Sleep Training Update and more...

It has been a couple months since we started this whole sleep training thing, and so far, it has been working, well sort of.

Aidan has the ability to go to bed and fall asleep all by himself when his dad is putting him to bed, and I am at work. But when Aidan knows that I am home, he gets really clingy towards me, and doesn't want to go to bed. He usually cries for about 5 minutes when we lay him down, but he does eventually fall asleep. Oh, and I cannot put him to bed, or he will give me the guilt trip face and cry like I am abandoning him. It just breaks my heart. I try to avoid putting him to bed as much as possible.

Now as for his naps, they aren't going as well. He goes to daycare 5 days a week, and does great with naptime there. On the weekends, however, he does not do so well. I think it's because he doesn't see us as much, and wants to be around us when he takes a nap. We allow him to fall asleep in the living room on the couch, rather than in his bed. This has not affected his nighttime sleep habits. When we attempted the crib, he would cry for the entire 30 minutes, then end up falling asleep on the couch later anyways. So we just decided that him falling asleep on his own in the living room was fine as long as it wasn't going to affect him sleeping at night.

About 4 weeks ago, we attempted taking away Aidan's pacifier at bedtime and naptime, and every other time. It was tough at first, but he took to it rather well. 4 weeks later, he hasn't had the binky and is doing great without it. I am so proud!

Also, at some course during the last week, Aidan finally (and I mean finally), cut his two bottom incisors. We have only been waiting for this since February (when he cut the top ones). I didn't think it would take this long, but I am so glad it's over. Now we just have to wait for the top 2 year molars to come through and then he will have all of his baby teeth!

Also, I missed his stats from his 18 month appointment a month ago. He weighs in at 27.14 lbs and is 34 1/8 inches long. He knows how to say several words including: mama, dada, baby, dog, ball, look, sky, bird, mine, cookie, car, woah, please, pee-pee, poo-poo, nose, eyes, ears, and several other jabbering words that we just don't quite understand yet. He is still working on the potty training, and we aren't trying to push it too much either. We sit him on the potty before he gets in the bath to try to get him used to the idea. He still loves to read, and his favorite books are all the Dr. Suess books, I love you Forever, and his mini-Sesame Street books. He loves to play outside, and enjoys playing inside with his Discover toys marble ball (they aren't quite marbles though) tower, and his cars. He has been practicing his jumping skills, and loves to run around the house. He has been becoming more and more picky about what he eats and his appetite has been increasing and decreasing with every day. He is a pretty typical 18 month old.