hide-n-(sensory)-seeking

Look who fell asleep on her own!   In her own bed     As most of you know we have been working on getting Kit to sleep in her own bed. To catch up if you missed, you can do it here .   It only took lots and lots of reading/snuggling/wrestling with Daddy. And several twisty nursing sessions where she was sideways, or nearly upside down, and her leg constantly flipping back and forth!   I finally couldn't take it any more. I put her on her bed and told her she could go ni-night there or with Daddy. She settled into her bed. Pulled her pillow up over her, and fell asleep reading her book.   Hip. Hip. Hooray!      

 If you're just joining us and you are wondering why I need to figure out how to transition my baby from the couch into the toddler bed we just bought (fantastic flea market find!), you can get all caught up here , here , here , and the first few paragraphs here .   Our mission :   Get this baby -     To sleep in this bed -       In our room. Someday. This year?     Step one: get baby onto bed.         Almost...     Check!     Step two: get baby to understand that it is not just a trampoline.     Ummmm...maybe later.   Step three: introduce pillow.         Okay...abort further pillow attempts.   Step four: associate bed with a plesant experience.     Check!   Step five: explain concept of "ni-night" on new bed....

Well, maybe not as exciting as the title led you to believe, but we kept busy yesterday anyway. Here is the surprise I walked in on. Kit was sitting right in the middle of it when I found her. Feeding herself fistfuls of course. Half of a giant bag of Rice Krispies dumped out on the bench. Miraculously, there was relatively little on the floor. Grace's animals seem happy to have a snack! To put in perspective how much cereal this is, here it is in my 13x9 inch baking dish. This was what we were able to salvage for future consumption. Hope your Sunday afternoon was far more relaxing!  Here's what else she's been up to. She has a new sleep oddity to add to her ever growing list. In the past we've occasionally laid a pillow over her legs and hips to provide pressure when she sleeps. Sometimes it works and others not so much. Lately though, as in for the last five days, she has been wanting a pillow on her. She has actually pulled one on to...

Kit's sleep issues have morphed. Now she can only fall asleep if someone else, specifically, Daddy, holds her. This is a wonderful blessing in many ways! I have a reliable way now for her to get a nap and I can (usually) work on some chores. This backfires on Victor's workdays though. Some days, her nap can wait until he gets home if he's done early enough. On Tuesday he stayed an extra 15 or 20 minutes when he came home for lunch to put her to sleep. After she conked out, I moved her to the couch and Daddy went back to work. Thursday and Friday were not so lovely and peaceful around here at naptime. There was no Daddy, but there was certainly one sleepy little girl. Boy can she put up a fight when she's determined, which is, well - always.   Thursday was bad, but pretty short. Only 30 minutes or so before she caved. Yesterday, it was war! I read her stories. I had the fan on. I tried her noise machine. I put on music. We rocked. We didn't rock. So...

Yay! My baby slept in her own crib for three and a half hours last night! That is the longest the she has stayed there in a very long time. AND... she wore her footed pajamas! Without yelling, or any excessive tugging , clawing  and crying .     The Who and What Kit hasn't slept on her own in her bed all night since the minute she was born. Yes, even in the hospital, when it was time to settle down for the night, she would cry. We would check her diaper. We would swaddle her. Very tightly, just the way she liked it .We would lay her in that plastic bassinet thingy just like the nurses did. We would try giving her a pacifier, she would just spit it out. Then cry, and cry and cry and cry. Daddy would try and hold her, rock her, sing to her. More crying. Finally I would get ready to nurse her and as soon as Daddy would put her in my arms she would stop! Instant sleep. And I wouldn't even have to nurse her every time.  ...