She sleeps.

Last Wednesday night, Ashley was exhausted (no surprise with the teaching, dissertation, family, and other responsiblities, but I digress) and felt like Eden might be able to make it for awhile without having a dreamfeed for the night. She said Eden had seemed more restless after her dream feeds the few nights before. So, she did it. She went to bed without feeding Eden. Daring. Heroic. Crazy. Successful!

Little Miss Eden slept until morning.

Over the past week, Eden has woken up a few times early in the morning, and Ashley has nursed her then put her back to sleep. For the past few days, she's been asleep by 8:00 and sleeping until 7:00 or 7:30 the following morning. No early morning waking. No dreamfeeding. Even more comforting to Ashley is that it all seemed to happen on Eden's schedule; we made it through without imposing our own needs earlier.

It was also "Eden's decision" to move her bedtime from around 9:00 to around 8:00. Eden has been acting tired, and more short-fused, earlier in the evenings so we've tried to follow her lead and start her bathtime routine earlier. I now get her in the bath at 7:30 (sometimes a little before and she just splashes a little longer). Then, she has a quick lotion and dressing by Ashley. Ashley reports that Eden's still a bit impatient before she gets the bottle in her mouth (crying some), but as soon as it hits her mouth her arm goes up, she rubs the back of her hand over her forehead a number of times, and then her little arm with her palm facing up lands over her eyes and she drinks away ... as if to say, "I just can't keep my eyes open a moment longer."

Oh, how our little girl is growing up.