the great escape

Despite being a fairly good sleeper as a baby (thanks to babywise) Niamh has really not been an easy toddler when it comes to sleep. The problem really started when unbeknown to us, the nanny (Ayi) started sleeping in Niamh's room in Beijing. Back then, we had Niamh's crib, and a single bed in her room. The single bed was meant to be the transition as the big girl bed, not a place for the nanny to sleep (who by the way had her own bedroom next door).

As we didn't realize this was going on, Niamh became dependent on having someone else in the room with her - a painful habit to wean her from (insert many sleepless nights and threats of the wooden spoon circa 3 am).

Now that she easily goes down at night, she has a new trick. She gets out of bed in the night and sneaks into our Ayi's room to wake her up. This is annoying for several reasons.

1. All she wants is Ayi to put her back to bed, so its pretty pointless to wake her up in the first place
2. Ayi is then tired the next day as this can happen anywhere from 1-3 times a night
3. Niamh knows that she isn't supposed to get out of bed anyway, and she still does

Needless to say, this really annoys me and I want to break her of the habit. The worst part is, she acknowledges breaking the rule in the morning and unlike potty training, the rewarding with stickers isn't working. And we're talking glow in the dark stickers she can put up on her wall. So you know this is serious for Niamh.

I remember my Mom telling me that my brother was really bad about getting up in the night, and that they used to lock him in his room. A good friend of hers did this with their son too. While it was hard to listen to them cry at the door for a couple nights, in both cases, that's all it took. A couple nights of crying and then they never needed to lock them in again. This certainly seems worth a shot!

Freshly motivated that we can kick the midnight sneak habit, we planned to start the next evening.

The next day, Dom came home with a door knob cover that prevents kids from opening the door from the inside of the room. I didn't even know this existed! (Seriously though, WHO invented this? And how bad were their kids?)

After installing, I took Niamh upstairs and explained to her what we were doing, why we were putting on this cover, and that it would mean she couldn't get out of her room at night. She knows she is supposed to stay in bed, but I didn't want her to be scared or alarmed by it. So in the light of day, I closed her in and she tested it out and understood what it meant.

Parents: 1, Niamh: Nil

Our initial taste of victory was short-lived. Niamh was quiet and possibly, I'd like to think, in awe of our plan, for at least a nano-second. Then she said a couple of things that quickly put the ball back in her court.

"I'm going to escape. I'm going to fly out of the room and into Ayi's room and wake her up"

Parents: 1, Niamh: 1

As Niamh is going to be a fairy for Halloween, I'm pretty sure the planned flight out of the room is possibly due to the green fairy wings she recently tried on, but nonetheless, the notion is utterly terrifying to any parent whose children sleep above the ground floor! We immediately lapsed into full-blown panic and taped up the windows like a hurricane was going to blow through town. The fairy-dust may have gone to our heads, but we weren't taking chances.

Parents: 2, Niamh: 1

Satisfied that our little fairy princess was in fact, no longer going to 'fly' to Ayi's room, we got her ready for bed and Ayi read her a Chinese story. Normally, she goes right to sleep without a problem, but obviously, the knowledge that the newly implanted door-knob cover was in use was too much for her to handle. Within 15 seconds of closing her door, it flew open.

Don't ask me how she got the thing open. I'm pretty sure its entire purpose is to prevent that very thing.

Parents: 2, Niamh: 2

Maybe the door wasn't closed properly, I thought. So I closed the door myself. She then proceeded to kick and hit the door and cry hysterically - and was definitely NOT in bed. After 10 minutes, when that didn't work, she decided to play dirty.

"Mooooooommyyyyyy, nooooooooo. Please mama, no do thiiiiiis. I no like it," she pleaded.

My heart broke. I'm ashamed to even say this, but I caved. Me. Disciplinarian numero uno.

I opened the door.

Parents: 2, Niamh: 3

I told her that we wouldn't have to use it if she stayed in her room all night, and she agreed to do so as long as we didn't lock her in. And she kept her word! That night anyway...

This was last week and since then she stays in bed about every other night. The other days, when she still sneaks out to wake up Ayi, she gives herself away by stating boldly the next morning "I no wake ayi up" which directly translates to "I woke Ayi up last night".

Niamh after an attempted escape

Do you guys have any ideas on this one? What worked for your kids?