Elliott is in love with Melmo. Melmo, for those of you that don't live with us, is commonly known to the rest of the world as Elmo.
The love started a few months ago when he started asking for us to read the Melmo book 1 billion times a day. It was the first time we had heard him refer to a character by name. Then he started seeing Melmo everywhere in stores so he got a Melmo shirt, toothpaste and toothbrush. We also remembered we had a Melmo stuffed animal from Spencer's toddlerhood and dug that out.
About 10 days ago Elliott, just totally out of the blue, started crying at naptime and bedtime. He had been doing such a beautiful job for such a long time going to sleep on his own so it was really surprising to see him backslide. We've been strong though and aren't letting him play us. He cries and calls for us for 5-10 minutes and then stops and goes to sleep. We are very much against the cry it out method and have always refused to let our kids cry for any amount of time, but this feels very different. He's definitely trying to manipulate us. Knowing that doesn't make it any easier to listen to him cry though.
We tried a night light and it made no difference, so we decided that a bedtime buddy was needed. We went to Buy Buy Baby after dinner and bought a very soft and snuggly Melmo.
Side note: months ago we put the crib mattress on the floor in our room after we took the crib apart. We keep books and toys on it and Elliott will sit there and keep himself busy when I am in the shower. It's also where he picks his bedtime books.
He was pretty excited about the new Melmo.
Excited and cute.
I don't want to say that the problem is solved, but he only cried for about 30 seconds tonight and then it was total silence.
Addionally, and unrelated to Melmo, Elliott wore those plaid pajamas for the first time tonight. They previously belonged to Mr. Spencer. He wore them for the first time in October, 2009, when he was 2 years-1 month old.
It seems like that was about 3 months ago. And yet, here he is on Sunday at 6 years-1 month old.
He is also spending the entire week in Tucson with his grandparents so he will be totally lacking from the blog this week.
3 comments:
Oh, Melmo...who doesn't love him! I think having a cuddly buddy to sleep with was the perfect solution. And those pics of Elliott are just so cute. How can our sweet looking boys be so "mean" lately? Haha!
Your a good momma! I don't let my kids cry ever, either. Hence the reason I have a 4 and 2 year old that wake me every single night, without fail. Ha!
Aw, your little cuties. They are awesome dudes. I love that Elliott loves Melmo!!
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