Ava's New Sleeping Quarters

The other day my mom told Ava that if she got rid of her side rail on her bed she would buy her a horsey purse that we saw at Barnes and Noble the other day. Ava was so excited, so we took it off. I have been wanting to do it for a while, but she would always say no. We need it for Noah soon, so now was as good as a time as any.



It is so weird to go in there. She did fine. She didn't fall off! Ha!

Speaking of sleeping, we are going through yet another sleeping phase with Ava. It is always something with her. About 2 weeks ago, when we would put her down to bed, she would come out a couple of times before finally falling asleep. There were so many reasons why, my eyes are dry, I can't sleep, I had a bad dream (before she even fell asleep) and the most common one lately, my tummy hurt (because she knows she will get the most attention with that one). THEN, she was waking up for about 2 hours in the middle of the night and coming into our room several times with the same excuses. I had had enough. I implemented a ticket system for her. She gets 2 tickets every night. Every time she comes out of her room, she has to bring us a ticket. It is going well, with the exception of last night (more on that in a minute). She usually uses one right away and some days she has one left over and some days she comes out again before she falls asleep. If she has one ticket left in the morning, she gets some stickers. If she has two tickets (which she has not done yet), she gets to pick a toy/craft from a bin of things that I have bought. If she calls for us and we have to go in, we take a ticket. If we get to #3, she looses something along with the next nights ticket and so on.

Last night, she lost her 2 tickets for tonight and her new horse. I was fed up. She is pretty much staying up 1 hour past the time we put her to bed. No matter what time it is. She always makes up for it at nap time, but that is the problem. She will take a 3 hour nap if I let her. She usually gets 2 hours before I have to wake her. I have been shortening them to 1 1/2 hours, but waking her up is a 30 minute drama fest. You name it, crying, fake puking noises, kicking and yelling. It is brutal. I am sorta at a loss on this girl. Last night we let her stay up until 7:45 to hang with Grammy and she didn't go to bed until 9pm. Then she was up at 5:45 am and cranky and is dying to take a nap today!!! I know this is a short lived problem, but it is tiring nonetheless! This too shall pass!