sleeping on his own...

 

Bill and I finally decided it was time to let our little one cry it out and put himself to sleep, especially since he had recently been rolling over onto his tummy while still being swaddled. (He must be pretty strong to roll over with his arms and legs still constrained!) We were going to do it a month ago, but couldn't b/c of Josiah getting sick and then my brother coming to visit.

So, we put Josiah in his room with just a sleep sac on, prepared to let him cry it out for an hour at max. Smiles cried for just 16 minutes and then fell asleep. We could not believe how quickly he was able to fall asleep on his own, and thank the Lord that it was relatively painless for all persons involved. =) William woke up crying not long after that, which caused Josiah to wake up crying, too. So we had both boys crying at once, preparing ourselves for the worst, but it only lasted for a couple of minutes. William seemed to settle down when he heard Josiah crying and Josiah settled down on his own not long after William stopped crying. It really was the most amazing thing to watch. We didn't think the boys would be able to cope with the other one crying, but they worked it out on their own, which was so encouraging to see.

After that, Josiah would wake up whimpering a little every now and then, but would be able to go back to sleep on his own. By the time I went to bed, I didn't hear a peep from him until about 6:30 when he started waking up. But he stayed in his crib babbling from time to time and didn't start to fuss until around 7:30 when it was time to get up.

We were so blown away by how well Josiah did crying it out his first night... and so incredibly grateful to the Lord for allowing our Smiles to make this transition to sleeping on his own so easily and quickly. Hopefully, tomorrow's naps and bedtime will go just as well. It'll take a while to figure out the best sleeping routine for him, but we are so thankful to the Lord for His mercies regarding this.