And That's How You Cage a Toddler..

We lost many battles along the way. But at long last we have won the war.

I have been writing about our on-going battle to get Addison to stay in her own room in her own bed by herself at night, and now I'm happy to write the last part (I really really hope) of this journey. (To check up, read It's Impossible to Reason with a Toddler and Plan V.)

This has been a long month of us battling it out with Addison, but finally we seem to have an understanding. Or at least less screaming, which is saying something.

I last left this story with us netting our daughter into her room, her throwing everything she could

outside, but eventually giving in and sleeping. Things were improving. Since getting the gate, things have improved even more. It's not that she doesn't scream at all, but she gives up quicker. After she would spend hours screaming, we figured that just an hour of screaming was a huge improvement. Now it's about five minutes at the most before she gives up.

I can't tell you how important consistency is with kids sometimes. We held our ground and she figured out that that was just the way it was.

She used to just fall asleep on the floor after screaming and wake up several times in the night. Then she started dragging her pillow by the door and would continue to sleep on the floor. Eventually she started going to her chair to sleep. And finally she started putting herself back to bed. And even better, she started sleeping through the night.

So luckily this part of the story isn't long-winded. The gate has helped a lot. She can see out completely. She can't climb over. Heck she isn't even taller than the gate.

So the long and the short of is that things are better around here. We are finally sleeping better.

And that friends is how you cage a toddler...