“You Can Do Hard Things”
B.G. is currently 9 months old and is working on going to sleep without the aid of her bottle.
Let me tell you, she hates it. She has her bedtime routine:
Dinner
Play
Bottle
Story (all of this takes place in the living room and kitchen)
Then, we move to the bedroom—clean diaper, PJs, brush teeth
Bedtime story
Cuddles with a lullaby I made up for her when she was very tiny
This last point is when she starts crying. Real anger crying. This was the time when, up until a few weeks ago, she would have a “Good Night Bottle,” of just two ounces of milk and peacefully suck on it until she drifted off to dreamland.
But, she can’t be on formula forever—she’s also doing so well with eating!---and needs to learn to fall asleep without the crutch of the bottle. Yes, I know, falling asleep in my arms is also a crutch but we’ll cross that bridge later.
So I hold her as she cries and I rock and sing to her. I whisper to her, “You can do hard things. I know you don’t like it because it’s not what you’re used to, but you can do it. You can go to sleep without the bottle. You can do hard things.” After a few minutes, she (usually) falls asleep. (Don’t hate me—B.G. is a “trick baby” and has **generally** slept well since she was about two months old.)
But this phrase, “You can do hard things,” man, it sticks to me. I give up easily. I get frustrated and think I can’t figure something out and stop. What if I told myself the same thing I told my daughter, that I can do hard things?
Tonight, I did. Regular readers might have noticed my blog has been pretty quiet for the past few months. Two links weren’t working and I couldn’t figure out why. It’s been on the back of my mind, but I didn’t want this blog to become another project I just didn’t finish. So, today, I said to myself, “I can do hard things,” and I figured it out. Like many challenges, once I set to work on it, it was actually a very simple solution.
Now I say to you, whatever you’re facing, or are scared to face, you, too, can do hard things.
Thanks for reading!
💜
Laura
