A letter to Evie about sleeping

Sweet Evie,
Right now you are in your bedroom with Daddy, crying your eyes out because you do not want to sleep in the crib. My heart breaks so much hearing you cry out for me, but I can't go soothe you because you do not really want to be soothed, you want to get out of the crib and sleep in our bed. And to be perfectly honest I can't think of a really good reason I shouldn't just let you, but I know that we just moved the whole house around just for you to have your own room, so I'd prefer if you did use it. It's just naptime. At bedtime we'll put you in the crib too, but if you should wake at 4:30am like you did last night I will happily bring you to our room, into our bed, where you can snuggle up warm between me and Daddy and finish off the night. And we will do that every night as long as you let us get some sleep first. Hopefully, eventually you will start to prefer your room and instead of the crib you can have a toddler bed or even a regular bed.
I was definitely lonely for those few hours before you woke up and came to our bed last night, I will admit. I wasn't sure what to do with the 60% of the bed that you left behind. I kind of felt around a little bit every few minutes, hoping to feel your soft little fingers or hair. And this morning Daddy even admitted to being cold and lost in the abundance of space on his side of the bed. We didn't even snuggle last night. I think we hadn't accepted that you weren't there yet. He likened it to when we kicked the dogs out of the bed for good. It took him weeks to start utilizing the foot room. We'll get there.
You are finally quiet in there with Daddy, I hope that means you are asleep. Sweet dreams, little one. I am sorry for being the mean Mommy and making you sleep in your room.
<3
Mama