Olivia's chart

Throughout Olivia's two and a half years she has gone to bed a number of different ways. We have rocked her to sleep, pushed her in the stroller, carried her back and forth across the room, but she has never gone to sleep by herself. Recently she had been falling asleep in her crib, but only if someone sat in the rocking chair until she fell asleep, which could take up to an hour. A couple weeks ago while I was getting Olivia ready for bed I decided to try a new routine. I told Olivia I would sing her songs in the rocking chair, put her in her crib, read her Goldilocks and the Three Bears, say good night and then she would go to sleep in her bed and I would go to sleep in my bed. As I was saying good night I was certain I would hear her calling me back to the rocking chair, but she didn't. After 20 minutes had passed I was shocked that we hadn't heard a peep from her and she had fallen asleep. The next morning we decided to build on this achievement and start a sleeping chart for Olivia. Olivia absolutely loved the idea of a sleep chart and was so excited to put a sticker on her chart if she was able to go to sleep all by herself. I would usually wake up to a very joyful declaration "I went to sleep all by myself!!" We told Olivia if she went to sleep all by herself 5 nights in a row she would get a surprise. Last week Olivia put the last sticker on her chart.

And now she is the proud owner of this ballerina costume.

She wanted to wear the costume immediately and went right to work showing us her ballet moves.