The time has come

Last night, I started letting Jack CIO (cry it out).

I had intended to wait until he could suck his own thumb to comfort himself, but it was clear that something had to change before I dropped him off at Child Protective Services and asked them to find him a less tired Mommy (a thought that really did go through my head as I nursed him back to sleep again mere hours after nursing him back to sleep again mere hours after nursing him back to sleep, again, a few days ago).

He took his bedtime bottle at 7:30 and went peaceably to sleep. I went downstairs, got Nate ready for bed, cleaned up the dinner dishes, started cleaning up the toys, and heard Jack cry. It was 8:15. Instead of feeling wildly out of control and crazy, like I normally do when he wakes for no reason, something inside me settled down and I knew I could handle it.

My plan was to let him cry for 5 minutes, then go back in for some TLC, then another 5 minutes of crying, and repeat until he passed out. I went into his room to make sure he was okay, no fever, no surprises, and gave him some calming pats while leaving him in the crib. I said "night night" and walked out the door. He resumed crying; I sat down at the computer and noted the time. Two minutes later, all was silent. Really silent. I gave it another 5 minutes, then went in to check - he was asleep. I didn't hear from him again until 1 a.m.

I'm not silly to think that it'll all be this smooth, but it certainly does give a girl hope.