes him, even Shy Cat.

Dog is on the left, Other Dog on the right. Dog is a boxer-hound mix and Other Dog is a border collie-chocolate lab. Don’t they look cute together?

The pictures are blurry and on 1600 ISO but you get the point. Welcome home!