Desperation at it's Finest.

The last 2 weeks or so Kylan's napping and sleeping abilities have been slowly going downhill.

We thought it was just a growth spurt, or teething, or just a change in routine as he got older.

Then it got worse.

He started crying every time he was put down in his cot, or every time we walked out of his room. Last night he cried from 7-9:30pm only stopping when I read to him, or held him, or talked to him.

We tried everything.

Google.

The baby whisperer.

Reading.

Rocking.

Singing.

Crying it out.

Bathes.

Routines.

Watching his cues, responding promptly, making sure we were in his 'sleep window'.

We've spent many a night where we've considered letting him stay asleep in his carseat, putting the monitor in the car, and locking the doors.

The only thing that has worked consistently for us to feed him to sleep which was just making the problem worse. It meant he was relying on us to put him to sleep, and resulted in him waking up crying when we weren't there instead of waking up peacefully.

The cot has become a war-zone... as we knew it would eventually.

I don't know if this is better or worse than a friend of mine who refused to sleep until she saw the "Chicky Lights."

Translate that into toddler, and it meant she refused to sleep until her parents would drive her to the local KFC to see the lit up sign.

But hey, at least it was consistent and it meant she slept.

As the nights pass, and cries change to smiles the second he sees us, it's becoming more apparent that our little 4 month old has developed a new skill... manipulation.

But the tide may be turning...

This morning I was reminded of the little star nightlight/lullaby cot companion we had. After the batteries ran out a few months ago we forgot about it.



Unfortunately, it turns out it wasn't the batteries, but the whole thing shat itself.

Like any desperate parent would let that stop them...

I went MacGuiver on it's ass.

Behold.





Oh yes, that's a cell phone!

I took Melyssa's old cell phone which still had some of her old music on it, created a quick playlist of Melissa Etheridge and Missy Higgins, MacGuivered it to his cot and would you believe it? It worked.

He just layed there. I walked in and out of the room, he couldn't have cared less.

I heard a little whine when the music ended... and then nothing for another hour.

Thank god for the endless useless capabilites of handheld objects which never do the one thing you want them for... until you get rid of them.