A 22/23 month old will NOT beat me, I WIN!!!

This is my son, sound asleep for his nap IN HIS BED!

He has the strongest will I've ever encountered, EVER, but after 2 months of sleeping issues we finally have a peaceful house again. Apparently 2 months is a common time frame for older siblings to realize jealousy of a newborn sibling and I'm pretty sure that's why this started, because Jacob was going to bed in his big boy bed very well most of the time before then, and Caleb is now 4 months so this was a two month long battle.

We tried every thing....

*** Not wanting to worsen any anxiety or insecurity he might be feeling over Caleb's new place in our family, we catered to his desire to have us lay down with him until he fell asleep - which was fine at first when it only took a few minutes, but then he became manipulative about it and saw it as a time to stay up late and talk & play with Mommy or Daddy regardless of how much we ignored him & pretended to be asleep. After 2 nights of zero time alone or with only my husband we were done with that. I can't be a good mother when I don't have a chance to re-charge my own batteries.

*** I tried spanking him for getting out of bed, but realized I could beat him to death and he would still climb out of his grave. It was hard enough, trust me.

*** I tried leaving his door open but then he didn't even stay in his room no matter how many times I silently walked him back to bed. It went on for hours.

*** Jeff ended up flipping the door knob around and we locked him in his room (because, of course, this was when he learned to open doors). We let him scream and cry it out and usually he would eventually fall asleep on the floor - right inside the door, so we couldn't open it and move him to his bed - he'd sleep there for 1/2 hr & then wake up and scream and cry all over again, but for a shorter time from his bed because he was so groggy. But days that I was babysitting I didn't want Jacob to disrupt the other kids' nap so I'd go in and end up laying on the floor or something until he fell asleep. Eventually I decided I needed to be more consistent every day. So poor Abby and Mason had to deal with Jacob's screaming and crying at nap time day after day until Jacob decided it wasn't worth it and now happily goes to bed without a fuss. The first week was really hard, but after that I was more and more determined because I was not going to go through this for nothing - it WOULD work. It was 2 1/2 weeks of suffering, but it DID work and is WAS worth it because now he's a dream to put to bed! I can't believe he's the same kid, he's so happy as he waves & blows kisses to me from his bed as I close the door! And when I peek in at him he's laying in the exact same position as I left him so he's not even getting up and playing.

Some wise women at church have told me, "You have to break their will, because if they can't obey you, they will never be able to obey their Heavenly Father". That's my paraphrase, they say it much more eloquently, but that's the jist, and that's what I repeated to myself over and over as the tears streamed down my face listening to my little boy be so sad for so many hours so many days in a row. But this was a battle I had to win, and with God's strength, I did. And I pray that it'll help him love and obey his Heavenly Father when he's walking down rougher paths.