Night Weaning, Night Two: The Milkshake Shop is Closed

Night Two:
I put our Sweet Baboo to bed by nursing as usual at around 6pm. He was out cold by 6:15, at which point I snuck out to spend some time with The Hubbs.

The First Waking:
He woke up at around 9:00 pm wanting to nurse, and I let him know that the milk was sleeping and he could have some in the morning. He was very angry and cried and screamed and ran out of the bedroom. I brought him back to bed and offered him a cup of water, but he wouldn't take it. He refused to lay down and instead waved his arms around to let us know that he was NOT HAPPY. This lasted about 30 minutes, until he realized that I wasn't going to give in and he laid down beside me and fell asleep. He slept for SIX HOURS STRAIGHT, which is pretty much unheard of around these parts.

The Second Waking:
Next he woke up at 3 am. I let him know that the milk was sleeping and told him to go back to sleep. He rolled over and fell back asleep instantly. Five minutes later, though, he was looking for  milk again. I told him the milk was sleeping, and he decided he didn't want to be in bed anymore. He tried to get me to "Go! Go!" but I didn't move and told him it was still night time and he needed to go back to sleep. He squawked a couple of times, but didn't cry. His baby doll was with us, so I told him that it was night time and the baby needed to go to sleep. He put the baby down on the pillow beside me, then came and snuggled in to my other side, where he tried to put himself to sleep for about half an hour. He rolled around in a bunch of different positions, including one that had him laying across my chest with his hip bone in my throat.

Intermission:
Eventually he sat up, sighed, and said "Eat, eat." I realized he was probably hungry since he'd had an early dinner at my parents' house (4 pm) and nothing since. I felt horrible for not thinking to give him a snack before bed, so from now on I will make sure that he eats something right before he goes down so he's not craving calories. I brought him to the living room and gave him some cheese and crackers, and he sat on his toddler couch and ate them while watching a DVD (I know, bad). I tried, unsuccessfully to get him to go back to bed a bunch of times, but I think with eating at 3:40 in the morning he was probably confused and thought it was breakfast time.

I FINALLY managed to get him into bed at around 6:30 am. We were both exhausted. I think he thought it was naptime, rather than a continuation of bedtime, because he did NOT understand why he couldn't have milk. I had considered letting him nurse, since it was kind of a nap, but I really wanted to keep things clear by sustaining the boundary that we nurse when the sun comes up, and not before. He fussed and wasn't happy, but then suddenly he laid down, pulled my hand over to his head (which I interpreted as him wanting me to rub his head, so I did), and within 2 minutes he was out. I think me rubbing his head helped, because  I used to stroke his hair at night while nursing, so I think that still comforted him, even in the absence of milk.

We slept in until 10 am, which meant we missed our Parent and Child group and that our nap schedule today will be all thrown off, but  hopefully the result will be better sleep for all of us. When he woke up this morning I told him that it was light again, and it was morning, so it was time for milk. He enthusiastically obliged.