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My baby's growing up!
May. 16th, 2003 05:01 pmSomething unique, fantastic, and absolutely heartbreaking happened last night.
No, I'm not talking about Anna falling off the bed.. That was bad enough that I'm not going to talk about it at all for now...
...I was putting Anna to bed - something I've been doing more or less successfully for a few weeks now. We have a bit of a routine. I take her into her room, close the door, turn off the main (bright) lamp, and turn on a night light. We play a little, she rides on her rocking dog. She brings me a couple of books to read, and when it looks like she's ready I put her in the crib. Initially she lays down and snuggles her pup-dog, but will pretty quickly pop back up and complain (read: cry). I'll lay her back down a couple of times, but eventually I just give up, turn off the light and let her cry it out. She's usually asleep in 5-15 minutes. And she sleeps all night, so we must be doing something right.
The last week or so, she wouldn't start crying right away. Instead, she waited until I left the room and closed the door. She still cried for at least 5 minutes or so. She doesn't like being left alone, but it was the only way to get her to sleep. The last couple of nights, she would only cry for just a few minutes - just enough to let me know how unhappy she was at being left alone.
Last night... Last night, I was scratching her back and singing a bad lullaby, when she propped herself up on her elbows - I was expecting her to sit up and complain again - turned to look at me, flashed one of her award winning smiles, and said "Byeee!" I knew what she meant.
I stopped singing. Stopped scratching her back. Told her I loved her. Turned out the light. Left the room. Waited.
No crying. Not a peep.
It breaks my heart to hear to her cry.
I think it broke my heart even more not to.
No, I'm not talking about Anna falling off the bed.. That was bad enough that I'm not going to talk about it at all for now...
...I was putting Anna to bed - something I've been doing more or less successfully for a few weeks now. We have a bit of a routine. I take her into her room, close the door, turn off the main (bright) lamp, and turn on a night light. We play a little, she rides on her rocking dog. She brings me a couple of books to read, and when it looks like she's ready I put her in the crib. Initially she lays down and snuggles her pup-dog, but will pretty quickly pop back up and complain (read: cry). I'll lay her back down a couple of times, but eventually I just give up, turn off the light and let her cry it out. She's usually asleep in 5-15 minutes. And she sleeps all night, so we must be doing something right.
The last week or so, she wouldn't start crying right away. Instead, she waited until I left the room and closed the door. She still cried for at least 5 minutes or so. She doesn't like being left alone, but it was the only way to get her to sleep. The last couple of nights, she would only cry for just a few minutes - just enough to let me know how unhappy she was at being left alone.
Last night... Last night, I was scratching her back and singing a bad lullaby, when she propped herself up on her elbows - I was expecting her to sit up and complain again - turned to look at me, flashed one of her award winning smiles, and said "Byeee!" I knew what she meant.
I stopped singing. Stopped scratching her back. Told her I loved her. Turned out the light. Left the room. Waited.
No crying. Not a peep.
It breaks my heart to hear to her cry.
I think it broke my heart even more not to.
