Summer Sleep

Since the big good-bye, Michael and Sophie haven't requested their pacies much at all.  It was just a gazillion times during that first rough naptime and a couple of times when they've been super upset about something throughout the day, which hasn't gotten them a paci since before they were one. It really only took a couple of sleeps for them to get over their precious pacies.

Around 1 PM on Tuesday, two days into paci-free life, I sent Mike a text along the lines of "Naptime has gone better than it has in weeks!" I relished in that victory...until bedtime when things went back to the same struggles we were facing long before the paci tree entered our lives.

For most of their post-newborn lives, Sophie and Michael have gone down for naps and bedtimes like champs.  Things have gotten tricky with colds and teething here and there, but we've gotten back on track, occasionally with the assitance of novelties like the Twilight Turtle and Fisher Price seahorses.  We've always had a good routine that typically ends with the kids going into their cribs drowsy but awake and silently going to sleep.  Mike and I close their door behind us feeling like champion parents with remarkable children (and have been known to high-five). That's the life.

However, since summer began, the kids' sleep has gone a bit wonky.   A number of things could have played a part.

• On vacation during that first week, the kids struggled to go down for naps and bedtimes in their Pack and Plays and needed lots of snuggles and a little crying to get to sleep. 
• They've been sleeping in (as have I...gloriously) until 7:00, 7:30, or even 8:00 a.m instead of waking at 5:30 or 6:00 a.m. as Mike and I both get ready for work during the school year. 
• While I've tried to stay respectful of naps and schedule our summer days around them, often the kids fall asleep mid-morning while running errands in the car.  Because of this and waking up later than normal, their regular naps have ended up later, shorter, or completely out the window.
• Mike and I have tried to find a balance between flexibility and consistency with bedtimes this summer, all things above considered.  Sometimes we start the routine at 6:30 p.m. like during the school year, but pushing it to 7:00, 7:30, or even 8:00 p.m. has seemed appropriate at times. 
• Even with those adjustments (or perhaps because of them) we've given in to a lot of rocking for Sophie and an extra sippy of milk in the living room for Michael when they just don't go the f*** to sleep.

You can see why, with things already pretty goofy, we figured we might as well throw some paci-withdrawal into the mix.
Pleasantly, a couple of nights ago after rocking her for a couple of minutes, Sophie willingly went into her crib when I offered her the small pillow that I made for the rocking chair. She slept beautifully. Last night was the same.

On those same nights, Michael came back out to the living room with me (Sophie hasn't seemed to mind), snuggled with me for half an hour,  declared "All done!" and happlily let me put him back in his crib. He slept great as well.

If this is how the next couple of weeks have to go, I'll take it!  I'm hopeful that once school starts back up again and the kids and I are up at a ridulously early more consistent time each day, things will fall back into place that much more.

One incredibly notable point is that not once in over a week have we had to go into the kids' room in the middle of the night to hunt for a dropped paci by the light of a Twilight Turtle.  After doing that for almost 2.5 years, Mike and I are up for a few new sleep challenges here and there.