Off To Dreamland

(Actual posting date - July 5th. I really hate that blogger doesn't let you re-date entries!)

Jacob was never a good napper. He fell asleep pretty well to start out his naps, but he was always our "Power Napper Extraordinaire". From the time he was three months old, we were lucky to get more than a 35-45 minute nap out of him during any of his nap times throughout the day... and until he was about six months old, most of those naps were in our arms. We tried rocking, singing, playing lullaby music, pacing while holding and patting, walking him around the house in his car seat stroller, keeping things quiet, making the room as dark as we could, "white noise", cuddling with him, rubbing/patting his back gently and "shushing" him. Try as we might in our efforts to get him back to sleep, Jacob just did NOT want to miss a thing.

I think it was when he was about a year old, Jacob started letting himself fall back to sleep when Dave would bring him into bed and cuddle him (upon Jacob waking from a 30-40 minute nap). They would sleep together for over an hour sometimes... but Jakey never wanted to this with me on my days off. Stinker. :P At that point, I was still bringing him into our bed when he awoke between 2-4am unable to be smoothed back to sleep, but he just wouldn't sleep and cuddle with me during the day.

Over the last month or two, the power naps have finally started stretching out to an hour or more. Sometimes he even sleeps for almost TWO HOURS! The majority of babies I've come across have been taking two or three hour naps since infancy, so this news would be nothing to their moms. For us, though... for ME... it's pure bliss! I actually have time to do something around the house other than breathe for a minute or two. I can wash the dishes, throw a load of laundry in the washer and get it into the dryer, prep food for the next meal and sometimes even start cooking! At this point, other babies his age are transitioning to one solid 2-3 hour nap in the middle of the day... but I'm perfectly happy with the two separate hour-or-more-long naps right now.

Bedtime Routine...

Goodnight, Moon was part of Jacob's nighttime routine every night from about three or four months until he was almost a year old. The first time he saw the video for it, he was amazed. His bedtime story had come to life! About three or four months ago, he started pointing to certain items in the story making connections to real life items or toys. Every night as we made our way towards the bedroom, we said "goodnight" to our own things around the house, and he'd either look towards each thing as I said its name or touch it if we were close enough (wagon, kitty, bathtub, computer, flowers, pillow, Mommy and Jakey in the mirror). I added a new bedtime book a few months ago (Good Night: A Touch and Feel Bedtime Book), and he loved the last page where the author says, "Good night, little one. It's time to turn out the light...". He quickly caught on to my prompt for him to turn the light out himself (via the removable wall remote) and this became his favorite part of his bedtime routine.

Since the introduction of the touch-and-feel book for a new bedtime story, we've been switching it up on a regular basis. Sometimes Jacob will choose the same two books for a few days in a row, and sometimes he'll alternate stories each night. We currently have about eight books by his crib from which he can choose. :P Sometimes he's up for sitting on my lap and cuddling while I read. Other times he wants to sit in his crib and listen - forcing me to kneel by his crib and read upside-down. Oy.

For months, I sang "You Are My Sunshine" (and a soothing, repetitive song or two of my own creation) when I put him down for his morning or afternoon nap and then sang "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and a few other nighttime songs when laying him down for the night. I don't remember how or exactly when, but he doesn't care much for my singing anymore unless he wakes up scared, teething, or whatever in the middle of the night. Anymore, he just wants me to read to him. And even though I miss the lullabies and watching his eyes get heavy... knowing that my voice was so soothing and comforting to him that he fell asleep to it within a few minutes every time... I'm so happy that he's developing a love for books. Most kids do, though, eh? ;)

Oh... the binky. Hmmm. Jacob had decided around four months old that he didn't want a binky anymore. I was kind of happy with that because (pre-child days) I was never really a fan of them. This really changed his soothing ability, though, since he never took to sucking his thumb or fingers for anything more than daytime play or soothing. Trying to get him to sleep involved lots of swaying and very intense bouncing/rocking sessions while walking around the house. We didn't have a nice cuddling baby swing, so this left me with just my arms. And they got VERY tired! When I unintentionally reintroduced his binky (around six months - using a pacifier-style thermometer to take his temperature), he fell in love all over again. Being new to this whole baby thing, I guess I hadn't been paying attention to the varying age ranges for pacifiers. The type that babies come home with from the hospital and the other ones we had for him were supposed to be for babies up to three months. Jacob probably just needed the next size/style all along. :P

(Continued - August 28th)

Since then, Jacob and the binky have become inseparable at bedtime and nap time. He'd probably suck on it all day long if we didn't make him leave it in his crib when he's ready to wake up and play. He gets very fussy if we don't allow HIM to be the one to put it in his crib. He likes to poke it through the crib rails and then tries to be sneaky and pull it back out to run off with it if the binky's still within reach. ;) When he gets like that, I have to pick him up and encourage him to "throw it down" onto the mattress. Then he's content to toddle off to start his day (afternoon, evening, whatever).