Gratitude journal: A good sleeper

So many parents have such a hard time getting their children to sleep at night.

Some can’t stand the thought of listening to their child crying in the crib during the process of sleep training.

Others end up with a child sleeping in their bedroom for months and even years. I know parents who have actually placed their child’s bed in their own bedroom. I know others who trade beds with their child in the middle of the night so their little one can sleep with Mommy or Daddy in the parent’s bed when the mood strikes.

I’ve known parents who allow their child to fall asleep to the television and parents who haven’t had a decent night of sleep in years.   

I was actually one of these difficult children. My mother once told me that she could hardly remember a time when I fell asleep before she did, and she couldn’t remember a single morning when I was still asleep when she awoke.

But to her credit, I was never permitted to sleep in her bedroom. When I was six months old, I was moved into my own room, never to return to my parent’s bedroom. 

My mother believed that if your child isn’t going to sleep, at least keep the kid out of your bedroom.

Smart woman.

Tonight I am grateful that my daughter is such a good sleeper.

She’s not the best sleeper. It’s quite common for Clara to play in her crib well after she’s been put to bed, and though she naps at school everyday, she has a reputation for being the worst sleeper in her class.

Last asleep, first awake. Just like her Daddy.

But Clara sleeps. We put her to bed before 8:00 PM on most nights and don’t see her again until 7:00 AM. And since she was four months old, she has been sleeping in her own room. The first week or so wasn’t easy, but we knew that it was important to stay strong and enduring her crying so that she could learn to become a good sleeper.

She did.

This weekend Clara spent the night with her grandparents, and she slept in a regular bed for the first time in her life. She went to bed much later than usual and had more difficulty falling asleep than usual, but once asleep, she slept all night. 

And looked damn cute doing it.

Tonight I am grateful that my daughter is a good sleeper. I’m not sure whether my wife and I should take the credit (which I prefer) or Clara deserves the bulk of the recognition, but either way, it’s so nice to have a kid who sleeps through the night, every night, without fail.