Lay down, mommy!

Kira has been such a terrible self-sleeper since she was a baby. Blame it on me cosleeping if you want, but I would have never traded those moments for anything. But, now that she is older, I would like to reclaim the bed. So, the plan was to start training her to fall asleep on her own and stay in her own bed all night when we returned from our trip to NY. Before then, we were able to get her to sleep in her own bed, but halfway through the night, she would gather up all her "friends" and "blankie" and trudge to mama's bed to sleep the rest of the night.
Since she was so happy with her "princess bed" at Grammy's house, I decided to use the motivational reward concept to help her with this transition. The very first night we were back, I talked to her about how important it is for big girls to sleep in their own beds. I promised her that after a week of sleeping in her own bed at night, she could go and pick out her very own "princess" bedding at the store. Or Elmo, or Nemo, or whatever else she wanted. She seemed excited by this, but I wasn't really sure she understood. But, she slept in her bed all night that night...and I didn't stay in her room after tucing her in like usual, either. And then she slept in her own bed the next night, too! Woohoo! Last night, she put herself to sleep again, but at 2:30 in the morning, I heard her sneaking into my room with her arms full of "friends" again. I softly reminded her of our plan and carried her back to bed. She was back in my room 30 minutes later, but we gathered everyone up and went back to her bed again. This time, she stayed put. And even slept in until 10:45!
So, we are halfway to our goal. If I can stay focused enough not to give in to the temptation to just let her crawl into the bed...and stay strong enough to avoid the sad looks I get when I take her back to her room, we might just make it!
Although, I have to admit, I think it's so darn cute when she comes in to my room, not alone, but with several carefully chosen friends...and blankie joining her.