cause for celebration.....

so, before i get to the cause of celebration, i should tell a little back story.

earlier this week we were sitting around the dinner table. trying to anyway. when the weather gets warm, ashlyn gets ants in her pants and can't sit still for more than 2 minutes at a time to eat dinner. when it's springtime, dinner isn't nice and leisurely with discussion about the days events. when the sun is shining and there is playtime to be had. eating is more like the whole shove as much as she can into her mouth, disregarding all display of manners so she has more time to play.

seriously, like her brain goes a hundred miles a minute and her body acts like a puppy excited to see it's owner running around in circles wearing a path in the carpet. hahhaaa. she sits down to eat and shoves a healthy bite into her mouth, so much she can barely chew, runs outside with mouth still stuffed, gets on her bike for a whole minute, then is back inside wanting another mouthful.

anywho. the back to the real story. so the other night we're eating dinner, and the weather must have been cold, or windy, or rainy.....yeah, i think it was rainy. because this particular night she was at the table, eating the leisurely dinner with conversation. so we're eating and talking and ashlyn starts whining about wanting a new bike. something doug promised her she could get with our tax refund. (which has loooong been gone)

*okay, wait a minute. you need a little back story, within the back story* have i lost you yet?

we've also been trying to work on getting her to sleep in her own bed. we've tried EVERYTHING to get her to sleep in her own room and stay in her own room all night. everything. really, i don't have time to even tell you all we've tried. so she sleeps on a toddler bed mattress on the floor in our bedroom.

she just wants to feel safe and be with mommy and daddy.

*okay, back to the first back story*
so, we're at the table and we're talking about a new bike and i pipe up and say, "ya know, i really don't think you should get that new bike until you can start sleeping in your own room at night like a big girl." doug immediately agrees. and we are met with lots of heavy sighs and grumbling and but, but, but, buttttttttttt daddyyyyyyyyyyy! you promised. so we talked some more and negotiated.

daddy said, "okay, you sleep in your room during the week and then you can sleep in our room on the weekend." she said "but daddddddddddyyyyy." and then we tried to change the subject.

this happened over and over with lots of negoitiating for a good 15 minutes.

then finally out of nowhere, she said "oooooh, i have an idea. i can sleep in my own room if i just have a mommy and daddy in there with me. so after dinner we need to all go to mommy's studio and make a mommy and daddy to put in my room. but mommy, i'm gonna need your tape or sumpin' because you don't have papers big enough so we'll have to tape a bunch of them together to make them big. okay?" sooooooooo funny how her little brain works.

she got busy and decided she didn't want to make them, she'd rather play her LMAX. so that night she fell asleep in our room and then doug transfered her to her bed. the next morning she woke up in hysterics because she was disoriented and didn't know why she was in her bed.

that night, she gave doug and earful when he got home from work. and he told her that she woke up in the middle of the night and said daddy, i want to be a big girl and sleep in my bed every night. (which she really didn't say). reverse psychology. heh. heh.

so she wanted to keep her word and make herself proud. so she went in her room, got in her bed and went to sleep. all.by.herself. AND stayed there. all night. it was so very cool to see how proud she was of herself. and she was over the moon excited that her teachers thought it was cool too.

and guess what.....she's slept in the big girl bed for THREE days in a ROW!!!!!!!!!!!
i'm dancin' a little jiggity jig!