Someone forgot to mention when the baby sleeps throughout the night, he doesn't sleep throughout the day. Cause I didn't make that connection.
For the past week William has been sleeping overnights anywhere from 7-11 hours. Anytime I mention this to someone I get an array of positive responses such as, "That's awesome!" or "Way to go!"
But when a baby sleeps 10 hours at night, he must certainly be up MUCH more during the day. The net effect is you end up with a series of 1-2 hour naps (if you're lucky). Because a 3 month old (as of tomorrow) is only up for about an hour and a half (often less) at a time, this cycle makes for a very LONG day. Now, would I rather have 8 hours of sleep at night, or would I rather have a day of William napping in 2-3 hour stints where I can accomplish things (like having a shower or putting up the Christmas tree)?
And I'm not exactly waking up and leaping into the air ready for action after a full night's sleep.
Alright, I suppose I've made my point.
The last two days have been a challenge. William has taken to being up for an hour or less at a time (he's been starting to cry at the tail end of "play time"). Normally I'd assume he was tired of that particular activity, but the crying is now also occurring on the change table and in Mummy and Daddy's arms, so it's got to be that he's tired, right? Well, he's also developed some new "sleepy time" cues, such as grabbing his whole head and face like the sky is falling (I'll try and get a pic but it might not turn out well due to his mindset at that point). : )
So, if he's only up for an hour and only sleeps for an hour, if that (and it's only 1 in the afternoon)...yawn, except now I've had a full eight hours of sleep so can not justify being tired. Alas.
Babies are hard.
And today even though he was crying (and sort of exhibiting sleepy cues), when I put him down all he did was babble for a good five minutes--which he also did when he awoke. But seeing as how everything is an experiment with a baby, I just left him to see if he'd drift off.
Yes, he is currently asleep. According to the sleep timer, that means I have anywhere from 20-40 free minutes because at 2pm there will be ten hours left in the day and he will have already slept for 11 at that point--so he should be awake for... another 5 hours!
Right. Mmmmmm, I had a baby to play with, raise, love...who knew it'd be all day long. ; )
Seriously, (literally) yawn.
Okay, what about the good stuff? Well, William has a baby Santa hat which is adorable!
Pictures with Santa were a trip and a half. Just watching all the kids clamor over one another to use the itty bitty kid slide was unbelievable.
Side tangent: one kid kept butting in line until another mother told him he couldn't do it and his mother finally came over and told him he shouldn't do it. Then he proceeded to stand in front of the slide, lay under the slide, climb up the slide (and get his finger caught). Some other kid was all whiney and wanted to use the slide but didn't have any confidence (or something), so she'd just hang out in front of the stairs, or on the stairs, or sitting too close to the end of the slide (she was my least favourite). Another other little girl would sit in the middle of the slide so no one could go up the stairs or down the slide (until I told her she needed to move on). One decked out girl in full hair and Christmas dress actually spit on the carpet and rubbed it away with her shiny black patent shoe (clearly knowing what she was doing). Between the sweater vests on the boys, and the girls with their salon hair and boutique dresses, my William looked ghetto in his baby clothes--I just figured with him being a little over 2 months old, can not sit himself up, can not walk, and gets overheated easily, I'd keep it simple. I had no idea pictures with Santa were such a "thing". Stroller after stroller was lined up to get in as soon as the place opened. The whole thing took just over an hour.
Anyway! William has discoverd he only has to roll over to get out of Tummy Time--so it's now a big game of rolling him back over for the rest of Tummy Time (shooting for a minimum 5 mintues), which will usually produce a bout of crying. He's gripping the big soft picture blocks he normally knocks over. He can grab and shake rattles (but has hit himself once, so now we're cautious). He was holding his own bottle the other day, which absolutely amazed Rob and I. And he wants to hold the medicine dropper when we're giving him gripe water, so I can see where this is heading. We appear to have a "spirited" child. : )
But he is and continues to be a delight--simply. : )
6 comments:
Oh, how sweet! William looks GREAT with Santa. Seeing Santa is a bit of an ordeal...next year, go really early in the morning. So worth it though - look at him!
As for sleep stuff - first off - you can still be tired after 8 hours sleep. Seriously woman! Yawn away.
This was the point where we took a 'sleep training' class. Rhys' night were good, but his daytime naps were awful 20minute spurts, with a rare 45minute nap. And one thing we learned there was that at this age they should only be awake for an hour and half at a time (which you've already figured out), and I remember it feeling like we were ALWAYS putting him down for a nap! After the sleep training (which is no fun) his naps started becoming an hour and and a half to 2 hours consistently, and then eventually became a consistent 3 naps a day, each one a decent lenth of time. The woman who taught the sleep class said anything less than 45 minutes is a cat nap. (again - take all advice with a grain of salt!).
But, with all that said, as our kids get bigger and more mobile etc, etc, they do require more awake time and more 'work' to keep them entertained.
Sounds to me like you guys are doind really good and that William is naturally falling into the cycles that the experts reccomend. It's all an adjustment though, and changes all time.
Sorry for the really long comment! I just remember what you're going through...it brings back memories.
PS - where is the picture of his Santa hat??
:-)
He does seem to be naturally settling into the sleep rhythms (after I abandoned the Baby Whispering technique of forcing the night sleeping).
I still can't get over just how much you can love a baby!
Oh, and I added the hat pic (just uploaded!)
He looks hilarious.
Wow, I think that Santa has been at Market Mall since I was a child! (or close to it) Very cute pic of William, and the Santa hat photo is adorable.
Sounds like the night sleeping is going very well and I believe this is the hardest thing for babies to do. Well Done William! But if you've had a child who used to sleep for hours during the day and now they cat nap instead, that can be tough.
Hopefully you guys find a routine which works for both of you.
It's kind of cool that of all the malls in Canada, Santa would choose this local one to visit. No wonder there were so many kids.
I think William was suffering a bit from the recent chinook winds, so hopefully he'll be a lot less pained the next few days.
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