Sleepyland

Matthew Madeleine and Harry are brilliant at going to bed. Off they go, whether they say they are tired are not and just lay there til they drift off to sleepyland.

william is a complete different kettle of fish. My fault, I know that. When he was born, Danny had just moved back onto day/night shifts so I suppose I was more conscious of not letting him disturb a sleeping daddy so I got into the habit of snuggling him a little more than I should. As he got a little older, and whilst it being way easier whilst I was getting the older 2 ready for bed, I let him glug his milk whilst in his pram which usually knocked him off to sleep. Now Gina Ford would instruct me to wake the sleeping baby then place awake into his bed.
Not on your nelly, William, whether 10mins or 10hours of sleep would be woken and that would be that. No going back to sleep.

The situ with Harry only made it worse and now William refuses to drink milk of any kind, bedtime was becoming a joke. I seriously feared Jo Frost knocking on the door lol.
So I decided enough was enough and decided the controlled crying method was to be tried.
Starting Monday night, when Danny is at work and as I'm the hard nut and he the softie (he would have given in after 30secs).
So Madeleine went up, and as I kissed her goodnight I apologised because William is going to cry for a while. I hope he doesnt disturb her.#

Up went William immediately after. Despite his protests of 'I not going to bed yet' he was put into bed and kissed goodnight.
10mins of screaming and sobbing, and after him sobbing he had a snotty nose, I went back up, wiped said nose and laid him back down. Bed time, good night was all I said and out I went.
10 more mins of sobbing, mummy I need a snuggle, I went back up and wiped nose, lay him down and said, youre a big boy, no more crying, mummy is going, night night. 'ok mummy' in that canttalkbecauseofcrying voice (which in itself was heart tugging) and then silence. I don't know how long he lay there but not a peep was heard. Hooray.

Tonight, day 2 of the controlled crying method. I said, its bedtime now. Up went Madeleine, up went William with the same protests. Same crying and snotty nose, but only one visit. All was quiet in half the time of last night. Success.

Tomorrow should be better, there will be one hurdle. Daddy. He will be at home tomorrow night, and he will either cave in or start shouting up, go to sleep. Neither of which will help. I am going to have to sleep train him too lol. I am determined it will work. Most ppl say it only takes a few days after I looked it up on the internet.

Harry has moved one step further in catching up development wise. Today, using my jeans as a grip hold, dragged himself onto his feet. Up til now I've helped him, sat behind him etc so it was a massive achievement for him to do it himself. Now my reaction was to say, ooh clever boy, and normally this prompts him to clap his hands.
Bad move mummy, he went to clap his hands and obviously not ready to let go fell down. So his little triumphant face was replaced with tears. Must remember not to say clever boy. He's nearly 16mth old, although the other 3 didnt walk independently til 18mths, they were cruising round and walking with their little walker toys. It brings it home how behind he is. Most people don't mention it as he is still little and as the same size as an average 10mth old his movements are probably typical of a 10mth old. The few that go on to ask how old he is can't help but show their surprise. I suppose we have chemo to thank for that.

25days til Matthew is 8, 17days til we go to Birmingham and 7 days til retinoblastoma awareness week. Please sign and share this petition, raising awareness is surely a good thing and getting the UK government to pull their finger out will do such thing.
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/publish-signs-of-childhood-eye-cancer-retinoblastoma.html

Thank you xx