Ashley's another milestone

Ever since Ashley was born, I was given numerous theories on how one should put a child to sleep. There were the "same soothing music" theory, the "let them cry themselves to sleep" theory, the "cuddle them to sleep" theory, the "sleep in the same room or same bed" theory, etc.

Well, we adopted the "sitting on the fence" theory, meaning she sleeps in our room (less traumatic for her), but in separate beds (less dependent on us). She didn't like the cot initially but I insisted on putting her in there despite having to carry her out to sooth her numerous times each night. As soon she got used to the idea of sleeping in a cot, hubby got an offer to work in Sydney! While he got over a couple of months ealier to prepare the place for us, Ashley and I went to live with my parents. My mum, a loving grandmother would cuddle and rock her to sleep every night. Since we don't have an extra cot at my parents', Ashley slept with me on the bed. I knew when that happens, sleeping in the cot is a thing of the past. But it all worked well.

Finally, we moved to Sydney and it was smacked right in the peak of winter. We tried to keep Ashley warm by letting her sleep in our bed to share the body heat. During those months, I was always worried if Ashley would become so attached to the idea of sleeping with us and refuse to sleep in her own bed. So she turned 8 months old, I slowly prepared her for the transition by reading her stories about new bedroom, decorating her room together etc. She got the idea and there was no drama when we finally did move her to her own room. Of course we had to stay with her in the room till she fell asleep and crept out slowly.

Recently, we got her a new bed. I don't know if it was out of the excitement of having a new bed or just that the timing was right, Ashley finally learned to fall asleep on her own. We will tuck her in every night, said a prayer together and give her a kiss, turn off the lights and leave the room. It has been 3 weeks now and I am so proud of her. Sometimes, I feel that she has grown up so much and I kinda feel sad and reluctant to let her baby image go.

Lately, friends have been giving me pressure to toilet train her. I did try but she just wasn't ready. Perhaps, I should approach it in the similar way, let her tell me when she is ready. Till then, I am very proud of my little baby, who is slowly maturing and becoming a full on toddler.