A Good Day

I am always a little hesitant to share some of the good things here because I have been that discouraged mom reading about everyone's sleeping, perfect babies while mine was still eating for hours on end, skipping naps and carrying on. I know what the Baby Whisperer expects of me, and, while struggling with it for the first month, I always fell short. Before Joah was born, I was sure I'd do dream feeds and scheduled wake ups, but he never fit into any of that and, honestly, neither did I. How do you wake your kid up from a nap at noon when he ate right up until 11:30? I wasn't willing not to feed him on command, and leaving a brand new person alone on a bed for most of the day made my heart sick. Living in Korea and having to make many of the elements of my daily food intake changed my eating philosophy. Meeting the baby and having to care for a little human changed my parenting philosophy. So we snuggled while he ate for 9 hours at a time, and we took morning skinship naps together, and I brought him into the bed by the second or third (or fourth or fifth) time he woke up at night. (And even now, I bring him into the bed for his 5 o'clock feed.)

I usually save the successful sleeping news for my mom or my husband or for the baby book. But I don't want to just share the complaints because this kid is pretty awesome, and he is perfectly mine. I find that the best days with him are the days I stop fighting with him and trust his instincts. Yesterday was the loveliest day, and he hesitantly took two naps, each for barely 45 minutes. He sat and watched Dan play a new video game. He sat and chewed on my yarn. A wakeful baby makes noisy kitchen chores easier to do, and we had a great pauper's meal of tuna melts, french fries, and chocolate pudding while we are waiting for Dan to get paid this month. Joash was awake for most of it. And when he gets grumpy, we try to figure it out. And there is always that voice in the back of my head saying, "You know he should take a nap. Sleepless days beget sleepless nights, blah, blah, blah."

But that voice is wrong, and so I spend a lot of time ignoring it. Last night after a somewhat restless day was his best night of sleep yet. What now, internet! I am a better mother when I don't look at the clock.

It's funny I should write this today on his most napless of days. It's 4 in the afternoon, and he's had one 20 minute nap, which means that, though it feels so on many days, today I actually have spent more time putting him to sleep than he's spent sleeping. Parenting is nothing if not ironic.



Matching faces in black and white.


He spent this nap time kicking sheets and taking names. But really he spent it flipping over and rumpling up the covers.


Knitter's assistant.


This was the one second he looked up.


Otherwise he was too occupied with yarn chewing. He is the 5%.


I think this is good for dexterity or something smart. If nothing else, it's good for keeping him from grabbing what I've been knitting.