A Matter of Perception

We have been fighting the losing battle of trying to get Amelia to fall asleep in her room without either of us sitting in there with her the entire time. Additionally, we have been begging her to actually stay in her bed rather than sneak into ours like a thief in the night. I'm not sure the entire message is getting through to our little girl. Last night was a perfect example....

I sat in bed with her and scratched her back for about 20 minutes after which Meggan came in and did the same. Each time we tried to leave, she cried as though I just told her we were heading out to Disney without her and the Boogeyman was coming to babysit. Now, to all of you who say "just let her cry it out"...you probably aren't factoring in the very sleep-troubled 4 month-old lightly resting in the room next door or the chronic asthma cough she has. Anyway, eventually Meggan struck a deal to sit outside her room while she basically whimpered herself to sleep. Yay! After finally falling out, she then proceeded to come into our room multiple times throughout the night and I had to march her back to her room - the final time I actually fell asleep in her bed with her.  At roughly 5 a.m. she woke me up because she had to go potty. This was actually a great thing because she is just starting to grasp the news that her bed is indeed not a sleep-in urinal. However, after we got back to bed, we had to have a discussion as to why she couldn't sleep without her bottoms on (they were apparently uncomfortable). So, after that weird little talk, I got out of bed at 5:30, dead tired and cursing her for giving me about as much restful sleep of a meth addict.  She woke up for the final time about a half an hour later.  Thus, I made my zombie-like way up the staircase to bring her downstairs.  All I could think was "why, oh why, are we having such a hard time at this???".   She, however, had a different thought.  Any guesses on the first words out of her mouth?  No? Let me tell you. My sweet, sweet little girl looked at me, smiling ear to ear and bursting with pride and said "Daddy! I slept all by myself like a big girl and I didn't cry!!!".... Apparently, in the demented world of a 3 year-old, waking up alone is the same thing as sleeping alone.