Tears - Let's talk about amping up that mother guilt. Just as I was getting used to the fact that sometimes she's going to cry and there may not be a reason and I may not be able to fix it immediately, she ratcheted up her game to a 10. She started getting tears a couple of weeks ago, but they were more like wet eyes after a good cry. Now when she lets me have it the tears roll down her face, I feel like each one is accusing me of being a bad mom since I can't make it better right away. The girl is good, I'm seeing a pony in her future. Luckily I have a year or so to get used to this new feature before she can combine the tears with a cute little voice asking for my credit card number. Unfo rtunately for Kyra she got her mom's crying face, it turns red and blotchy at the first drop, there is no "pretty crying" in her future. Sorry kid, looks like I get the last laugh, haha!
Fighting Sleep - She has never been that baby that puts herself to sleep, she requires ten minutes of cuddling to put her down. But lately we have been having knock down, drag out, battles against sleeping. This usually only happens at night (sorry Scott!) and can go anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours depending on how tired she really is. As soon as she realizes her eyes are trying to close and she just might fall asleep, the only thing to do is to start screaming and crying, obviously. (Please see the section on tears above.) Generally, once the basic fussiness passes, there is about 5 minutes of blood curdling screaming before she collapses in an exhausted heap on my shoulder. She refuses to listen to me when I tell her that she'll feel better if she closes her eyes. I don't know where she gets this, Scott and I love sleeping. My mom has told me that I deserved the baby that easily nods off since that's the kind of kid I was. I need to talk to my mother in law to see if I can pin this behavior (and all subsequent dealing with this behavior) on Scott. Needless to say, we've been seeing alot of this face:
Shiny Objects - If being distracted by sparkly objects is a sign of a girlie girl, then sign Kyra up! Lately she has taken to staring at light fixtures and actually gets mad when I take her away from the changing table, she really digs the light above it. Sorry, but 20 minutes of standing next to her while she coos at a light is about all I can take. This is also about the only tactic that can quiet her when we're going through one of our legendary sleep battles. The below picture has become a pretty regular scene in our kitchen at night, Friday it worked for an hour and a half!
I've come to the realization that if it works why fight it. As my dad has told us, his one piece of parenting advice is "don't make the baby cry, it's not worth it." Why force her onto a feeding schedule, if she's hungry at 2 hours, feed her. Why make her sit in a swing or bouncy chair if the kitchen table and light fixture are what she's entertained by? It may not be the highlight of my parenting career, but I know that when she's a teenager, I'll look back and wish she could be so easily satisfied.
Although she fights it,she's getting better at sleeping. Just as I was at my sleep deprived worst, think a two day stretch of pajama's all day, no naps, and no blocks of sleep more than about 2 and 1/2 hours, I was ready to melt down. It was bad enough that Scott came home took one look at me and said, "I'll take the baby, you take a nap." That night we had tickets to a Johnny Cash tribute show, so I got a little rest, sparked it up a bit, handed Kyra off to our babysitter, Jill, and we headed out to meet some friends for drinks. I warned her about the fighting sleep and hoped for the best. We came home at 11:30 to find a tired babysitter and an exhausted baby...who was still awake. Sorry Jill! She earned it that night. Kyra had been fed at 10:30 but she wouldn't sleep. I got her down by midnight, and went to sleep immediately dreading the 3:00 a.m. wake up call, but it didn't come. She slept until 5:00, it's like she knew that mommy had two martinis and really needed a break! I was actually laying in bed for about 10 minutes wondering if I should get up and check to see if she was breathing before she coughed and I realized what was happening...she was sleeping. It's amazing how a 5 hour block of sleep can shange my perspective. It was over 6 hours between feedings so I'm really hopeful that we're on our way back to sleeping through the night. She put me in my place by spending the next two nights waking up every hour...but we're back into a more normal schedule now. I'm still hoping that we'll be sleeping through the night by the time I go back to work in two weeks...keeping my fingers crossed!
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