Friday, December 09, 2011

Feeling Successful

This morning, I feel successful... as a mother.

We've been working on making day time naps independent of nursing, since last Tuesday. At first, it was hard, but by the 2nd day it was much easier for him to go to sleep, and the 3rd day was a breeze. Saturday and Sunday had some rough spots, but then Monday was a piece of pie! (so says Hubby)

Yesterday, I put him down and listened to him babble to himself for a few minutes then drift off. Wow, I though, this has been *way* easier than I ever thought it would be. Did he sense my determination? Was it just the right time? If only I could see his thoughts, understand Peanut's mind (and body); ah, well. I'm still very thankful.

This morning wasn't so easy, though. He shows signs of sleepiness, we head to change the diaper, bundle up (its chilly these days) and settle down. The settling down didn't happen, though. After going in once to comfort (but not pick up, though he was on his front, and he doesn't like that), I realized at about 20 minutes in, Peanut really isn't happy about something. So, I head in, pick him up to see if he will burp, hold him. Try some gripe water (he loves the stuff), comfort some more. Rock a moment. Give some 'feel less crappy medicine' (tylenol) Figure out that he is okay, he's unhappy about something, but nothing crazy. He's calmer, though still at that 'grasp, cry, wail, gasp, cry, wail' stage. I knew that I could just get him up, or try again on the nap. And at this point, he's so far gone emotionally that he *really* needs a nap now. So, I laid him back down and 5 to 10 minutes later, he is asleep.

Ah, success. I feel like I really did the right thing. Such a nice feeling.

I've gotten a fair number of Christmas decorations up. That feels really good, too!

The tree is up on a small table to keep both Hank and Peanut out of it. Not that its keep Hank out, he had one ball on the floor earlier. I rescued it, though.


we used this train as a count down to Christmas for many years while I was growing up. In fact, I don't remember not using it. This year, I decided to count up. I found some advent cards (they just split the Christmas story into 24 parts) from Happy Home Fairy, and have been hanging them with a small ornament each day -- or 2 in a day if I forgot the day before.

As Hubby is finishing a semester about this time each year, and he doesn't have strong feelings about what we do, its really up to me what family traditions we have. I'm thinking hard about this, as I don't want anything burdensome, it must be easily transported (in-laws, overseas, etc), and it must have significance. I also tend to be non-decisive person, so this could be a long process.

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