She's a Picky....

Sleeper! This kid will lay in her bed and cry (or fake cough) to get our attention. I've discovered this week that she likes to lay on her LEFT side facing the wall with her paci in her mouth and Lovie Bunny in her arms. 

She also knows her mom is a sucker. For example.... Kevin was out of town officiating a wedding so I had Maggie night-shift last Friday night. Her Superdad usually takes the night shift so I can sleep since I get up before the chickens :)

Anyway...back to our tale of baby-genius momma manipulation. I put her to bed at her normal bedtime....7:30ish.

Maggie laid in her bed and SCREAMED. She was not hungry. dirty. wet. injured. or gassy. 

She was however working on a Master Plan.

The screaming continued for about an hour. It didn't matter that I gave her paci to her 14 gazillion times or that I rolled her over or gave her Lovie Bunny, or that Grandma came in to talk some sense into her. Maggie was having none of it.  She's a girl who knows what she wants....

So when she got to the hiccupy, shuddery crying-breathing - my Momma Heart couldn't take it anymore and I broke one of the 10 Commandments of Parenting (see subsequent post) .... 

I PICKED HER UP. 

Then, I figured I'd already committed a major sleep-training faux pax so why not take this thing all the way. I laid her on my feather pillow in the bed beside me and tucked her in and let her hang out with me while I read a book and waited. and waited. and waited. for her to fall into a peaceful, angelic sleep just because she was in my presence :) 

Here's how the next 45 minutes went:

Me: Sitting quietly reading a book... 

Maggie: Reaches over as far as her dimply little arm can go and uses her tiny chubby fingers to slap at the pages of my book.

Me: Looks over to see what she wants.

Maggie: Giant, light-up-the-sun grin, while keeping paci firmly in place (she's a multitasker already)

Me: Silly my-kid-is -the-the-coolest-kid-ever grin back at Maggie, then I gain my composure and go back to my book. I'm showing this kid who's boss. I'm going to ignore her (core parently tactic, right?) because I'm 5,000 times smarter than a 5 month old and she's going to fall asleep and think it was completely her idea.

Maggie: Reaches over as far as her dimply little arm can go and uses her tiny chubby fingers to slap at the pages of my book.

Repeat this about 100 times and there you go... 45 minutes GONE.

So, I decided this wasn't working according to plan and we made the trip back to her room. I laid her down and she FINALLY went to sleep on her own. No crying. No screaming. 

So who won? I'm going to call it a tie. Yes, Maggie got to stay up and lay on my comfy bed and tricked me into playing her little game. But I got an extra 45 min. with my Maggie and I got to see that smile over and over and over again .... not to mention the fact that the glass-shattering screaming did stop. 

I'm declaring us both winners. Its my blog. I get to do what I want. I make the rules. The End.

(Yes, I am aware that she is laying on her RIGHT side in this photo but its what I had to work with at the time. Give me a break people!)

Totally outsmarted by my 5 month old, 

Momma Knight