Special Cheerios

Anyone reading this blog knows that we have been having a tough time with Parker in the middle of the night. But, since you are all (I hope) living your own lives, I'll recap.

A few months after the girls arrived, Parker started throwing tantrums at bedtime. One ended after 3 hours with him asleep on the hardwood floor. Luckily, we were able to figure that one out and now bedtime is not a problem.

But...just as we got that one beat, he started to wake up in the middle of the night demanding things (milk, mommy, daddy, orange juice, lemonade, books, marble game) and when we didn't give in, we got full-on screaming tantrums. At 2am. 3am. 4am. Whenever.

Our solution? I got into bed with him and slept with him the rest of the night. If we tried to leave after he was sleep, he woke back up 10 minutes later and started it all over again. We realized this was not a long term solution, but we were happy we were back to getting 6-8 hours of sleep a night and just kept doing it.

Until now. As you have seen, we put all the kids in one room. And since I can't sleep at all in the room with the girls (every grunt, move, squeek and sigh wakes me up), I couldn't go sleep with Parker anymore. The first night, he came to "sleep" with us after he woke up screaming. The second night, daddy went to lay down with him. The third night, daddy slept on the floor next to him on a mat, holding his hand.

And last night? The fourth night? Parker slept all night in his bed. No screaming. No crying. Mom and Dad both in their own bed. Amazing huh? Not really. I tried the old "bribery game" and it worked. You see, I bought some colored cheerios (the least sugared cereal, I could find.) We had it on Tuesday morning. Then Tuesday night, I said, "If Parker sleeps through the night in his own bed without mommy and daddy and there is no screaming or yelling, Parker can have special cheerios for breakfast tomorrow." I repeated it a lot to the point where I knew he understood. (We tried this before using a gummy bear, but since a gummy bear can really be eaten any time of the day, it didn't work since he demanded one at 3am and kept on screaming after he got it.) But since cereal is a breakfast thing, I had more hope.

When we heard him at 5:30 chattering to himself, we were so very pleased. I went upstairs and there he was sitting on his bed saying, "Time for special cheerios," with the biggest grin on his face you have ever seen. So, we marched downstairs and had all the special cheerios he could eat.

Yeah, yeah, we realize we have solved one problem and created another. Now we just have to figure out how to take special cereal out of the equation. But, as Michael always says, Sufficient unto the day.

And really how could you not love this kid...screaming tantrums and all?



And, by the way, Miranda, who has been sleeping through the night, woke up at 4:45. Bummer. Eli, of course, slept through the Miranda crying and Parker babbling about special cheerios. Yay Eli!