ONCE. As in ONE time.

Perhaps I'm celebrating too early. Which is why I shouldn't even post this, I'm probably going to jinx myself but I have some excellent news.

Guess how many times Ari wore up last night. Once.
Guess how many times he woke up the night before last. Three times (temporary relapse).
Guess how many times he woke up the night before that. Once
And the night before that. Once
And before that. Once

Ya. For the most part, ONCE. As in ONE time.
And usually that one time is to go to the bathroom.

Now some of you may be thinking. Wait, your 3.5 year old is waking up once and your excited about that. The answer is, YES. Very.

Ari's been on his iron supplements for over a month now, maybe even getting close to two. We were told it would take awhile for him to build up his iron stores, and this past week it seems we are finally reaching that point. He's been eating better, sleeping better, riding his bike faster and seems to be an overall happier and healthier child.

When he sleeps good it makes me so happy want to cry. Primarily I'm happy for Ari, sleep issues can drive a kid (and their parents) insane, and it was doing just that. The other part of my happiness comes in the form of feeling slightly vindicated. As some of you know, the amount of time a child spends sleeping at night directly correlates with how good of a parent you are (wink wink). When a group of mothers get together the subject of how well your children sleep inevitably comes up. When I mention Ari's sleep pattern (as in getting up 2-3 times is a relatively good night) I get looks of horror.

No, we never did the "cry it out" method, that comes up often, and I feel like in many instances we have been judged negatively for that. Yes, I've been tempted to use that method out of desperation, but Joe and I (ok, mostly Joe) have never really felt good about that. Over the past two years we have felt that his sleep issues were more medical than behavioral, but that's just not something you can explain to people because we had no proof...until he could communicate that his feet were sliding off. It was just the clue we were praying for.

Kudos go to Joe for getting up with Ari every night, that takes a lot of patience. So glad we seem to be on the road to recovery, I really hope he keeps it up. Yes, Ari's feet do still slide off, but not nearly as often or as intensely. Don't think that will ever go away, my restless legs still drive me insane sometimes.

And yes, I still think that despite what I read in "Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child" my kid will indeed be a productive member of society.

I love iron.