Sort of Bye, Bye Binkie continued-see previous post

With the short amount of sleep from last night, and then going without a nap today by the end of today Linnea was utterly exhausted. So exhausted that she fell asleep while eating dinner (see bottom of previous post). One would think that shear exhaustion would lead to quickly falling asleep, and it probably generally does, but when one is having to learn new sleep comfort methods exhaustion only plays a tiny role in falling asleep.

Linnea could not fall asleep. The poor girl laid in her bed sobbing, and sobbing and sobbing. It was a cry that I had never heard from her before. Linnea is a fairly mellow kid, and this is very unlike her. I could not console her, and it just broke my heart listening to her sobs.

After almost two hours of sobbing, and with a very sad heart I did the only thing I could think of: I laid my hands on her, and while she squirmed, screamed, and kicked I just started praying. I asked the Lord Jesus to be her comfort, to give her peace, and surround her in his holy spirit. I asked in the name of Jesus for him to take away her need of her binky and for him to be her "pacifier". As I prayed Linnea begin to calm down. The crying ceased and L looked up at me and started repeating in almost a whisper,"He-Sus". When we finished Linnea, utterly calmed, pointed to her giant stuffed monkey and asked for it. I handed it to her. She then pointed to one of her Elmo books and asked for that. I handed that to her. She took her kitty (a stuff kitty that always sleeps with her) and her Elmo book and curled up with her giant monkey. As I said"night, night" to her she gave her monkey a hug and made some monkey noises. By the time I had her door shut I could hear her reading her Elmo book-there was lots of "Emo" followed by things I didn't understand.

Joe had just finishing making dinner and while we ate we could hear Linnea happily chatting away. By the time we were finished Linnea was utterly silent! We quietly crept up the stairs and peeked in her room. There, clutching her kitty, cuddled next to her giant monkey, and with an Elmo book by her side, was our precious little Linnea sound asleep.

I do not know how the rest of tonight will be, or how the next few days will go. But I do know that tonight was an act of utter kindness and love from our Lord!