So, I repeated the same process that Cameron usually does when he has had the night time sleep trouble the past few times. I went in, reassured him he was ok, then left. Then I returned 10 minutes later (he started crying right after I left the first time and continued until I returned the second) and laid him back down, rubbed his legs and head to relax him and left without saying a word (I also snuck over and opened the blinds a little to let in some light).

He slept after that....but only for an hour.

I asked Cameron to pick up a cute little nightlight at Pottery Barn Kids on his way home from work. He chose a dog and a frog and brought them home. Hayden chose the dog out of the two and we made a big deal out of it by taking him up to his room to help plug in the nightlight and show him how it worked to light up his room a little so he could have a friend there with him while he slept. He really seemed to like it.

The thing I haven't mentioned yet is that we were planning on going on a date night right after that. We left him with the babysitter shortly after the nightlight introduction. I was SO worried that she would have a hard time getting him down or that she would have to go back into the room several times to get him to stop screaming, relax, and go to sleep. Turns out he did GREAT! No screaming at all! YES! He did talk a lot about the dog nightlight during book time she said, and seemed to really enjoy having it there in his room.

I was hoping that having the babysitter there would break him of his sleep issues. Just a little different routine to kick him out of the habit of crying until we came in to calm him. Not sure if it really did, as we had about 3 good nights of going down to sleep after the first sleep incident at home. So, I am sure he will still have some trouble in the nights to come, but maybe having her there (and the light to reassure him) really did help.

I am sure this is just the beginning....next he will be explaining in full sentences all about the swarm of bees in his closet or the spiders crawling under his bed. -- mam