Tiny increments of betterment

Is it time for an update on the sleep situation? I suppose it is.

Let's start with the good news. Mabel is definitely toilet trained. Pull-ups are strictly for night time, not even for naps. (I put a waterproof crib mattress pad under her at naptime just in case, but mostly she doesn't need it.) My diaper-totin' days are over. I am in no way tempting fate by saying this.

Okay, okay, that's not sleep.

Last time I took you down this fascinating road of good intentions, I was trying to night-wean the three-year-old; something many people do when their babies are six months old, or maybe twelve, or perhaps two years. But I'm a slow starter, and I dislike confrontation.

The first few days went startlingly well: Mabel would go back to sleep without nursing at her first wake (10pm or so) and skip her second wake (midnight-ish) entirely. By the time the formerly third wake happened (3am) I was so impressed, and she so frantic, that I would happily give her what she wanted, and we'd all go back to sleep.

But then she started not eating dinner. Which made her wake up hungry in the middle of the night. Which was not conducive to staying asleep or being content with an inane story about Dora and some butterflies instead of the much-desired boobie.

(She has started to say "boobie" instead of "mumeet". I am not happy about this development. When I'm on the phone to my mother and Mabel starts to shout "Give me your boobies!", there's little I can do to dissemble about what's going on.)

So we had some frustrating evenings while B was away, and we're just getting back into the swing of things now, remembering to send him in when she wakes the first time, even though she's not yet back to ever going back to sleep without me. But still, some times, more often than not - almost always, I'd say optimistically - she will go back to sleep without nursing at the first wake. The night before last she went back to sleep the first two wakes without nursing. Even. But she's still waking - that is, enough to start calling for me and escalate if ignored - as much as ever.

Still. I'll take what I can get, for now. It's a start.