Leave my door open

Stephanie has a new and very sudden bedtime routine.  We used to read together, then she would lay in my arms and eventually fall asleep.  Sometimes it was sweet and cuddly, sometimes it felt like I was spending my life snuggling her to sleep.  I had imagined a very long and painstaking process of her learning to go to bed on her own, but I was wrong.  Very wrong.  One night she just couldn't get comfortable (which was becoming an increasingly common occurrence) , so I told her that I was going to put her in her bed so that she would get comfortable.  I told her that I would come back and check on her.  She chimed in to "Leave my door open".  And thus the new bedtime routine was born.  Now, every night, we read a few books, and then she tries to climb in her crib by herself- that's right folks, she just can't wait to get in there! She tells me that she is going to get comfy, "leave my door open come back and check on me".  Kevin and I go up every 10 or 15 minutes to rub her head or back, and then we receive the same instructions again.  It is kind of sad but really, it is kind of magical.