asleep at last!

For the past few days I've been "sleep training" Oliver. Now since I am completely opposed to the CIO method I had to find a way to get him to fall asleep in his own bed without crying. So I put him in the bed and snuggle him as much as I can while sitting beside his bed. When he sits up I tell him to lay down on his pillow, which he usually does but sometimes I have to lay him back down. He has always played with my hair while he's going to sleep so I sat so he could still do that. This seems to have worked because I just got him to sleep in *7 minutes*! I gave him a bath, put him in his jammies, brushed his teeth and then carried him in to the bed. I turned the light off and sat down but he didn't get upset like he has every other time. He got his favorite giraffe (who we call "Favorite Giraffe") and laid down on his little pillow (it's about 6" square - purple checked with happy daisies on it. My mom made this YEARS ago for me because she thought I'd like the fabric. Turns out so does Oliver!). He went right to sleep, no tossing and turning, no putting his feet all over the bars, no playing with my hair, no crying, no fussing. He just laid down and went to sleep! Of course, I don't expect this to happen every time but I think he's finally learning that when I put him in the bed it's time to sleep. Hooray for gentle sleep training!!!