Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Parenting an 8 month old to sleep

We try to parent our babies to sleep, to quote Dr. Sears.  We rock them, nurse them, or snuggle them to sleep.  We have had a few babies who preferred to fall asleep in their own space, but most have needed to be soothed to sleep by Mommy or Daddy's presence.  We've never let a baby cry it out, and don't intend to.

But the past few nights I've been noticing that Baby G is growing up.  He's been rather alert and not wanting to settle down to sleep.  Keeping himself awake is the name of the game, instead.  And he's like an octopus. 

First his feet are both pressing into my thigh as I lay beside him.  Then his hands start to clap.  Then he puts one foot on my leg and one on my tummy.  Then he has one hand pinching my nose and one hand grabbing the collar of my shirt, while his feet are still on my tummy and leg.  And the whole time, his mouth is running ... cooing and babbling and laughing and squealing.

Then ... well you get the picture.

So, we're up tonight, when everyone else is asleep.  At least it's not really late ... I don't mind being up at 10:30 pm ... it's when it stretches to midnight that I start to mind.  But even then, the quiet time with my baby is so sweet.

Trusting in Him,
April