10 Down- 20 To Go!

So most of you know that Rylin has never been a good sleeper! At 4 1/2, we are feeling a little defeated in this area. You know the term "slept like a baby"? Well this has never, ever been said about Rylin- not as a baby, a toddler or a 4 year old. The girl is a super light sleeper, she has a tiny bladder, she cries while sleeping for no apparent reason, she sleep walks into my room, and she loves to climb in my bed to snuggle. I feel like we have tried nearly every theory in credited books to teach her to stay in her bed. We have tried discipline, we have tried ignoring her, we had her tonsils and adenoids out, and yet the girl still comes and wakes me up an average of 3 times a night.

We don't get it. We're frustrated. But at this point it is what it is. And so we have turned to bribery! Last spring we told her that if she stayed in her own bed and did not wake me up for 10 nights she would get a scooter. It took a really long time to get to 4, (we're talking weeks!) but the rest were nearly consecutive. She eventually got her scooter, and we were hopeful that this new habit might stick around. It clearly did not!

So in January I told her that if she stayed in her bed for 30 nights she could get her own bike- rather than use Kacia's old one. She got super excited, and still is. Yet here are nearing the end of March and she just got star number 10. The girl is ecstatic that she only has 20 more to go! Clearly the mind of a 4 year old cannot grasp how long it will take her at this rate! I was hoping that like last time- once she had done it a few nights, she would be able to do more, and it would eventually become a habit. This clearly has not yet happened! But maybe our daughter will get a bike by her birthday- by her 6th birthday that is!