Sleeping Through the Night... With a Twist

she slept through the night again! (still with me sleeping on the couch. so far, it's totally worth it.)

newest challenge: she's woken up at 5:30 am the last two days. very happy to hang out in her crib and chat and eventually suck her thumb and maybe doze a very little bit (one more time where the video monitor is helpful: if not for it, i'd be smugly patting myself on the back for not going in and thinking that as a result, she had gone back to sleep). as it was, it was fun to watch her practice getting up on her hands and knees and rock back and forth in her sleep sack.

but yesterday she then took a two and a half hour morning nap! she was exhausted.

this is obviously not ideal.

it's so strange how kids don't gradually ease from one phase to another... they lurch into them. without warning, a dramatic change.

so how do I teach her to keep on sleeping until 6:45? 

i'm not sure.

i decided to keep her in the crib until 6:45 regardless so i'm at least not rewarding the early waking (according to sleep books this can cause them to wake up ever earlier -- ugh!). this is hard to do because i miss her little self and hate to leave her alone in there when she is so cheerful... but it's also my time to exercise. yesterday i got her up and nursed her and then exercised afterwards but then i end up nursing her a second time right before i leave (because it feels weird to ME not to nurse her before i go, not because of her) and this throws off getting to work on time.

wondering if blackout curtains might help her to stay asleep longer? i've heard that garbage bags work for this in a pinch so that's what i am going to try tonight... if i get organized enough to get to a hardware store today to pick some up. i'm not sure that in NYC, a CVS will have giant black bags. the hardware store near work is wonderful and may have something even better but equally cheap.

the other idea I have had is to keep her up later at night... but she's pretty tired by the time 6:30 rolls around. so I think I will try "blackout curtains" first.

the big question: do i move back into my room tonight? or give it a few more days to let the whole no-eating-for-twelve-hours thing really sink in?

And can I just say: I feel so much more optimistic about life in general since I get to sleep until 5:30 instead of 4:30 am? It's a world of difference.