Ryan and Dylan in the City: Night Night

For months, we had a VERY hard time getting Ryan to go to sleep on his own. I really didn't want to let him "cry it out" (cio) but I was spending hours trying to get Ryan to fall asleep every night. We made a half-hearted attempt at cio a few times, but I think both Jay and I just couldn't stand to let Ryan cry. Finally, at 15 months, Ryan's sleep habits were deteriorating and we decided to really try cio. The first night was truly awful - Ryan cried for a pretty long time and I cried almost the whole time too. The second night, it took 5 minutes and the third night, Ryan went to bed without a peep. We now have a pretty set bedtime routine that we all enjoy and Ryan has been sleeping much better for the past 3 months. Each night, we read books, sing songs, kiss night night and then Ryan gets in bed. I usually read Ryan the books and one of my favorite parts of the day is when we finish the last book, Ryan says "Dada", jumps off my lap, and runs to find Jay to give him a kiss and hug good night - I just love watching his little tush run out of the room knowing that he can't wait to find his dad.

The first day we started the cio, we gave Ryan a stuffed animal to sleep with thinking that maybe it would make him feel less alone- the doll's name is Mr. Freak and he was a gift for Ryan's first Chrismas from my cousin Neil. Freak is an UglyDoll and his real name is Wedgehead (not sure when we changed his name to freak). Ryan still sleeps with Freak every night but he has added a few more nighttime buddies (2 monkeys, Mr. O who is also an uglydoll, and most recently Grover). Usually, Ryan puts each animal in a very specific spot, always the same for each one, pats each one and says night night, then coves Freak (yes, freak gets his own blanket), and then lies down. Guess he felt like changing it up for the video