Chronicles of Cry It Out - Day Five

My chipper little baby is happily playing on the floor as I write this, grinning at me between grabbing at toys or chewing on feet. She's been happy all day (or what she's been awake for) so far. Yesterday she was pretty happy too, playing and rolling over on the floor, bouncing with gusto in her jumperoo, and snuggling the daylights out of me. She napped briefly in the morning, then as we cruised through Costco in the afternoon, and then she took a late nap again (6-7ish), so she didn't start getting visibly sleepy until about 8:00. I put her down at 8:07, and the monitor and I went to do some dishes. She cried for about 15 minutes before it turned to muttering, then back to crying, lather rinse repeat. She fell silent after about 35 minutes, so I peeked in the door and found her focused on flipping onto her belly. She gave up on that soon after, flopped onto her back and started snoring softly. All told - 40 minutes. She woke again about 1 am, not fully crying, but fussing a little every few minutes, and definitely keeping me awake. I figured I could feed her and get it over with, so I hauled myself out of bed. Boy did I underestimate how exhausted I was. I had been planning to feed her in her rocker, but as soon as I started walking toward her room I knew I didn't have the energy to sit up with her (I've been fighting a cold all week). So, for my own well being I took her to bed and fed her there. We both fell asleep in the process, and when I woke it was 2. I carried her back to her crib and laid her down, her eyes flying open the second she touched the mattress. I put my hand on her belly and "shhh"ed until she started rubbing her eyes, and I made for the door. Between two and four, Charlie stayed quietly in her crib, playing with her toes. Since I knew she was awake, I woke up every 15 or 20 minutes to check on her, and every time she was happily and silently playing. Finally an hour or so into this game her eyelids were starting to droop, and I readied myself to really sleep. Well, then she lost her binky. She fussed a little, and I tried to ignore it, hoping she'd get her ever-more-coordinated fingers around the thing and back in her mouth. Eventually, around 4, I heard the soft thud of the binky being kicked out of the crib and onto the floor, followed by a more consistent sad sob. Well, at this point I was so tired that I acted in the only way that my sleep deprived mind could, and went and got her. I considered "plugging" her with the binky and leaving, but when she saw me, my oh-so-awake child actually squealed in delight. Well, melt my heart, how is one supposed to resist that? So, to bed with me she came. Once there she gazed at me grinning for about 10 minutes, rolled over to be closer to me (I always try to keep her at least a foot away) and just seemed to bask in the togetherness of it all. Soon enough she fell asleep, and I fell asleep, and we both slept until Tim woke us before he left for work. Charlie was still in a very good mood, grinning at him and snuggling with him until he had to go. I fed her again, and we talked back and forth for awhile, then we took a "nap" until 9:30, when she woke up cooing and grinning. So, while we're still not totally making it through the night, Charlie has been so happy and interactive today (albeit sleepy...she did have quite the play time when she should have been sleeping.) Maybe the benefits of this process are starting to show...