And....now she hates me.
Friday night went okay. She eventually fell asleep, tears still wet on her cheeks with her finger at the corner of her mouth. She woke up at 11pm and was so upset that I took her out of her crib and cuddled with her on the rocking chair. After about five minutes, when I thought she was almost asleep, I stood up to bring her back to her crib and she clung to me for dear life. Lucky her, she got to sleep in the middle of our bed. Unlucky for the three of us though, because no one sleeps as well with her in the bed. She always wakes up often and bangs her head on our headboard. By 4am I had had enough and brought her back to her crib, and she fell asleep. I thought I was over the worst of it!
She did really well Saturday morning without it. There were a few moments where I would normally give it to her, just to keep her happy/quiet, but we pushed through. For her nap, she cried for 15 minutes and then I went in the room and sat beside her bed and she was content with that and fell asleep. She woke up after 45 minutes (which is not uncommon), and so I took her out to sit with me on the couch and she got angry. She just wanted her soother while she sat with me. She was eventually consoled with a sippy cup of milk.
As soon as we said it was bed time last night, she freaked out. As I was carrying her upstairs she was throwing herself backwards, trying to get out of my arms. She did NOT want to sleep. I calmed her down as I brushed her teeth, and brought her to bed. I had to stay in her room though, because as soon as I would step outside the door she would start whining/crying. If I was there to "shhh" her, she would fall asleep again. And then she would wake up. And then fall asleep. And then wake up. She continued that ALL NIGHT LONG. Nathan, who shares a room with her, slept through everything until 6am this morning. Olivia was crying for me and I didn't want to get out of bed so I was ignoring her. Well, her crying woke Nathan up, who came to my room complaining. I offered to trade places with him: he could sleep in my bed, and I would sleep in his. He loved the idea. As soon as I stepped into their room, Olivia reached up for me. I'm weak. I took her out of her crib and told her she could sleep in Nathan's bed with me. She fought me for a minute, but I won and she fell fast asleep. I ignored my 7:00am alarm clock (which woke me up in Olivia's room, even though it was going off in my room) and Jon eventually shut it off for me. By ignoring it it was decided that we would not be able to make church. I fell back asleep and slept until 7:45am, when Olivia woke up.
I let her cry for 15 minutes again at the beginning of her afternoon nap at my parents' house, and then went into the room. She did not calm down when I sat there, so I took her out and laid on my parents' bed with her. She was ANGRY. She was flailing her body and even managed to successfully hit me a few times. After a minute of fighting me, her tiredness overtook her and she fell asleep, and had a good nap. Unfortunately, she woke up angry again. Seriously, that girl can tantrum like you wouldn't believe. Feet stomping/kicking, arms flailing/punch, and SCREAMING. I offered her some juice and she calmed down, and it was like nothing had ever happened.
We put Nathan to bed in Matthew and Kayla's room tonight, on the floor, so at least he could get a good night's sleep. Olivia was sad going to bed tonight and so after five minutes I went to her room and sat on the floor by her crib and held her hand. After a couple minutes I let go of her hand. A couple minutes later I moved across the room to the rocking chair. She kept trying to whine/cry, but a quick "shhh" quieted her. After a few more minutes I snuck out of the room. She took a while to fall asleep, but it's a lot quieter right now.
So...why did I take the soother away? Matthew, Kayla, and Nathan were each 18 months when I took theirs away, so she already had an extra two weeks on them. Like them, I found that she was really starting to get attached to it. She constantly asked for it during the day, and would often just walk around with it in her mouth. She would try to talk with it in. I kept having to say, "Olivia, you are not crying, take the soother out of your mouth." Plus, the longer she has it for, the more difficult it would be to take it away (I would imagine). Do I regret taking it away? Nope! She'll get over these first few days and then will be her regular self again :).
