Sleep deprivation is the last true way to torture another human.

Austin was doing so well napping.  So well that I knew it wouldn't last long.  He was falling asleep on his own for naps (with the help of his light show) then he got sick and was having a tooth break through at the same time - it all went tumbling down hill from there. 

When he got sick it was bad.  Really bad to where he would not sleep unless we were there holding him or (and only sometimes) if he was in our bed.  And since he was sick we rocked him, cuddled him and let him sleep with us in bed because poor baby wasn't well at all.  

Then, it came back and bit us in the ass which I was somewhat expecting.  As soon as his tooth came through completely and he was better from his cold he came to expect that we would rock him to go to sleep each night and for naps.  For a few days I was sitting there for an hour trying to get him to nap (for one hour!).  Finally, I broke in front of my husband and said, "I cannot do this every day! It is driving me bonkers sitting here in the half dark trying to get him to sleep...rocking and soothing for up to 4 hours a day - when he is well!"   

That's when we went back to a book we bought a handful of months ago entitled The Sleep Easy Solution.  We bought this book when Austin was about 5 months old because, honestly, this child has never been easy to put to sleep at night. No matter what.  We do the "routine" at night, everything is consistent, the time, the PJ's, even the exact bottle each night - and nada.  Does not want to go to sleep.  I can't honestly say we put all we had into this program when we first tried it to get him to go to sleep, but this time we have to because it's just ridiculous.  It was getting to the point where he was not falling asleep until we had rocked him for 3 hours (with intermittent crying) and by then it was 10:00pm or 11:00pm. We were just all miserable.
(with a peaceful baby sleeping on the front of course). 

We started this program on Saturday night.  It is now Wednesday afternoon and for the first time Austin didn't cry for 30 minutes (or longer!) to go down for a nap.  He cried for one minute then settled in and fell asleep.  Let me tell you that he is definitely my son because he has put up a fight each night - a good fight.  I think he's starting to understand now that he knows how to put himself to sleep, finally.  This is the most difficult thing I've had to do as a parent so far, but for my sanity, my relationship with my husband and for Austin needing quality sleep it has to be done. 

And if it's good enough for Ben Stiller then it's good enough for me.