ZZZZZZZ

It took about 2-1/2 years, but Big Sister goes to bed like a trooper. We take her in to bed, give kisses all around, family hug and then tuck her in.
"Daddy, what time are you going to be home tomorrow?"
"5 p.m.," I answer.
"Will you leave the light on and the door cracked?"
"Of course."
"Can I yell for you if I need you?"
"It will cost you two beads, big sister, two beads."
"Good night daddy."
I don't know how long it will take Little sister to get to that point, but it can't happen soon enough.
She will go through a week or so when she'll sleep all night long, but then two when she refuses to stay down.
It goes something like this:
8 p.m.: Rock Little sister for 15 minutes until she falls asleep. Lay her down in bed, where she immediately wakes up. Lie on her floor for half an hour until she falls back to sleep. Putting her down first doesn't seem to work.
Hopefully, we can sneak out quietly.
9:30 or 10 p.m.: She wakes up screaming. We wait for five to 10 minutes to see if she'll put herself back to sleep. One of us goes in and repeats the process.
If we're lucky she'll stay down until 4:30 a.m. or so when it's time for us to get up and get ready for work anyway.
She is the lightest sleeper ever. The dogs tiptoeing past her door wakes her up, Stephanie coughing wakes her up, a feather falling to the floor in the neighbor's house wakes her up.
We take turns getting up with Little sister depending on who has to go to work he next day.
The first night is easy, the second night isn't too bad. It's the day after the third night with no sleep that is difficult, as my staff can attest to.
We had an 1-1/2 hour meeting yesterday because I couldn't keep us on track.
The worst was today on the way home when the driver behind me in the turn lane had to honk to wake me up because the light was green -- I'm fine while I'm driving, it's when I stop that there's trouble.
Luckily, tonight is my night to sleep ... if only I can turn the computer off without waking her up.