It worked!

So.

The other night was bad, for all of us. Vivian would NOT sleep in her own bed. Now, I know this is totally normal, but it was SO out of left field for her that we were totally thrown off. We yelled, we screamed, we stomped, and to my shame, I slapped my child.

There is only one other thing I feel ashamed of in my life.

It ended with me crawling into hed bed, and getting 2 hours sleep.

I vowed this would not happen again, and even if it did, I would NOT react. It was not the rational thing to do. I let my instinct guide me, and what happened was the ONE thing I did not want.

So instead, we formulated a plan. No TV in the afternoon. More playing. Listening to music. INTERACTING with us.

I had a nice bath with her prior to bedtime, let her "wash" Mommy, let her play drums on the tupperware.

She went peacefully to bed, and we fell exhausted into bed.

NOT A PEEP all night. In fact, when I left at 8, she was still asleep.

I feel so good knowing that rationality worked. I feel terrible about the slap however. Likely always will.

Hopefully, this works for the rest of toddlerhood too.