Nighttime Success

Since Caleigh has been born, she has pretty much always slept in our room.  She started out in a bassinet at birth.  Then, she moved into our bed in a snuggle nest.  After she outgrew the snuggle nest, then she just slept in our bed.  Once she got a little older, she moved into a toddler bed in our room.  She has slept in the toddler bed since about the age of 2.  (Now, before you go and judge me for our sleeping practices, just know that I don't care.  We sleep the way that best suits our family.  You should do the same.  I won't judge you for it.)

Recently, Caleigh has seen infomercials for a Dream Light on the Sprout channel (Another reason why I am such a NickJr fan....No commercial or product promotions).  However, some of the characters she likes have shows on Sprout so she gets to watch that channel sometimes too.  She starts to tell me that if she had a Dream Light, then she could sleep in her own room just like the other kids on the commercial do.

I take that as a hint that she is ready to sleep in her own room now.  So, I go to Wal-Mart and purchase the $32.00 Dream Light and let her pick some new bedding for her room as extra incentive for her.  We get her all settled in and she only makes it halfway through the night when she came into our room and said she had a nightmare. 

The next morning I decided to give her something to work toward.  I let her help me make a goal chart.  We talk about it the entire time we are making it.  She chooses the picture for it and what colors to print on and she glues everything together.  Once it is complete, we hang it on her toy box in her room. 

She has to sleep in her bed for 5 whole nights in order to get a surprise.  Each morning that she is successful, she gets a sticker to put on her chart.  Once her chart is full, she gets the surprise.  This worked beautifully.  She only got a sticker IF she made it through the whole night.

Once she reached her goal, she got a surprise!  She got a new paint set.  It had paints, sponges, stamps, sticks, papers, etc. for her to play with.  She was so excited!  SUCCESS!