sleep, glorious sleep

So hopefully writing this post won't jinx anything...

We have recently had several nights in a row of Punkin sleeping through the night. Yes, he's over two. Yes, he should have conquered sleeping through the night a long time ago. Actually, there was a time when he did... it's hard to remember though.

Every time we have had a successful few nights, Punkin would get sick or something and then I just had to go in and hold him. Unfortunately, that caused a pattern and soon Punkin was wanting to be held in the middle of the night every night. I was so tired that I didn't put up much of a fight - I figured we'd both get more sleep if I just picked him up and we fell asleep (thankfully our rocker is also a recliner). I've spent so many nights in that recliner, I don't even want to think about it.

Anyway, I know there are a lot of opinions about whether you should let your child cry himself to sleep. I was one who didn't want him to cry "too much" (whatever that means). Over the last couple of weeks, I was trying to pick him up less and just sit in the chair and tell him to sleep in his crib. I tried laying on the floor outside his room and assuring him from there. Nothing worked and I was exhausted. Anyway, to make a long story short, Friday night, the Hubs and I decided that we were not going to go back into Punkin's room until morning (with certain caveats). I have to admit, when Punkin woke up in the middle of the night, I really, really, really wanted to just go in and help him stop crying and help him get back to sleep. But I didn't. And you know, Punkin cried for a lot less time than I thought he would. The next morning, he was all smiles and hugs. He didn't hate me. He wasn't angry. The next few nights the awakenings were for less time.

And then, yup, he got a little cold and his cough came back (the cough is another long story). So, I wasn't sure how it was going to go. He did wake up a few more times in the middle of the night from coughing, but amazingly, he was only awake for about 5 minutes each time - he didn't work himself into a frenzy like he would have before and he was able to put himself back to sleep, even though he wasn't at 100% health. Amazing.

Last night, he didn't cry out at all from the minute he was put in his crib until this morning. I should probably "knock on wood", but I feel like we're finally getting there... I'm sure something else is right around the corner...