Thursday, October 3, 2013

Desperate times call for... Ponies.

My sweet little Courtney has been driving me nuts at night. Waking up, tiptoeing upstairs and crawling into our bed. Harmless and adorable...until she begins her periodic wiggling and kicking and sleep talking.
For this pregnant light sleeper, it's a sleepless-night sentence.
So we carry her back to her bed. Then she begs/cries/demands to have her back rubbed til she falls asleep. Sweet and harmless....until you're doing it for the 4th time in one night and saying "forget it" to the plans of a 6am swim workout and having nightmares of dealing with loooong nights of newborn care plus high maintenance 3 yr old soothing.
After last night's episode, I promised I'd get proactive today. So we had gentle loving conversations about what she was doing and how it was hard and sad for mommy. Then I drew her a picture and taped it to her wall, illustrating a sleeping courtney while the moon was up and an awake courtney when the sun rose. All in her OWN bed. Then the clincher- I busted out a present intended for Christmas (part of last week's killer yardsale spree). Two sparkling new blue and purple ponies. My Little Ponies. Her eyes bugged out and she squealed with delight. I pinned the bag up high in her room. I think she understands the deal - she stays in bed all night, she gets the ponies. So simple, yet so desperately needed. Let's hope this works, cuz my alarm is once again set for that early morning exercise I want so badly to do!!

1 comment:

Hohmann Family said...

Oooo! Make each one worth a WEEK in bed. She has to earn these puppies! (ponies...) Stickers for each successful night - ponies for a week.