Heads up, I'm sort of using this as a log, it may not be of interest to anyone else!
So last night and this morning were pretty much a study in what *not* to do...
I had a soccer game last night, but not until after 7, so we decided to go ahead and start the process around 5:30, hoping she would fall asleep before I left. She was definitely tired, and I think if I could have stayed another 10 minutes, she would have been fine (she had to go potty, and it seems like it's often easier for her to fall asleep right after that), but I had to leave, so DH came in and sat w/ her. He said she was almost asleep in 10-15 minutes, and then the dog started whining. So he lets the dog out, thinking he had to go, but instead, the dog just continued whining, this time right outside DD's window
(The dog is old, and loosing hearing & vision, which I think freaks him out, and on top of that our house & outside area are both tiny, so there's no where to put him where he won't bother DD if he happens to have his freak out when we're trying to get her to sleep.) So then it's another 20 minutes after that before DD falls asleep. Still, by my reckoning, she was asleep by 8 (DH couldn't remember the exact time), which for her is pretty good.
Then this morning... we've decided we'll start getting up at 6, making noise, going about our day, and the couple times we've tried that, she's woken up soon after. This morning, she's wakes me up shuffling around at like 10 til 6. I think, "there's no way I can possibly get myself out of bed right now, I'll lay here and relax until the alarm goes off." Next thing I know, it's 7 (and the only reason I woke up then was b/c she woke up). So much for that. Lesson learned - the alarm has to go on the dresser away from the bed (I had turned it down and don't remember it at all - just too beat from playing last night). My plan had been to take her to the museum, but it doesn't open until 10, so we'd get downtown early and wander around, so by 10 she would be perfectly happy with 45 min or so of museum time and we could get back early for her nap (ideally, she'd fall asleep in the car on the way home). Instead, we don't get there until after it opens, and she hasn't already done a bunch of other stuff, so we spend an hour+ there, then she needs to eat, and by the time we get home, it's almost 1. So we had some quiet time with her in her bed and me sitting next to her in the chair, but no nap.
So I guess the plan now is to take her to the park until it's time for our CSA pickup (4:30 - need to see if there's a day we could pick up earlier), then by the time we get back from that, it'll be time to start the bedtime routine and she hopefully will be tired enough to go to sleep fairly easily. Then we can get the day started earlier tomorrow (playgoup is doing a beach day, so wearing her out shouldn't be a problem!), and go from there. Of course, I have another game Thursday night, but that will be the last one for the summer season, and in the fall they're during the day, so there won't be an issue there.
TL;DR: Last night/this morning didn't go so well, but I'm hoping we can get back on track tonight!
So now we've just taught her that mom is the bad guy trying to put her down, and if she cries long enough, dad will recue her.
