The End of an Era. A well-rested, sleep-filled era.

Sunday, March 3rd, 2013. I'll remember it always. As the day the music died. Just replace 'music' with 'sleep'. I recognize that we've had a good run - at nearly 2 1/2 years, much longer than most - but I believe I'm still entitled to mourn the loss of any future rest and relaxation we may have enjoyed.

Our friends Mark & Kaylinn were passing through and on Sunday morning asked us if Teagan was watching TV upstairs in the loft. We both laughed and said, "No, she's asleep in her crib." But I went upstairs to see if the TV had come on by mistake (it's old.) Sure enough, my baby was sitting on the couch, watching a movie she'd put on for herself. I choked back tears.

It was at that moment that I knew I'd never get a full night's sleep again. She spoiled us and has been a champion sleeper since the first few weeks. The haggered trips up the stairs that followed constituted what I felt was one of my first acts of actual parenting - meaning more than meeting a need like feeding or a diaper change - real, lesson-teaching, (relatively) cool-under-pressure, trying-to-do-what's-best-for-her parenting. It's a scary prospect. I guess the first 2 years eased me in and now comes the hard part. I've prayed for more patience and have been blessed with it and the ability to speak to her civilly and kindly...to a point. After the 10th time we put her back to bed, admittedly, my patience wears a little thin.

We grinned and bore it for several days and then it occurred to us that she could get out of her crib, but most likely not back in so we thought we'd give her the option of falling asleep on a surface other than the floor. (Turns out she can get back in as I found out the hard way on one of my hundreds of visits.) We wanted to make it exciting for her, so we rearranged her room and set it up before naptime and told her we had a surprise for her. She was surprised all right.

I'd love to tell you that her enthusiasm stuck and consequently she was happy to sleep in her new bed, but that would be an outright lie. In truth, she didn't exactly nap. In any sense of the word. Bless Brandon's heart, he put her to bed last night while I called on our neighbours to borrow something and he said after laying down with her for a few minutes, she fell fast asleep. He may be doing it on his own more often than not, considering the fact that it's taken me over an hour to type this between trips up the stairs. {sigh}