We're very lucky. Jack is the sort of child we all assume we'll have when we decide to have children, and the sort of child less experienced parents congratulate themselves for. Current All of 2006 January and February 2005 March and April 2005 May and June 2005 July - December 2005 January and February 2004 March and April 2004 May and June 2004 July and August 2004 September and October 2004 November and December 2004 Enter your Email Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz Blogs we read: Blogroll Me!

Thursday, Sept. 23, 2004 - (Mamma) The In Game First, an update Jack is a lot better, but he is definitely not back to full health yet. He has been positively charming a lot of the time, but my body is telling me that he isn't managing to nurse as much as usual. (Or that he's demanding a lot more than usual -- hard to say. But my mammaries are definitely an actively functioning part of my anatomy today. ) And while he did sleep much of the night last night, getting him to go to sleep in the first place was a challenge. Usually he's a warm, drowsy, milky lump between 8:30 and 9:00pm and other than a couple of brief "top ups" at 1 and 2 hours after bedtime, we don't hear a peep from him until morning. Last night, we tried to put him to sleep from 8:30 to 11:30. But to no avail. My approach, unfortunately, wasn't especially "AP". He was feeling enough better to be cheerful, as long as I wasn't trying to put him to bed, so I felt justified in insisting that it was bedtime. I was, after all, beyond exhausted. First round -- I dressed Jack for bed, and then we did our bedtime routine. We skipped our bath, and that may have been a tactical error. He seemed to be breathing OK before bedtime, but he was a bit snuffly once his mouth was full. And he couldn't have been less interested in sleep. He kept popping up to invite me to play. At 10:30, he still wasn't asleep. I had even tried to holding him on my chest to cry out some tension -- but it just wound him up more this time, so I gave up. Out to the parlour we went. There we played a round of the "IN" game. The In Game The "IN" game has been miraculous. Jack and I were driving each other mad -- he wanted to throw his toys on the floor. I didn't disapprove in theory, but our apartment is tiny, and I couldn't stand having it literally covered with baby toys all the time, but he wouldn't let me tidy up -- he came over immediaely and started pulling things off the shelves as fast as i could put them up. Eventually I realized that he was starting to be intent on practicing "in"** at every opportunity -- he puts the wet laundry "in" the dryer, he puts the flatware "in" the dishwasher basket. He puts dirty laundry "in" the laundry basket (over and over and over again). He was putting everything "in" to trash baskets or paper bags, or whatever he could find. So I was inspired to put that to use. I moved a big basket into the parlour and we tidied up by going around picking up toys and putting then "in" -- then we go over the toys in the basket and put the smaller toys (blocks, wood magnet shapes, wool and wood balls, etc.) "in" tubs with lids. Then those tubs are placed "in" the toyshelves. (OK, gramatically incorrect, but we're on a roll here!!!) And then we pull the bucket of balls out and toss them around for a while, and then we round them up for a final game of 'in". The parlour has been tidy at bedtime for quite a while now!!!!! The Resolution Last night, Jack was still not "finished" after a full round of the IN game, so I pulled out his wooden shapes and his multi-coloured glass "fairies' tears"beads (both for supervised play only) and he sorted those into bowls and trays for a while. Once he had started to slow down, I announced bath time, and we put away the toys. Jack was pretty pleased about bath time and it went pretty well -- then Jack and Dad brushed their teeth, and we went to bed. Jack still didn't want to sleep. That's when I "broke the AP rules". I held Jack on my chest as he struggled, and fought and cried, repeating "I'm sorry you don't want to sleep, Jack, but it's bedtime" and not elenting. *sigh* He went from angry, to hysterical, to exhausted. When he hit exhausted, I lowered him to the bed, and stroked his back and told him how much I loved him, and I nursed him to sleep. He did indeed fall almost immediately to sleep, and didn't wake until five minutes before the alarm. For what it's worth, he seemed pretty cheerful this morning, so I hope I didn't traumatize him too much -- but you know, enough is enough, and three days on no sleep is about my limit.< In the News Turmeric may guard against childhood leukemia Study: Most tonsillectomies aren't worth it Communing With Nature Healthy For Kids previous - next Pick a Random Page Cost of the War in Iraq (JavaScript Error) To see more details, click here.