Sleep training

Last night we tried sleep training, otherwise known as cry-it-out, with Eli. He had been having some terrible nights in a row where he would wake up several times a night and Michael and I were having to put him back to sleep. It seemed obvious that it was time for him to learn to go to sleep himself so that anytime a little noise or something woke him up at night, he wouldn't need us to help him go back to sleep.

I was pretty nervous about the whole thing -- expecting him to cry for hours or something. I put him to bed at 7:35 p.m. and he started crying around 7:45 p.m. Michael checked on him and found a very dirty diaper. He put him back in his crib around 7:50 p.m. Eli cried for about 15 minutes and fell asleep. And here is the amazing part: he slept the entire night without needing his parents!

Even when I put him down for naps during the day, he would cry a tiny, tiny bit and then fall asleep and take really good naps. In fact, his door slammed shut during one of his naps today and he woke up for a second, cried, and before I could get into his room to soothe him, he was back asleep. Amazing.

Tonight I put him down awake again and he cried for about 10 minutes. Michael went in to soothe him and 5 minutes later he was asleep. So far so good....

In other news, we went to the Saturday Farmer's Market again today and had a blast. Eli was fantastic and took a nap on our walk home. I love walking down there with my family. It makes me really like Salem. In the afternoon, we had a going-away barbecue for our friend Mardell, who is moving to Helena, Mont. It was super fun, but sad because Mardell is leaving us. Eli had fun watching Elliot though :)