MIRACLES DO HAPPEN

Izzy is perfectly comfortable sleeping............as long as someone is next to him. Our little boy is a cuddler, kisser and lover by nature. He needs to hold your hand or touch you at all times. A very tactile toddler that Izzy.

Izzy starts out in his bed every night..........and eventually crawls in to our bed in the wee hours of the morning. If we are super tired, we don't even know he slipped under the covers. As long as we are consistent at starting him out in his bed every night, Bubby and I figure the rest will resolve itself at some point.

I know a couple Way Down In Mayberry that has taken a different approach to their toddler crawling in their bed at night. They have locked their two year old in its room with child-proof lock and let the child scream bloody murder and bang on the door in the middle of the night. They said it was hard, but it only lasted a week or so. A week or so?

I try not to judge (too much) and I like this couple. I just feel something is very wrong with this. It must change the child. I cannot see how it would not. Not knowing that it's emotional needs were not being met........and would not be met for an 8-10 hour span must f*&# with it's psyche on some level.

Maybe parents all over are doing this and I am unaware of it. Maybe this is something quite common that parents commit in desperation to have uninterrupted sleep and a sex life. I don't know. I don't think I would be very much "in the mood" with a child screaming and banging on a door yelling "Moooommmmmyyyy! Help me!" Nor would I be able to sleep through the trauma........even with the best earplugs. No one gives us a manual on how to parent our children. Sure, there are probably 50 children's Psychiatric novels out there saying why you should or shouldn't do something to rear your children up properly. You could drive yourself crazy reading all of that information. When I struggle, I try to gauge my parenting on intuition. What feels right? Would I want this done to me? Children are just little people.

I woke up at 5:45am this morning and Izzy was not lying next to me. I was very still. I listened to see if maybe he was downstairs with Papa who was writing in his office. Then panic struck! Did he fall off the bed and snap his neck? No. Did a cat smother him while he was sleeping in his bed? I ran to his room as fast as I could. There, sleeping soundly in his tiny little bed was sweet little Izzy. His first night of complete slumber.........in his own room!

I'm not blinded by optimism. I'm aware that this was just ONE time. But it was the FIRST time and is marked as an accomplishment for parents and child!