Progress Report

The Binkie:  It seems as if we have gotten rid of our crutch.  Gunner hasn't taken a binkie in three weeks.  I still have them around, just in case, and I have reached for them in times of desperation.  But, he doesn't suck on them anymore.  He chews on them, and them takes them out of his mouth and waves them around in the air.  He treats them like a little chew toy.  And now I know that he no longer needs them at all.

Sleep Training:  Gunner is sleeping better these days.  I don't want to jinx it by announcing it to the world, but I have to acknowledge that he has done very well during this past week.  We have changed our bedtime routine a bit, and he has been responsible for putting himself to sleep at bedtime.  We have also decided that it is not hunger that wakes him up before midnight, and instead of rushing into him to quickly rock him back to sleep, he has to figure it out on his own.  I think that we had been over-stimulating him at these wakings, and the effect was hours and hours of crying (for all of us!) because he just couldn't get back to sleep.  This hasn't happened in over a week!  Nap times are getting better as well.  He has taken some good naps this week, and it usually doesn't take him too long to settle himself down for a nap.  Also, if he's asleep and wakes up while we're transferring him to his crib, he knows how to get comfortable enough to go back to sleep.  That has been a good good thing.

Again, I'm not trying to jinx anything.  Nor am I blowing my own horn by saying that we have done something spectacular that has solved all of our problems.  I am completely aware that this could be a week-long phase.  Maybe his problem was that he was teething (he doesn't have any teeth  yet), and it hasn't been bothering him this week.  Maybe he's in a growth spurt and he needs to sleep more.  Or maybe...just maybe...he is figuring out how to comfort himself.

Whatever the case may be, we have had a good week of sleeping.  It seems that this long, difficult five weeks of sleep training has done some good.  It couldn't have come at a better time because Spiff's big test is tomorrow.  And it sure has been nice to get a few good nights of sleep!  I sort of forgot how it feels to sleep for more than three consecutive hours.