Afraid of the dark

A conscience is like a baby. It has to go to sleep before you can.

Author Unknown

Over the past four days Samantha has slept right through the night. She has been falling asleep at 7:30pm and sleeping until 6:30am.
Last night was the first time she slept in her own room, all by herself, for the whole night. This may sound like a small step, inconsequential in the overall course of her life. For me it is the continuation of her becoming her own person. Although we were connected to her by the baby monitor, this was the first time that we as parents had to let her go so she could be by herself. There will be many more moments in her life that we will have to let go, this just happened to be the first.
First times are usually a little scary. The first time off the high board at the pool, the first time petting a strange dog, the first day of school, these are all firsts that kids have to go through on their own. We, as parents, can help her get to the point of "deciding do I or don't I?", but we ultimately do not make the choice for her.
Naturally, there are other firsts that kids do, first beer, first cigarette, first time sneaking out with boys. All of these firsts are looming out there. They are quietly waiting their turn to become part of my daughter's history. Hopefully when she gets to decide about some negative firsts we have taught her well enough that she will skip over most of them. Maybe not but hopefully she will.
Right now it's pretty cool that she went to sleep in her own bed. That's a first that we shared as a family. She doesn't know it, but this small first step has certainly made her mom and I very proud of her.

P.S.---Happy birthday to Grandpa Kenny, a day late is better than not at all :)