We're going through a little bit of a rough sleeping time right now. A couple nights ago, he woke up at 1am screaming. He was OK if one of us were in the room with him (and asleep on your shoulder in a few seconds if you picked him up) but as soon as he was alone he'd lose it. So what do I do? I sleep on the floor in his room. Every 20 mins or so he'd wake up and start to cry and if I let him know I was there, he'd go right back to sleep.
Last night, he went to bed fine (when I first put him down he snuggled right up in his normal position (on his stomach, hands under his tummy, bum in the air, feet crossed) and then about 10 minutes later started with the screaming. So I went up a couple times and, while never taking him out of the bed, convinced him to lie down and go to sleep. It finally worked. He slept through the night (although up an hour earlier than he normally wakes up, and with the lack of sleep from the night before I thought he would have slept in a little longer).
I just put him down for his nap and even though he said yes when asked "Are you tired" and "Do you want to go for a nap", I put him in his crib, he said bye bye and waved, put his head down, and then has been screaming on and off for the past 45 minutes. Jeff just went up to see if he could talk him into sleeping (and now it's quiet?) so we'll see.
I think one of our mistakes was trying to push his bedtime. Carson goes to bed at 6:30 and we tried keeping him up until after 7 so we could have some more time as a family together at night, but with these results? He'll be going to bed at 6:30 again. He didn't seem tired or unhappy at all when we kept him up, so we thought he'd be OK. I think we will try in smaller increments next time.
Also, I talked to my sister and she remembered the twins having a bit of a rough time around the 18 month mark too, so I looked it up online (ahhh the trusty internet) and some kids go through a separation anxiety period at this age. And I think that's exactly what it is. I know he's been extra close to me these past couple weeks, and if one of us leaves the room he'll start to cry or consistently ask for whatever parent is not in the room. (this doesn't happen at daycare, at all, thank goodness).
Jeff just came back down and said that he was just sitting up in his crib crying. Jeff talked to him calmy and quietly and told him it was time for a nap. He wasn't making a move to lie down, so Jeff just said I'm going to sit in the chair until you go to sleep. So Jeff sat in the chair, didn't look at Carson, and after about 2 minutes Carson laid down and was just playing with his car. Then after about 5 minutes, he was asleep an left the room. So it definitely seems like a separation anxiety thing. We'll just do what we can until he grows out of it, without running the risk of making it worse.
Anyways, I sometimes complain about living in the suburbs, but this was at the park behind our house last night. A local TV station (A-Channel) was there, it was packed with young families with young kids, and Carson had a ton of fun! In the pictures where you see him sticking out his lower lip, he's making a "sad" face. If you make that face at him, he'll touch your lip and say "happy" (thanks Grandma Susan for teaching him that!). His new words today? Jack (the boy next door) and flower (we were at Rona and he pointed at a daisy and said flower. Honestly, they are flying out of his mouth.
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