Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time there was a girl named Peyton. Peyton had a nice full size bed to sleep on. One day mommy and Peyton got the stomach flu and to keep daddy from getting sick, Daddy slept in Peyton's bed and Peyton slept in mommy's room. Well, she's still there. This developed slowly. After we got better, she'd fall asleep in her room and then come to our room in the middle of the night and she'd sleep in between us. We have a king sized bed, so she fit in there just fine. I liked her snuggling. After a couple nights, we put the kabosh on that. No more in-the-bed with us. She came in and I said, if you are going to be in here, you have to sleep in the chair. (We have a chair and ottoman in our room) She did and that is where she has slept for 2 months. I know. Accidental parenting. We tried a month ago or so to let her cry in her room- she is so stubborn and would scream and scream- you would think an exorcism was going on. She played the "My mommy doesn't love me" at the top of her lungs card. She mentally wore Kirk and I down and the attempts would last almost 3 hours- seriously, from 9pm to midnight. We needed our sleep too and caved and she'd then go to bed in the chair. We are beyond frustrated. We talked to our pediatrician when we were getting Ashley's Swine Flu test and she said Peyton would go to her bed when she was ready. Not exactly the advice I was looking for. Kirk and I know we need to mentally prepare for the battle ahead in transitioning her back to her bed. We started last week by having her lay in bed and read a couple books, to get comfortable in her bed again. We bought a cute nightlight at Ikea, she has her children's CD's, her blankies, bunny. We are hoping to have her stay in bed longer and longer each night. She wants to go to the MOA so bad and we tell her, as soon as you sleep in your bed, we will take you. You can have the Hello Kitty watch. You can have a new Dora movie. No takers. I hate this. Kirk and I hate this. You may say tough love, shut the door and let her cry. We have done that a few nights in a row and 3 hrs later she is so beside herself and tired and a mess. It's hard. It's mentally draining. I hate it.