A little bit of shameless honesty...

Elie used to bite her finger nails. Almost incessantly. We tried a bunch of different tactics to get her to stop- including hot sauce- and nothing worked. One day last week she said to me (completely out of the blue) "I am done biting my nails" and I haven't seen her do it since. She has an unbelievable concept of self and determination for such a small person. Those are gifts that I know have the potential to serve her well one day. HOWEVER- her gift is also her curse (and my curse). The same determination she can flip around and be completely non compliant. Since moving here she has totally boycotted bedtime. She has never been a great sleeper but we had a routine and 95% of the time bed time has not been an issue in the last two years. The last month has been a complete and utter nightmare. Every night is a battle. Her in hysterical screams and getting out of her bed and doing absolutely nothing we tell her. She does not wear her self out crying, she does not eventually give in and she does not accept any form of reinforcement or punishment. Nick and I are seriously at our wits ends. We have literally tried EVERYTHING. Sticker charts, bribery, punishments, I have tried sitting in her hallway until she falls asleep. Absolutely NOTHING works. And then she is exhausted because she doesn't go to sleep until really late and wakes up early and this is grouchy all the time. I feel like I don't even know who she is half the time anymore. On top of all that we are both just sick of each other and being stuck in the house all the time because we have no friends. I do recognize that she has undergone some extreme changes the last few weeks and she has been getting better. (Before last week she wasn't even sleeping through the night) Anyway... if anyone could take pity on us and pray that she starts sleeping that would be fabulous.