We've had an on-going battle with Aubrey her entire life. That is trying to keep that child in her bed all night and out of ours! Now I am not opposed to co-sleeping with your children. People and cultures have had family beds for centuries with much success. However, Aubrey happens to be a very restless sleeper and we end up getting kicked and punched all night long with her in our bed. I have a hard time falling back asleep once I am woken up, so Aubrey in our bed means very little sleep for me. And that I am very much opposed to!
It's been a cycle with Aubrey. She'll start coming in to our bed at night and we'll start taking her back until the habit stops. Then she'll begin the cycle again. Throughout the years she's tried to trick us as well. She started falling asleep on the floor next to our bed. I found her there one night as I was stepping on her on my way to the bathroom. That was a big scare for me. This last cycle she learned that she could climb up the middle of our bed and fall asleep undetected by us. That is until she started kicking and punching us. But, by then she was asleep and we were too lazy to carry her back to bed.
Well a few weeks ago, Jeff decided enough was enough. He told her that every night she slept the whole night in her bed she would get a bean to put in a jar. Once she had collected 20 beans we would take her to the store where she could pick out a $5 reward. She was extremely excited about this. That girl loves to get new toys! She ended up getting her required beans in 21 days. Only one relapse is pretty good. A few nights she came into our room claiming to have a scary dream. We'd give her a kiss and a hug and ask her if she wanted to get her bean the next morning. She would respond "yes" and easily return back to her bed. That bean jar worked like a charm!
Tuesday was the day that she collected all of her required beans. That evening after dinner we all went as a family to Dollar General where she could pick out her prize. They have a ton of $5 toys that she could choose from. After filling up the basket with possible choices, she finally decided on a ceramic pony that she could paint and sticker and decorate her hair with beads.
She was excited to make her pony!
Here's her completed pony masterpiece!
The little cutey with her pony that she is very proud of!
Of course when Brookie heard about Aubrey collecting beans for staying in her bed, she wanted in on it. Brooke hasn't had a problem staying in her bed, but we figured we couldn't leave her out. So she began collecting beans. As it turned out, she snuck into our bed one night too and ended up collecting her 20 beans in 21 days as well. So she got to pick out a prize on Tuesday too. She very quickly found a package with a Rapunzel and a Little Mermaid doll that she just had to have. Thankfully it was $5!
Over the next few days she would come up to us and ask, "Say Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair." Then she would lay Rapunzel on whatever surface was nearby with her hair hanging down and tell us to grab her hair and climb up to her tower. What a little cutie she is!
Brooke had to have something to paint while Aubrey worked on her pony.
We decided to let the girls have one more round with the beans, but this time they have to collect 25 in order to get the prize. We hope that after this one more round they will have established a pattern of staying in their own beds. At least we hope very much that this is the case!!
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