This morning we had a nice breakthrough: some awake happy time! I set her down in the bouncer and she looked around for about 15 minutes, listening to me and her brothers bustling about, getting ready for school/Tonya's. Eventually she got sleepy and nodded off.
In the late afternoon, she's awake more, and I try to extend awake-happy times as possible by entertaining her. Today's "entertainment" was going to pick up Gabriel at Gavin's house for another playdate. Stacey is amazing, she's taken Gabriel two weeks in a row now, and today had another kid too. Her fabulous house in Los Altos has a studio in the back, a perfect play area for the kids. Gabriel wasted no time diving into Gavin's GeoTrax train set.
Unfortunately, getting him to leave was a problem; he wouldn't pee, put his shoes on, or thank Stacey, and ended up hurling commands and insults at me as well. I talked to him about it later, and he claimed to be sorry and said he wouldn't do so again.
In the late evening after dinner, I try to keep Katrina awake and happy and give her brothers some time to see her. Tonight she tolerated the bouncer again for about 15 minutes! Then I give her a bath, only to establish the habit and in theory because the warm water should be soothing (though I waited too long tonight and she was too tired and cried hard through the whole thing).
After the bath, it's pajamas and "bedtime," meaning, I put her in the bassinet, lights low, noisemaker on (to mask kitchen sounds), brothers upstairs.
Tonight I actually put her down with eyes glazed and crossed, but open, and she went to sleep on her own! I'm trying not to nurse her to sleep, partly because it hurts like all get-out right now, and partly so that she learns to fall asleep on her own from the very beginning and we don't have a painful transition later. I also can't handle having her in bed with us right now, as it's still difficult for me to manuever myself lying down.
So, no (or little) falling asleep on me, and no sleeping right next to me in bed. This should avoid problems I had with the first two that truly detracted from my baby experience...but at what cost? I do so miss those warm moments. There's nothing in the world like going to sleep and waking up surrounding your sweet baby, touching them during the night, feeling them breathe. Or is there? Being alert and rested to enjoy your baby during the day is pretty good too.
Last night was a textbook night, with wakeups every 3 hours, nurse, then right back to sleep. Let's hope for more of that!
10/17/06
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