It's been a really, really good week, which accounts for the lack of posts. As I've said before, good times inspire me more to appreciate what's happening in the moment. Bad times inspire me to over analyze, dwell, and in an effort to get the negativity out of my head, to write it down. In general, fewer posts = better times overall. Plus, there's been so much written about the magic of parenthood, it's impossible not to write cliches. I mean, how many different ways are there to describe how small their hands are without sounding like you write for Hallmark?
As far as the sleep, there's progress yet to be made, but I'm calling it a success. She's consistently asleep by 6:30 pm and will usually sleep through until 1:00am. Even when she does wake up, she puts herself back to sleep pretty quickly and pretty quietly. The mid-night feeding is fast. 30 minutes from pillow to pillow for me, even if I have to change a diaper.
Naps are less consistent, but SO MUCH BETTER. She's still on a three-a-day schedule, going down at 8:00am, 11:00am, and 3:00pm, give or take an hour. Each time, she'll sleep for around an hour and a half, sometimes more. The big thing is, unless we totally misread her, we put her in her sleep suit, pop her nuk in, sing Twinkle Twinkle, set her down, walk out the door, and she's asleep within 10 minutes. Not always, but most of the time.
What all this means for me is I'm in a good mental place and I'm having fun with her. She rolled from front to back a few weeks ago and is really close to rolling from back to front now. She's developed the instinct and dexterity to put everything in her mouth, which is oddly enchanting for me. "Oooh, what's this?... IN MY MOUTH." I notice so many little developments. We put her in a bouncer when we're in the kitchen, and it features a plastic bee with crinkly wings, and it's on a cord, so she can pull it out of the bouncer far enough to get it to her mouth. A week ago, she had the dexterity to grab it and pull it to her mouth, but her fists would get in the way. She wanted the bee in her mouth, but she got her fist, which was apparently incredibly frustrating. A few days ago, I watched this same scenario unfold, but instead of getting frustrated, she moved one hand down to the cord below her other hand, and BAM, bee in mouth.
And I just realized that this is what I was most excited about when I daydreamed about being a parent - watching this tin blob develop into a human being. I was a preschool teacher in college and I was eternally fascinated with how kids interacted with the world, especially how much more open and honest they are. I couldn't wait to watch my own child learn and develop and teach me about innocence and openness and honesty. It's happening.
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