Jay got home Tuesday from his 3-day snow-machining trip.

We did okay here, but I’m really glad my sister was in-town for the weekend. She helped with bedtime Saturday night then came back and helped with baths Sunday morning. She also joined mom in helping shine the house before Jay got home Monday night.

The tough parts were Elisha giving up solids (he hasn’t finished a jar since Friday, and he was going through 2-3 a day), and waking up a gobzillion times every night. It was hard on the girls too, culminating in night waking for Melody, and a long cry before nap for Natasha.

Jay stayed home Tuesday and Wednesday, so I was able to catch-up on some sleep and started in hard on “teaching” Elisha how to go to sleep in his own room Tuesday night.

This generally involves laying the child down over and over again and listening to a tired baby cry no matter where he is (in the crib, the rocking chair, etc.) because he expects to nurse to sleep, even though he’s not hungry.

We had about an hour and a half of him fighting sleep, and another half-hour of his giving-up before I was down about Midnight.

Four wakings that night, the last I was able to pat him back to sleep without taking him out of bed.

Last night we had about a third of that fight, much less vigorous, and three night-wakings, again, with one where I was able to rub his back to settle him again.

The marked improvement is very encouraging, and quite motivating to continue the exercise.