On Sleep and Babies and Toddlers

This sleep thing is very strange. RUS, as I've mentioned before, sleeps through the night. By "sleep through the night," I don't mean the technical definition of "sleeps 5 hours at one stretch" but, rather, that he goes down around 9ish and doesn't wake up--that is, does not wake up at all, no feedings, nothing-- until 5, 6, 7 or 8ish the next morning.

When R was a baby, on the other hand, we got the "technical" definition of about 5 straight hours of sleep, with at least 2 wake ups per night to eat, until she was maybe 9 months old. J and I have been reminiscing quite a bit about that.

What I can't remember though is at what age we were able to lay R down for naps. Because while we have been blessed with an amazing night-time sleeper, RUS does not (and I repeat, does NOT) lay down for naps during the day. Believe me, we try to lay him down. He just wakes up the minute his head hits the bassinet. He sleeps wonderfully if you are holding him. Not so if you are not holding him.

We still have a few tricks up our sleeve to try and get him to sleep on his own during the day.

On the R front, she has been quite the hellion at night time and for naps lately. It's a struggle, when it used to be easy as pie. We're not quite sure what's going on with her--some of it is obvious stalling. But some of it is genuine upsetness, perhaps partly related to potty training: she's had a few poop accidents when she's been trying to nap.

You might also remember that she's always been an early morning riser. For the last 8 months or so she's been getting up between 4:30-5:30 in the morning. However, for the last weekish, she's been getting up closer to 6 and sometimes even after 6 a.m. It's kind of unheard of. And it threw off our day care schedule all week this week! But with a baby who sleeps in that late too, J and I have actually been able to sleep in a few times. Kind of nice!

We'll see how long this keeps up.