A Christmas Miracle

The Youngest Child is not the best of sleepers.  She has always been very insistent about needing to be rocked/cuddled to sleep and for the sake of peace her father and I have always just complied.  We've tried to encourage her to go to bed on her own but it has never seemed to work.  Her non-sleeping has been compounded by the fact that her cot is still in our room, owing to lack-of-space issues.

But last night, she put herself to bed (as she has actually done a few times in the last week or so) and instead of waking at around 1 or 2 am and demanding to come into bed with us and then spending the rest of the night wrestling with us both, or lying on one of our heads, or crawling up and down the bed, she slept through until 6 am.  Like I said, it's a Christmas Miracle!  And we have this little guy to thank:

She is mad keen on the BBC series In The Night Garden, and I had bought her a little cuddly Igglepiggle from Target last week.  He has since become her constant companion, coming on outings with us, being read stories and has enjoyed one or two baths in the cat's water bowl.  He also goes to bed with her and she has been happy just to hop into her very own bed cuddling him after her usual routine of stories, songs and cuddles with mum or dad.

Let's just hope it lasts!