Growing Up
My little guy is growing up. I know this shouldn't come as any great surprise (that's what kids do), but the avalanche seems to be picking up speed. And while I know we have another baby on the way, and I'm so very proud of Colin, it is a little hard on his sappy mom.
Recently Colin decided, without warning, that he was big enough to get out of the car seat himself. This is actually a great help to me (leaning over and lifting a 28-pound toddler gets a little harder when you start looking like you swallowed a beach ball), but came as a bit of a surprise. I didn't ask him to do this, it wasn't practiced. Just one day he decided that was it. So now every day getting out of the car he painstakingly scootches forward, flips over, slides off the chair, then attempts (still with mom's help) to take the giant step out of the car.
But that's not all. He now differentiates between planes and helicopters, has learned his colors, will beckon with his hand and tell me "com'ere Mama!" At school he is known as the boy who runs to the refrigerator to get the other kid's lunchbox out of the fridge when their parents arrive, and he's learning to call all his teachers by name (Jo-Jo for Jill, Ash-eee for Ashley, Mih-Linn for Miss Lynn... ), and his favorite book is now Alpha-Oops! H is for Halloween. If you as him "what's a lycanthrope?" he will tell you, without hesitation, "a weeew-wolf." I kid you not.
But last night was a big step: we are helping him make the transition to sleeping in a regular bed in his own room.
This may not seem like a big deal, but due to space considerations Colin has always slept in our bedroom. And because he got really sick when he was about 6 months old, he somehow transitioned from sleeping in his own bassinet/crib to sleeping with mom and dad. Every night.
We have tried letting him "cry it out" but when he wakes up he'll cry, then gradually get himself more and more worked up until he begins gagging. If you continue to ignore him he'll vomit, which isn't good for anyone, so his marshmallow parents just gave in and Colin has slept in the family bed for most of his life. As he's grown this has become a little less pleasant for his poor father. Colin likes to curl up at night with his arm wrapped around my neck and his forehead nestled against mine, but over the course of the evening his position changes. He rotates 90º so by morning he is horizontally between his parents, with his feet in his father's face.
Anyway, with LN2 due to arrive in just a few short months we've realized that we need to try and fix the sleeping situation. So I got a fun animal comforter for the guest bed (now Colin's bed), set up a bed rail, installed a gentle nightlight, and last night tried putting Colin to sleep in his own room. I read him a book and snuggled with him, as usual, and he went "nite-nite" without any problem. As usual he stayed asleep until around midnight, then woke up whimpering. I walked in and checked on him, and he was fine. Crying but not standing up or trying to get off the bed, so I laid next to him momentarily to help him back to sleep. He grabbed a handful of my hair, snuggled in, and promptly went back to sleep so I slipped my arm out from under him and quietly slid off the bed returning to our room.
Then I cried because I'm a giant sap and the bed felt lonely. I know it is ridiculous, but I missed having my little guy to snuggle with. Thankfully H is a wonderful man, and wrapped his arms around his insane wife reminding me that our boy was just in the other room, and would likely end up in our bed anyway. Plus we needed to do this because we're reloading - LN2 will be along before we know it, and unless we both miraculously develop backbones and a new parenting style it is likely that our second son will end up a family-bed-snuggler just like his big brother. I stayed up for a while, listening for crying or a thump, but eventually exhaustion took over and I fell asleep.
3:30AM - waaaaahhhhHHHH!!!! mama? Mama! MA-MAAAAA!!!!
If you'd hooked electrodes to my toes you couldn't have elicited a more dramatic response. I sat bolt upright in bed throwing back the covers and literally sprinted to the second bedroom. I must have looked insane... and frankly I can't say the designation would be undeserved! When I arrived Colin was fine - crying but in bed and uninjured. But the moment he saw me he speed-crawled across the bed and stood up leaping into my arms, then burying his head in my shoulder as his hand reflexively reached up for a handful of hair. I laid down with him again, trying to lull him back to sleep when H came into the room. He'd reached his limit and told me to just bring Colin back into our room - that was enough for one night. Frankly I'm pretty sure this was done not for Colin's sake, but to keep me from killing myself as I leaped from our bed, hopped over the dog, and dashed down the hall to check on the boy. (It is amazing how fast a 6-month-pregnant woman can run while half asleep. Last night I think I might have given Flo-Jo a run for her money!)
