One of the toughest challenges in my life that I have had to face is trying to get Addy to sleep. If you know me, you probably know that patience is not one of my best qualities. However, I have very quickly learned that patience is definitely a virtue.
I guess that Addy is getting to the age where she is starting to understand what is going on. Maybe she is still too young, but I believe that she knows. Take tonight for instance. I believe that Addy now associates her bed with bedtime. We went on our walk as usual, but for some reason tonight it did not work like it usually does. Addy was fine for the first mile and a half, then started getting fussy. So I bring her in and she starts getting heavy eyed and dozing off, so I figure a little nap wouldn't hurt. So I begin to rock her, and her eyes finally shut. I gently lay her down in her bed, and when her head hit the mattress you would have thought she had been wide awake because her eyes popped wide open and she started hollering. So I patted her and shooshed her and tried the binky, but nothing was working. After struggling for a while, I decided to for-go the nap and just go ahead and bathe and feed Addy, and put her down for an early bedtime. Things went well with the bath and feeding. She was dead asleep before she even finished half of her bottle. So I removed the bottle, trying to keep the nipple from brushing her lips too much that she may wake up. SUCCESS. So, I slowly got up and made my way back to her bed, and laid her down. Trigger same response as earlier. Her head hit the bed, and she was up-and-at 'em. I tried to soothe her and get her to sleep again, but it wasn't working. So I picked her back up, and she was out cold in 2 minutes. So I patted her and shooshed her, and this time I did it until she was literally dead asleep. And by that I mean just really passed out...not literally dead. Maybe that was a bad choice of words. Anywho, to see if she is "dead asleep", I have a simple test. If I can grab her arm, pick it up, and it weightlessly falls back down to her side, she is ready to be moved to the bed. The test showed a positive result, so I moved Addy to her bed, and she was finally down for the night. Success? For now.
On another note, Addy made her debut movie appearance earlier this week with me and Kelly. This blog usually pertains to activity that me and Addy encounter alone, but this deserves mention. My wife loves the Harry Potter series, and we needed to get out of the house, so we decided to go see the new one. It was good, and so was Addy...well at least for the first half of the movie. We meticulously planned this outing, feeding her at the last minute and having back up bottles on hand. Also, against my great ability of arriving early for things, we timed it where we would be right on time. So far, we had accomplished our goal. With Addy full, she was sound-asleep on Kelly, and the movie began. I was worried that it may be too loud for her, causing her to stay awake or seem scared. But at this point, she was doing well. This is where it gets good. Every parent learns their baby's cries. You have the "I'm Hungry" cry, the "I'm sleepy" cry, "I want to be held" cry, and the kicker, the "I'm really pissed off" cry. Needless to say, the cry that came from her at this point in our movie date was a new one. I have dubbed it the "I don't know where I am, it's dark, and I'm scared" cry. I laugh, and not being mean, but it was truly funny. About halfway through the movie, Addy woke up and let out the aforementioned cry. She sounded absolutely terrified. Kelly took her down and around the corner and she was fine. However, Kelly watched the next 45 minutes of the movie standing up. We laugh about it, and if you think about it, who takes a 2 month old to a movie? Have we turned into "those" people? I think not. Addy did very well considering, and we enjoyed our time out of the house.
She is growing fast, and I don't much like that. You're always told when you are young to enjoy being a child, and your parents always teach you to treasure time with your children because they grow up too fast. I have learned this now for myself. I will cherish the screams, the laughs, and the cries, because one day I am sure that I will wish she was back at this time in my life. Until tomorrow, take care.
Blessings,
-SH
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