Sunday, January 18, 2009

How sweet it is

The other night, I was exhausted and went to bed at about 10. Hubby decided to stay up for a while and I guess Harry stirred somewhere around midnight. Hubby went to him as Harry started crying. That woke me and I went in to Harry's room to find them laying down on Harry's bed, Hubby snuggling Harry and trying to comfort him. I lay down next to them and Harry crawled over to me and lay down. He put his hand on my face and fell asleep. We pulled pulled up the blankets and the three of us slept there, blissfully, until the morning.

If co-sleeping is wrong, then I don't want to be right.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Harry Joseph, Eighteen Months Old


Dear Harry,

You are a year and a half old today. How is that possible? I just don't know. You continue to startle and amaze your parents on a daily basis. You understand so much that we already have to spell certain words, like "s-n-a-c-k" and more specifically, "p-o-p-s-i-c-l-e". Daddy and I will be talking to each other, thinking that you are engrossed in what you are doing. I'll mention that I need to preheat the oven and you'll make a beeline for the kitchen and press your face up against the oven window. Impressive.

So, you know that schedule we had going during my Winter Break? (It's detailed in the previous post.) The dream schedule? The one that matched the rhythm of your day and made us all so happy? The one where you knew the routine so well that you were actually following the clock for about 10-14 days? The one that was so easy to get back to after a day off? Yeah, it's done. As soon as I returned to work on January 5, you refused to go to bed early. No more 7 PM bedtime. You have not gone to bed earlier than 8:30 PM (still with no nap!) on any day that I've gone to work. I had a day off due to weather and you went down at 7:30. I was home on the weekend: Saturday was 8:00, Sunday was 7:00 (like our dream schedule). Monday? Back to 8:30.

I will not lie. It really brought me to my knees. You know how they talk about the "Cry it Out" sleep method? I am beginning to think that they mean the parents do the crying. I have shed more tears over your sleeping than you ever have. The thing is, you are sleeping more at night (a couple of mini wake ups, but nothing big) and you are moving towards sleeping alone all night (which is also more about training me than you). Everything is moving in the right direction. Getting you to sleep is just harder then I would like it to be. I was afraid of this when you weaned. That was my ace in the hole: I could always get you to nurse to sleep. It's why I kept doing it. I was afraid we'd never sleep again if you stopped. And then you stopped. We keep trying different things to get you to bed and each one will work a few times, then stop. You keep us on your toes, little one!

But enough about sleep. I know it is your least favorite topic. Let me catalog the things you love at 18 months. You are full of passions, Harry! Here are a few of them:

Old MacDonald in any way shape or form. You love to yell "Eeya Eeya Eeya!" any chance you get.

Books. You love to take our fingers and do "point and say" with your books. You point our fingers, we say what it is we're pointing at. You make lots of sounds while we do this. Some are your versions of words, some we can't figure out. It's fun to watch you "read" to your Pooh bear, pointing and saying "dadoo, dadoo, dadoo."

Balls, or "Deee!" We don't know why you say "dee" for ball, but you have for a long time, no matter how we correct you. You love to play ball, look at pictures of balls, see other people playing ball. It doesn't matter if it's football, basketball, baseball or soccer. It's all "Deee!" and it's all good.

Cooking. I cannot cook while I am home alone with you because you are SO interested in what I'm doing. Christmas day, I was making a roast beef and I put it in the oven while you and Daddy played outside. It smelled pretty good when you came in and I heard you at the bottom of the stairs saying, "mmmMMMmmm!" (You say that a lot!) You ran up to the kitchen and wanted to look in the oven and couldn't wait to see what was cooking. Problem is, you hate to wait for things to cook. It takes too long!

Other passions that have continued are music, dancing, kitties, doggies and playing outside. Too bad the current temperature is 6 degrees. It's hard to get out these days. I long for the Spring and Summer when you can run around the yard playing ball and blowing bubbles. I cannot believe that I will be the lucky mother of two little boys by your birthday this year. I look so forward to seeing you two grow up together and to watching you teach your brother about the world. Maybe he can give you some sleeping lessons, though? I've got my fingers crossed.

All my love,
Mama