And while our first attempt wasn't a complete success, I think we did OK. I'm exhausted but Colin got a taste of sleeping in a regular bed in his own room, and the weekend is upon us so we should be able to keep the trend going. And maybe, just maybe, the neurotic mom of the family will learn to deal with the fact that her little guy is growing up.
Recently Colin decided, without warning, that he was big enough to get out of the car seat himself. This is actually a great help to me (leaning over and lifting a 28-pound toddler gets a little harder when you start looking like you swallowed a beach ball), but came as a bit of a surprise. I didn't ask him to do this, it wasn't practiced. Just one day he decided that was it. So now every day getting out of the car he painstakingly scootches forward, flips over, slides off the chair, then attempts (still with mom's help) to take the giant step out of the car.
But last night was a big step: we are helping him make the transition to sleeping in a regular bed in his own room.
This may not seem like a big deal, but due to space considerations Colin has always slept in our bedroom. And because he got really sick when he was about 6 months old, he somehow transitioned from sleeping in his own bassinet/crib to sleeping with mom and dad. Every night.
We have tried letting him "cry it out" but when he wakes up he'll cry, then gradually get himself more and more worked up until he begins gagging. If you continue to ignore him he'll vomit, which isn't good for anyone, so his marshmallow parents just gave in and Colin has slept in the family bed for most of his life. As he's grown this has become a little less pleasant for his poor father. Colin likes to curl up at night with his arm wrapped around my neck and his forehead nestled against mine, but over the course of the evening his position changes. He rotates 90º so by morning he is horizontally between his parents, with his feet in his father's face.
Anyway, with LN2 due to arrive in just a few short months we've realized that we need to try and fix the sleeping situation. So I got a fun animal comforter for the guest bed (now Colin's bed), set up a bed rail, installed a gentle nightlight, and last night tried putting Colin to sleep in his own room. I read him a book and snuggled with him, as usual, and he went "nite-nite" without any problem. As usual he stayed asleep until around midnight, then woke up whimpering. I walked in and checked on him, and he was fine. Crying but not standing up or trying to get off the bed, so I laid next to him momentarily to help him back to sleep. He grabbed a handful of my hair, snuggled in, and promptly went back to sleep so I slipped my arm out from under him and quietly slid off the bed returning to our room.
Then I cried because I'm a giant sap and the bed felt lonely. I know it is ridiculous, but I missed having my little guy to snuggle with. Thankfully H is a wonderful man, and wrapped his arms around his insane wife reminding me that our boy was just in the other room, and would likely end up in our bed anyway. Plus we needed to do this because we're reloading - LN2 will be along before we know it, and unless we both miraculously develop backbones and a new parenting style it is likely that our second son will end up a family-bed-snuggler just like his big brother. I stayed up for a while, listening for crying or a thump, but eventually exhaustion took over and I fell asleep.
3:30AM - waaaaahhhhHHHH!!!! mama? Mama! MA-MAAAAA!!!!
If you'd hooked electrodes to my toes you couldn't have elicited a more dramatic response. I sat bolt upright in bed throwing back the covers and literally sprinted to the second bedroom. I must have looked insane... and frankly I can't say the designation would be undeserved! When I arrived Colin was fine - crying but in bed and uninjured. But the moment he saw me he speed-crawled across the bed and stood up leaping into my arms, then burying his head in my shoulder as his hand reflexively reached up for a handful of hair. I laid down with him again, trying to lull him back to sleep when H came into the room. He'd reached his limit and told me to just bring Colin back into our room - that was enough for one night. Frankly I'm pretty sure this was done not for Colin's sake, but to keep me from killing myself as I leaped from our bed, hopped over the dog, and dashed down the hall to check on the boy. (It is amazing how fast a 6-month-pregnant woman can run while half asleep. Last night I think I might have given Flo-Jo a run for her money!)
And while our first attempt wasn't a complete success, I think we did OK. I'm exhausted but Colin got a taste of sleeping in a regular bed in his own room, and the weekend is upon us so we should be able to keep the trend going. And maybe, just maybe, the neurotic mom of the family will learn to deal with the fact that her little guy is growing up.
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