I suppose as first time parents, we kind of didn’t do a proper sleep training with Kaia as in… we never taught her how to sleep on her own. We got her to sleep through the night when she was about 12 weeks old. But we never taught her that to sleep, she should do it without us constantly coddling her and being by her side. We should tuck her in at her bed after reading together, kiss her good night, and say “see you in the morning!” But, we didn’t do that.

Well, in some ways, it’s kind of blown up in our faces, as bedtime nowadays can take 1.5-2 hours from end to end, without even factoring in the bedtime stories. And that is a true time suck when you have to do things like… work, clean the house, prepare and cook food, and all the usual tasks that need to get done in a day. And you know what this really, really takes away time from? Time to ourselves… to watch a show or movie, write on this blog (!), read articles and books, or enjoy my too-expensive candle in peace.

This last week, Chris insisted that we not lie down with her until she falls asleep. She needs to know that we’re serious, that this is bedtime, which means… she has to SLEEP. No playing, no stalling, nothing else. Go to sleep, or else. She especially is manipulative of me and pulls my hair, smushes my face, and everything in between. So we are trying “baby steps.” We sit in the chair at my desk (or at least, one of us does, usually Chris since she whines endlessly when it’s me for whatever reason), and then she eventually falls asleep on her bed. We’re doing well if we start reading at around 7:15-7:30, and she’s asleep by 8:30. If she isn’t asleep until 9… well, we need to try again the next day.

My baby isn’t a baby anymore, even if I keep calling her that. She’s over 2.5 years old now. And although she is very independent in some ways, she loves playing us and keeping us around when we probably shouldn’t be around, for our sanity, and for her own future sanity and growth.