Oh, Rissa!

A few months back, we decided the time had come to take away the Rissa's pacifier. Her third birthday was fast approaching, and her teeth were only getting more "bucky". I had put off the dreaded day of saying goodbye to the paci long enough, and so we did it. We threw them suckers (ha!) away and had a miserable week.
In the months since, Rissa has decided to shed all the things that used to bring her comfort and help her sleep. About a month after we said goodbye to the pac, she spontaneously decided to say goodbye to her lovey "Pink Bear" (so creative are we in naming our kids' lovies). A few weeks after that, she decided she didn't want her blanket either.
So here we are, months after the fact, and Rissa still doesn't know how to fall asleep without her baby comforts. She sits in her bed and talks to herself, even providing both sides of the conversation "GO TO BED!", "I don't WANT to go to bed!", etc, cries, jumps around, and generally just avoids sleeping as long as possible. Since I have been a total grump for a while now, my response to this has been to be stern, threaten, and even yell right in her face. Obviously, yelling is super helpful in getting a child to sleep. Landon has been similarly frustrated with her sleeping issues and has also been known to get right up in her grill and yell.
I was feeling all crazy and desperate for her to start napping again since her cousin is starting back at school this week (and therefore can't stay with her here while I pick up Mase from school, run errands, etc while she hangs out in her crib for hours on end without sleeping) and so I can actually start working again during her nap. Then I remembered that I have a great tool in helping her figure out how to sleep... my sleep bible, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. I reread the chapters on toddlers/preschoolers and created a game plan. We're a couple of days into retraining her to sleep. It's not been fun or easy, but the end is near and I know the method works. I just need to get out of both our ways and let her figure out how to sleep like a big girl.
I am grateful for expert help from third parties who can be objective and not crazy, and who know that yelling at 3 year olds in an effort to get them to sleep is just dumb.