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I have a pathetic AW (but exciting to me!)
Okay I have alluded in the past to the fact that Ella is a not great sleeper. To clarify, she has always been a HORRIBLE sleeper- literally since infancy she just has been awful. I'm talking up multiple times a night EVERY night no matter what we tried. There have been times where things have gotten a little better but I can honestly say that in her entire 27 month life I can count on two hands the number of times she has slept through the night. In addition to this, the past 6 months or so she has been throwing major fits before bed, screaming and crying for half an hour or so before she falls asleep, waking in the middle of the night multiple times inconsolable and crying for hours, haing extremely early wake ups (5 AM!), etc. Her sleep had become something I couldn't even talk about anymore because it was so frustrating, exhausting, etc. WELL...we are now going on over two weeks of STTN! Like 8p-7a! And get this, she is going to bed without a peep. Kisses us goodnight, lays down and that's it. We don't hear from her til morning. No more middle of the night wakings, no crying, no 5 AM wake ups! I feel pathetic even posting this because I am sure you are thinking I am a crazy lady celebrating a TWO YEAR OLD sleeping well but after two exhausting years, I am so excited and so proud of her! Thanks for letting me celebrate here- I am sure now that I have told you all I have jinxed it! 
The best part? Her entire personality and demeanor have changed. She is like a new little girl. She wakes up happy and well rested, has far less tantrums during the day, is napping much better, and even eating better (no idea why but hey we'll take it!)
Re: I have a pathetic AW (but exciting to me!)
That's awesome! I can't imagine having a newborn in the midst of all that! I hope it continues.
I can sort of relate because Cohen, who'll be 4 in a few months, still wakes up almost nightly - he comes to our room needing a little TLC. Luckily he falls back to sleep pretty easily, but an uninterupted night would be nice!
That's not pathetic, that's AWESOME!
LJ has only had two STTN episodes (just this week!) and I thought I was in heaven. I can only imagine if his sleeping habits continued for another year (I'm already so, so tired). You deserve this, momma.
I hope it sticks from here on out!
Married 10.11.08
Baby LJ 05.21.10
TheRookieChef.com
Thanks girls! I felt so silly posting this because I know how ridiculous it must sound to have a two year old with such horrible sleep habits. It has been a hard thing for me to come to terms with over time because I have always felt that her sleeping was a reflection on our parenting and I can't tell you how many nights I would cry to DH asking what we were doing so terribly wrong and how come everyone else's kid slept through the night from like 8 weeks old (exaggeration I know but that's how I feel sometimes!)
Anyway, we have done a few things differently but nothing earthshattering. This was totally our fault, but we used to let her take a sippy of milk to bed and we think that was creating some of the problems. She would drink it, fall asleep and then wake up wanting more (probably because she would see the empty cup) and she would get so upset in the middle of the night. Often because we were just so tired and it was easier, we would give her more milk in the middle of the night to calm down. This created a viscious cycle. Plus her diapers would literally be soaked and she would often even get her jammies wet so I think a lot of her early morning wake ups were because she was uncomfortable.
The other thing we did probably sounds kind of mean and trust me we tried everything first, but we just started having to ignore her. She was constantly crying at night needing something (her blanket fell on the floor, more milk, heard an airplane, etc.). We just had to stop going in there cold turkey and let her cry. Let me tell you it broke my heart because this kid is stubborn and can literally cry for hours and it is full on screaming. It is so awful to hear. But the thing is, even when we went in to get those things for her, as soon as we would leave or a few hours later, she would be back to crying so it was like no matter what we did she would cry. I think the constant interactions with us made her escalate further and I also think each time she saw us she would get more worked up and more awake making it harder for her to go to sleep. It took a few hard weeks of lots of crying and a crabby, tired little girl and then she just sort of stopped. I think she just realized we weren't going to come to her anymore and I think she finally just stopped thinking of sleep as her enemy as silly as that sounds. Now when she wakes up she is happy and says almost every morning "I not tired today Mommy." It makes me so happy for her but sad at the same time at the sleep deprived world she has lived in for so long. Being tired is no fun. I just think she didn't have the tools to put herself back to sleep when she woke in the night. After much research on sleep and sleep cycles, I know it is normal for everyone (including adults) to wake several times throughout the night but most people and kiddos can roll over and go back to sleep. She didn't know how. No matter how we tried to help and comfort her, we were just making it worse. She had to learn for her self without any "crutches." I also think that "sleep begets sleep" so once she started sleeping well and napping great it created a good cycle in which she was in a better mood and didn't fight sleep so much. Whew, sorry this was so long! Can you tell I've thought about it for, oh, I don't know, TWO YEARS?!