So our sweet little man has developed a very strong, strong will. He's in the phase of his life now that he wants to be with Mama and Daddy. He's started some separation crying at school in the mornings. I've discovered that he is less disturbed about leaving us if he's eating, so food is a key distractor. He's not as willing to go to others to be held and if he does, he immediately wants to go back to Mama or Daddy.
He's also in the phase where he wants what he wants and if he doesn't get it, he'll throw a little temper tantrum. His two behaviors are to 1) arch his back and lie down on the floor and 2) squat and scream. So, we pick our battles. Sometimes we just let him lie on the floor or squat and scream and sometimes we give in.
The sleeping at night over the past couple of weeks has been disasterous. He is fighting sleeping by himself in his crib. My reading has told me that it's common at this age that they want to be with mama and daddy (and Liam is a social little guy). Liam has learned that if he cries long enough, we're going to go get him and likely hold him until he falls asleep. It's just that now, even when he's asleep, when we put him back down he wakes right back up and is only content if we hold him. We've had nights where we've been up literally all night trying to get him to sleep.
In the morning we "wake up" haggard and exhausted. In the morning Liam wakes up smiles and like everything is just wonderful.
So, we have gone back to boot camp and are "crying it out." And it has been rough. Twice he cried it out (for just 20 minutes) until he threw up. Once he cried it out and finally went to sleep and the next morning we discovered he'd knocked his lip on the crib and bled on his sheet (he was fine). Saturday night I went in after 30 minutes of crying to check on him and he'd taken off his pajama pants and socks. Sunday night he woke up at 11:30 and cried for an hour and a half (with us periodically checking on him) until we finally gave in and gave him a small bottle and he only cried for about 15 more minutes until falling asleep.
I'm counting on this approach working and that Liam learns how to sleep by himself and put himself back to sleep when he wakes up. Last night was a decent night. He only cried for a couple of minutes when he went to bed and when he woke up at 1 we were able to give him a bottle and he went back down (only crying for a few seconds) until about 6:15.
I'm determined to have a stronger will than my 1 year old. His will is pretty impressive and I think this experience is likely a small glimpse into our future.
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We have a little monster at our house, too. Man, when he doesn't get his way, he throws a FIT.
Something that seemed to help us with the sleeping--although I really caution you about using this approach b/c it could totally backfire--was letting him sleep with us for a few nights when things were really bad and he was getting up every hour. He seemed to get that he could only remain in the bed with us if he laid still, and doing that seemed to allow him to learn that if he lays quietly, he will fall asleep. That learning transferred when he was alone in his crib. I think he just had no earthly idea that a person can put himself to sleep and doesn't have to be rocked to sleep. Anyway, use with caution--Rena tells me that David is a pretty permanent fixture in their bed and can't sleep alone, so you don't want that, either. Good luck :)
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