It Has Only Taken Her 9 Years, but Estelle Finally Sleeps All Night Long In Her Own Bed: She Can Do Hard Things!

Estelle will turn the big 9 on May 4th. She has only slept through the night in her own bed a few times each year for her entire life until about two months ago. After spending a lot of energy worrying and bribing and consequencing I finally surrendered and figured that she would sleep through the night whenever she was ready. I put a pillow and blanket on my bedroom floor and told her to just lay herself down there. That worked for a couple of years until she decided a year ago that she would get in bed with Emma instead. While that did not bother me at all, Emma was not too fond of that arrangement. After a fair amount of understandable crankiness from Emma, Estelle was informed that she either needed to remain in her own bed or sleep on someone's floor. She has been more partial to Emma's floor lately, but after having slept in a bed all night she would rather do that.

A few months before she turned seven I thought I had the sure thing for motivating her. Destry had put in a sign at a salon and he agreed to put it in in exchange for services and products from the salon. Estelle is a girly girl and I thought that for sure she would sleep through the night in order to take a few friends there to get pedicures for her birthday. I told her then that in order for her to have a "friend party" she needed to stay in her own bed every night for a month. I had to make it long enough for her to form the habit. I knew that a week would not be enough for a long-term change in her sleeping habits. I made a chart and she slept through the night a couple of times. Then she threw the chart away. We have made a few other charts at her request during the last couple of years and all met the same fate. I think that looking at that whole chart was over-whelming and she couldn't do it.

Knowing that her birthday was coming up, she decided a couple of months ago to give it another shot. She was staying in her bed once in a while and marking them off, but she was not consistent. I told her that while I did not expect perfection, she had to be more consistent. If it took her a year to sleep 30 days in her own bed, she would not get a party. The goal was for her to stay in her own bed more regularly. She understood and decided that she could do it. She filled up her chart at least two weeks ago and is still sawing longs in her own bed--hooray! She got her deserved party today. It was all kinds of crazy fun. I tried to talk her into taking a couple of friends to do an activity, but she wanted a to invite a crowd. It was her earned party so she got to choose.

I am so proud of her for accomplishing something that was hard for her to do. She is fun and caring and growing up too fast! I am lucky to be her mom!

Here she is with whipped cream and m&m's on her face posing with her friend Sydney.  
Happy Birthday PARTY!