Three times makes a habit.....

Three times makes a habit. That's the parenting advice I was given when trying to help Liliana sleep through the night after an illness. This phrase kept going through my head when I woke up yesterday (for the third morning in a row) on the couch with Eve sprawled on top of me. All three toddlers have been teething their 2 yr. molars, and both Joe and Eve have been having trouble sleeping. Tuesday I tried a preemptive strike and dosed them with Motrin before bed, hoping to avoid having them wake up, need Motrin, then need to be held until the medicine began to work. Since that had been happening around 1:30 a.m., I would fall asleep (grateful for any rest) and be too tired to carry them upstairs and risk them crying and waking up the rest of the family. That is how I spent three nights on the couch, under a heavy toddler, never relaxing completely so they wouldn't roll off when they squirmed (which they do a lot).

Last night it was time to get tough. I thought I was home free when I crawled into bed at 12:30 and the room was quiet. That lasted for approximately an hour. I let Eve cry for a while, then got her out and tried to bring her in the bed with me. (A win/win, right?) She went ballistic, crying, "Mommy! Mommy!" and pointing downstairs. Since she didn't need pain reliever the only other valid request would have been a drink, but she didn't want one. She just wanted me to sit on the couch while we cuddled. "No sweetie," I said, "You need to sleep in your bed, and Mommy needs to sleep in her bed."

I climbed the stairs with her wailing the entire way. I'm cringing as I know everyone (including the neighbors) must be waking up. Into the crib she went, and zipped up for the night.

Eve cried, and cried, and cried. Then Joe joined in. Then Faith. Then Eve went to sleep, and Joe and Faith kept crying. Then Faith went to sleep, and Eve was crying again. This went on longer than I desired to keep track. Three times makes a habit. I needed to sleep in my bed. My kids needed to sleep in their beds. Eventually everyone went to sleep.

Later Faith ended up in our bed, then Lili. Then I woke up to a big THUMP. Lili said, "Oh, I pushed Faith off the bed." Faith was so tired she didn't even wake up! I scooped her back up and got a little more sleep before she became a wiggle worm and needed to get up.

Thanks to Michelle the kids got to the park this morning, then had lunch AND a bath. Finally all three toddlers are sleeping. Let's hope it doesn't take two more nights to break the Eve's habit.