Come Closer!

I have a secret to tell you. Well, it's not really a secret...but it's one of those things that I'm scared to say out loud. But I'm bursting at the seams and I need to tell someone! So lean in close and I'll whisper it in your ear....

MAX IS SLEEPING IN HIS OWN ROOM! BY HIMSELF! ALL NIGHT LONG!!

HE'S SLEEEEEPINNNNG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(There are not enough exclamation points in the world.)

Truth be told, he's been doing it for several weeks now. So it should "stick" -- right?? But we continue to tip-toe around in the evenings and keep our fingers crossed that he does not regress for any reason. I think that if I let him crawl in bed with me ONE SINGLE TIME, or if he comes down with the flu, or if a butterfly spreads its wings in China, all that progress could vanish instantly. (But even then, I would know that we've made it here once before and we can do it again!)

It took 3 months to get here. (That is, 3 months in addition to the 8 1/2 years of previous work!) For 3 months, we faithfully recorded everything and worked towards this goal with a singular focus. We did not give in. We did not back down. We got creative. We changed some things. We added some things. AND IT WORKED.

I have to add -- a small part of me wonders how much earlier this could have worked, and how many nights of frustration we could have avoided. I don't know. Maybe a year? I seriously don't think it could have happened much earlier than that. And it doesn't even matter now. But I do know this: the time was right and it went smoothly because HE was ready.

There are things we did to help him be ready, but the bottom line is that his changes were more important than ours.

This is big, people. HUGE! (So DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!) *tossing salt over shoulder*