Yesterday we took Tom to Tresillian day stay at Nepean Hospital. In case you don't know, Tresillian specialise in helping babies and toddlers get over sleep problems. More accurately, it might be fairer to say that Tresillian helps long-suffering parents get a reasonable nights sleep again.
The process, in short, is fairly brutal. After becoming sleepy, said toddler is taken to the cot, told nitey-nite and then left for as long as it takes for sleep to occur. In between time there is a great deal of wailing and tears and protest. Interventions by adults are swift and firm, with admonitions to go to sleep before an equally swift exit. Tough love indeed.
Tom's first attempt ended ignominiously after two hours of tears and left him with a number of forehead bruises. He had clearly executed his now famous head-butt upon the unsuspecting cot rail. Alas, to no avail.
Since then, he has had a number of promising episodes in which the crying time has fallen to about 10 minutes. We live daily in hope of continued improvements.
The photo was taken well before the events outlined above, but its clear that Tom was anticipating some unhappy occurrence.
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