.bedtime snuggles.

we've been pretty blessed in regards to kaiya falling asleep and sleeping through the night.  i started a bedtime routine early on that consisted of an early bath, nursing, rocking, then sleep.  the first couple weeks i had to rock her until she was 100% sleeping, otherwise she would wake right up when i put her down to sleep.  after a while, i ended up rocking her for a couple minutes, put her down and walked away.  to my surprise...she fell asleep all by herself!  sometimes she'll fuss, sometimes she'll play, but when that happens you can pat her for a couple minutes, walk away and then she'll get into "the zone".  "the zone" is when i know she's about to fall asleep.  she'll stare off into space and nothing will break her stare.  you can walk past her and she won't even flinch.  a few minutes after that...she'll be fast asleep until the next morning.

up until a few days ago that is.  she seems to be fighting the early bedtime more and more...but i'm determined that early bedtime=happy baby in the a.m.  she's all about talking and playing instead of going to sleep.  so i decided to try giving her something to snuggle.  little miss kaiya seems to LOVE snuggling her dog blankie, and it's one of the only thing that comforts her when she's trying to fall asleep for the night...because i don't want her to get used to me rocking her to sleep again. so i'll give her the dog blankie and sit next to her and pat her a couple times, then walk away.  she likes to hold it and rub it cause it's so soft, and she also sucks on it (since she doesn't take the paci)...but she eventually get into "the zone", and falls asleep with all snuggled up against the dog.  sooo cute.

the dog blankie was the very first thing that i bought for kaiya was on a trip to oahu to visit aunty erin who was on vacation from oregon.  we went to a small shop in haleiwa, and i bought her a gray & white dog blankie.  well, when we first brought kaiya home, i was determined to make that thing one of her fave blankies/toys so it went with us whenever she was in her carseat.  fast forward four months....

here's kaiya snuggling her dog...