We had about 2 seconds to bask in the glory of this when we as parents were faced with another challenge...the middle-of-the-night awakenings.
For some reason, Ben started this fun little habit of waking up between 1 and 2 am...which would be fine if he would just stay in his room. It was getting to the point where he wouldn't even wake us up as he was crawling over us to get under the covers in our bed...and that was another bad habit we wanted to nip in the bud.
Enter creative parenting technique #2. The patent-pending Star Chart.
I have to completely give Brad credit for this one...I guess he was the one getting kicked in the middle of the night by our little sleepwalker. Here's how it works: every night that Ben sleeps in his bed, he gets a star drawn in one of the boxes. If he makes it through the whole night without an accident, which means that Mommy doesn't have to change his clothes and sheets in the middle of the night, then he gets another star. When all 10 boxes are star-filled, he gets a prize! (When we introduced this concept to him, he quickly announced that he wanted a pirate sword. Valerie said "Well, at least he didn't want a fairy wand." Touché, Val...we consider this a huge success in itself.) Here's how it's working out:
Night #1 - After pumping Ben up about the whole idea with lots of "Star Chart Rah Rah!" pep talks, he was completely ready for the challenge...while we were cautiously optimistic. He woke up, as usual, around 1:15, but when he came to our room, I whispered to him, "If you want a star in the morning, you need to go get back in your bed..." The kid must have been dreaming of that pirate sword because he turned right around and got back into his bed! Woo hoo! Success and 2 purple stars drawn on the chart! (Of course he picked out the color.)
Night #2 - I still consider this a success even though no stars were awarded. I'm not making excuses, but when he has a little bit of a cough, he likes to sleep with a cup of water next to his bed that he can sip on throughout the night...so last night was interrupted with an accident. The successful part? It didn't happen until 3am! (Who would have thought I would be thrilled to be woken up at 3am?!) Well, this means that he's changing his sleep pattern, which is the ultimate goal. So, no stars on the chart, but still progress in my book.
Night #3 - Last night was a prime example of how parenting is totally a trial-and-error, make-it-up-as-you-go endeavor. Since Ben didn't get any stars on Night #2, I channeled the wanna-be teacher in me and gave him an extra credit opportunity...take a bath, get a star. Now, I know I shouldn't have to bribe my child to bathe, but unless you've been locked up in a tiny, bungalow-style bathroom with a stubborn toddler who WILL NOT get his cute little tush in the bath because he has a boo boo on the bottom of his foot that he refuses to get wet...don't judge me. So, squeaky clean with a blue star added to the chart and ready for bed, Ben announces that he won't get out of his bed...and he doesn't until 5am. Again--small steps towards the overall success! No accidents + an almost-full night of sleep = 2 green stars for Ben.
Stay tuned...we're halfway there...
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