Holy guacamole!!!!!!!!! We have reached a new milestone in our house that I am so proud of. Jack has learned to go to sleep on his own! WOOHOOOO!

We have been working on this for the past few weeks. I noticed one day that after his bottle, Jack would start squirming and rolling around in my lap. He seemed unsettled and uncomfortable. Normally, he would curl right up next to me and fall asleep for his nap or bedtime. So when he started doing this, often pinching and grabbing me, I would lay him down in his crib, tell him I loved him and walk out of the room. The first day he only lasted two minutes until I had to go in and rock him to sleep. The next day it was five minutes. The time gradually got longer and longer. Until today… I heard him start getting upset, so I stood outside his door where he couldn’t see me, and I told him that mommy loved him and was right there. He immediately calmed down and soon fell fast asleep - all on his own!!!!

Our little boy is growing up so fast. He even sleeps like a little boy now. He is all over his crib. He kicks his blanket off. He rolls around and has his hair sticking up all over his head by the end of his naps. He sleeps on his side a lot now. It’s the cutest thing!

So, congratulations Jackson! You are growing up so fast!!!!! Mommy will always rock you anytime you need me to, but I am so proud of you for learning to fall asleep all on your own, in your own timing!

And not to be arrogant, but I’m proud of myself too. I have always been against letting Jack cry-it-out. I’m not a fan of it, and I’ll never do it. Jack always needed more security than most babies do. He wanted to be held, he wanted to know we would be there when he needed us, and he was a terrible sleeper for the first half of his first year. However, Sean and I continued to provide the security he needed. We were tempted a few times to just let him cry, but we never could bring ourselves to do it. He had a scared scream when we would do that to him, and I knew it was not the right thing to do in our household. So, we just waited and continued to be patient. I knew he would do it on his own when he was ready, and I held fast to that.

I get so aggravated at all the books and advice on “sleep training” your baby. Come on, people! All babies are different. They all have different needs. We need to just listen to them and their cues and do things in their own timing when they are ready for it. They will tell us! I know this by observing my own son. He has taught me so much this year! I’ve realized that although being patient isn’t always the easy way to do things, that it makes transitions with your child so much easier. I’m so glad I didn’t force my child to sleep the way I wanted him to, and trust me, I wanted him to after six months of no sleep! I let him mature and develop those skills in his own timing, without taking any security away from him. He knows that when he cries and needs us, that we will be there. Yet, he has still learned to sleep on his own now.

And I also heard time and time again that if I rocked my son to sleep, that when he woke up, he would never be able to put himself back to sleep because he would freak out that I wasn’t there like when he first fell asleep. BALONEY! I rocked him to sleep every single night, and he quickly learned to put himself back to sleep on his own. It was a MATURITY thing with Jack’s sleeping patterns and behavior, it was not that I rocked him to sleep every night. Sorry for my tangent, but I have been getting some crazy advice when it comes to sleeping and babies. It’s really very simple: Every baby is different, and a parent will know what is best for their child by simply listening to them. Maybe it’s not easy, maybe you won’t sleep for six straight months, like Sean and me. Nobody said being a parent was easy. Just listen to your babies - they will tell you what they need. *tangent over *