Ghost has always been the kind of dog, who is shall we say- excited about food. Keska has her quirks (some may say faults) but she is not a beggar, motivated only by her bizarre inner workings, never by food. We are used to Ghost, often without appearing to move at all, suddenly be very present underfoot when we are eating. This week he was joined with equal intensity by James who now finds it great entertainment to watch us put things in our mouths.
In other news, we began earnest sleep training this week after we realized James' sleep patterns were becoming a bit unrealistic. They (you know who you are) say to begin much earlier, but with two pretty flexible parent work schedules and the month of traveling in December we had been putting off the hard-core facing up to Crying It Out. We are using Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child loaned to us by our friend Kristin Zimmerman. Last night worked to great effect, putting him to bed earlier and amazingly having him wake up later (7 instead of 5am). This morning was the real test though and unfortunately Katharine was at work to miss the hour of crying. The first 30 minutes was not so bad but even steely eyed stay at home Dad had to remain calm for the last half hour. Of course they say you can go in after an hour and he stopped crying at about 59 minutes....
4 comments:
Mike, Keep it up, it will get easier and the first time is always the worst. From my experience, any new training usually takes 3 days, or nights, of adjustment. They say that "sleep begets sleep", so I can totally see where putting him to bed earlier would help him sleep longer. I found that to be true for Sophie, and now have a bedtime of 8pm for the twins, it has helped them go longer, but still not through the night. Good Luck! Soon all three of you will be enjoying the fruits of your labor....8 hours of uninterrupted sleep! Dor
Stay Strong! I KNOW it is hard, but you can do it! Mom said a friend of ours would go take a walk during that crying hour. Now, I don't reccomend leaving your baby at home alone, but maybe some headphones to help drown out the noise? At least the dogs don't chime in too, huh?
Ack! I feel for ya! It does get easier, and I promise, it will be better within the week. And as the others said, the earlier you put them down, the later they sleep. It is strange, but true. Hang in there!
p.s. I second the headphones thing. Although I have also been known to sit out on the porch with a pint during this portion, too. Don't worry - you can still hear the crying! So can the neighborhood!
Good luck. I know the crying it out sucks. My pediatrician recommended the i-pod, but laundry and a shower worked for me (and helped with the chores).
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