The Daily Grind

Boden is 5 months old now and he is generally happy with life. I'm back at work so I have a lot less time to take pictures and videos of him (FYI: the video is pretty boring and my voice is really annoying so turn off the volume) and generally obsess over his development and daily changes. Anyway, we're all just mired down in the details of the daily grind at this point.

Two days a week G'ma and G'pa Brown come to Boden's house so he can keep an eye on them--they all seem to be having a good time with it and G'ma Susie does a good job of reporting the day's happenings to me so I don't feel like I missed out on everything. And the other two days Boden goes to daycare where he has contracted a perpetually runny nose.

The newest development in Boden's life are somewhat scheduled nap times! For real. When I was reading the book on helping your infants sleep, I didn't think his transformation would be so profound. I actually feel like an idiot for not getting this down sooner. But with the help of the Sleep Lady, Boden generally takes two 1 1/2 to 2 hour naps a day and, on occasion, a third late afternoon nap. He is almost a different kid and when I think how sleep deprived this little fella' was, I want to kick myself.

I was at work one day and a friend who I hadn't seen in awhile asked about Boden. I told her about how wonderful he's been since I figured out this napping thing and confessed that I didn't know that when he was waking up after a half hour every time I put him down I was supposed to let him go back to sleep. Previously, I had been running in there all excited to see him and basically waking him up. I think it would be the equivalent to somebody bursting into my room, flipping on the bedroom lights, and saying "hey, I'm glad you're up; I need to talk to you!" if I had just crawled back into bed after getting up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I would not be happy with that person (in fact, I might even kick them) and I'm sure Boden was not happy with me.

My friend was like "oh, you weren't doing that, were you? He just needed to re-settle himself.". Well, hey, thanks for the tip, NOW. I don't know why anyone would have thought that I would have known that...maybe I better go back to reading parenting books and less magazines and fiction. Grrr.

Boden still beckons me two times a night to nurse and one of those times he usually dinks around and really wants to talk more than eat...eventually, I should probably take a stab at getting rid of that little encounter, but there will be tears involved and it's just a lot easier to pick him up, snuggle him, let him nibble and chat, and put him back into bed happy and chatty until he falls asleep again...yes, it's the easy way out but the only one really suffering is me, and what kind of parent would I be if I weren't willing to sacrifice my own needs for my child's happiness. That's my justification for now.