sleep nazi

you already know i'm a sleep nazi. i was crazy about it with ben but i thought i'd be more relaxed with the second kid. why did i think that? i don't think sleep is less important for my second kid. anyways, this weekend, i was rocking avery for 100th nap of the day (okay, that's an exaggeration) and she laid in my arms, very still and calm but with her eyes open. everytime, i tried to lay her down, she thrashed about. i thought to myself, "this is crazy - we've got to get you going down for naps on your own." because when i'm doing this 4 -5 times a day, where is ben? usually in front of the tv. NOT ideal.

monday morning, first nap: i wrapped avery up tight in her blanket, laid her in her bed, stuck her soother in, patted her head and walked away. instantly asleep. next nap: repeat. asleep. next nap: repeat. a little crying then fell asleep. WHAAT? HAS MY ROCKING BEEN KEEPING YOU AWAKE? crazy. crazy awesome. but if i check the time when she wakes up then put her to bed 90 min - 2 hrs later even though she might not look tired, she falls asleep. of course, she had perfect 1.5 - 2hr naps each time yesterday so it was the perfect day but will this method work on a non-perfect day?

today was day two of putting her to bed with no rocking. definitely not as beautiful as yesterday - not even close. she had a complete meltdown, crying her eyes out right during ben's nap time (i'm freaking out because i don't want HIM to wake up!), but after some swinging and half a bottle, and some more crying while wrapped up in her little cocoon in her bed, she DID fall asleep after just being laid down in her crib. even when i put her down at 5:30pm after longer than 2 hours of awake time (aka. not ideal because she's probably a little overtired which makes it harder to go to sleep), she cried/talked a little but i just kept going in every couple minutes, putting in her soother again, and rubbing her forehead. 3 times of that and she was asleep. LOVE it. oooooh, how i hope this continues.