it's actually working....I think

On Monday, I started using the "No Cry Sleep Solution" techniques for putting Claire to sleep for her naps. I felt like it was a good time to get started since rocking her to sleep was taking much longer than it used to; quite often 20 minutes or so. Here's how it's progressing so far.

Day 1:
Attempt #1 was completely unsuccessful. She slept in until 10:00 this morning so we had a late start on our naps. I rocked her until she was drowsy and then laid her down. To prevent myself from getting frustrated and throwing in the towel on day 1, I set a goal of 20 minutes at the side of the crib. After my allotted time I gave up and figured we'd try again in an hour or so. She was happily playing in the living room at about 3:15 when all of a sudden she had simply had enough. She wailed through her diaper change just desperate to go to sleep. It didn't take more than a minute of rocking once I got her calm and she was out cold. Poor girly. Total nap hours: 1

Day 2:
She slept in today until about 9:00 so we started trying our first nap around 11:00. I rocked her until the little eyes started to close and then laid her down. She woke right up. After 45 minutes of off and on singing, she started crying. It was about time for her to eat...so we gave up. A couple hours later we gave it another shot. I saw my first glimmer of success with this nap. She fell asleep after 20 minutes of singing and slept for her typical 30 minutes. I was going to try again 2 hours later, but Adam came home from work and wanted to go for a walk. I thought she would certainly fall asleep during a long walk, but of course, I was wrong. She stayed wide awake the whole time and enjoyed the ride. Total nap hours: 0.5

Day3:
It was amazing, miraculous even! Two hours after she woke up we went into her room as usual. I rocked her for about 5 minutes and once her eyes closed I carefully laid her down in her crib. I think it helped that I waited just a bit longer than yesterday. She woke up, but I remained calm and kept singing. After about 7 minutes she was out - on her own, in her crib!! She woke briefly after 30 minutes, but went right back to sleep for another 1 1/2 hours. Heaven! About 2 1/2-3 hours after she woke we gave it another try. It went just about the same except that there was a little crying when I laid her down. She slept for another hour. I spent less than an hour total helping her get to sleep today and she took 2 "normal" naps for the second time in at least 4 or 5 months. Total nap hours: 3 hours

I'm hoping for another great day tomorrow, but I will not expect much so that I don't get frustrated. We'll see how she does with me sitting a little ways away from the crib.