Overnight, it seems, Caleb is getting stronger by leaps and bounds. I don't think it'll be much longer until he is crawling! His tummy is almost completely in the air as he scooches around, and he's trying so hard to get those knees going. He is so interested in everything around him, and it is getting to the point where not much is safe anymore! We've slowly been babyproofing the living room in preparation for the Big Takeoff. We put those lovely multi-colored foam cushions on the fireplace and a very ugly, ill-fitting cover on top of our glass coffee table. Our living room certainly won't be winning any awards here for interior design, but at least it'll keep Caleb safe from bumps and bruises. We don't have the baby gate up yet, but it is here, at least, ready to go.
He still struggles with sitting up. His cousins, twins Matthew and Nathan, didn't sit up until they were nine months, and I think he is headed in the same direction. Let me clarify this, because he CAN sit up. He just can't do it for too long. He usually collapses to the right or left and I can't just put him down in a sitting position and walk away. I have to give him some light support so as to soften the blow when he does topple.
We're still working on his sleep. He is doing pretty well overnight. He can have one rather long awakening, where he can be up for a half our or so, and while he does whimper, I do not go to him. I am trying to let him teach himself to get back to sleep on his own. His naps continue to plague me. I will let him "cry it out" and it is not a quick fix at all. He can cry it out for about forty minutes and nap for ten. It is SO frustrating. He can cry through an entire nap! I have been putting him to bed at night at 5:15 promptly, because in my reading, I have discovered that an early bedtime can eventually help his naps be more lengthy and restorative. Again, it is not a quick fix, but I am praying that by routinely giving him a considerably early bedtime, his naps will work themselves out. Naps affect nighttime sleep and nighttime sleep affects naps. I believe his awakenings at night are due to the fact that he has such poor naps. If he learns to nap better, I will move his bedtime back to a more normal time of 6:30 or so, but for now, he is staying put at 5:15. It has been frustrating, and it is especially so when I need to go out for doctor appointments. He really isn't following a nap schedule yet. Try as I might to be putting him on one, he refuses to yield. And it absolutely breaks this mother's heart to hear him cry on and on and STILL not get the sleep he needs. It would be easy, at these times, to pile into the car and let him sleep there, but I am trying oh, so hard to not rely on that. As it is, I have learned that that kind of sleep is not very restorative, so if he does fall asleep in the car these days, it is because he didn't nap and I simply have to go somewhere, and he can't help but fall asleep there. I do not consider that a victory, however.
I also feel it is important to mention some quick thoughts on the hotly debated topic of "crying it out". For so long, I really didn't want to try it. I didn't think it was "evil", as many out there call it. I simply didn't think I'd have the gumption to withstand my baby's crying. It is hard. In fact, I'll venture to say it's is one of the hardest things I've ever done- still am doing. (I have even cried along with him at times- in a separate room of course.) It would be one thing if he cried and had a great, fantastic nap afterward. Since it is such a short nap (really not a nap at all), or he cries through the nap, it is so very disappointing. However, I believe that if I look at the big picture, and keep that goal in mind, I can try to focus more clearly. This crying that tears my heart out now, I pray, will bring peaceful sleep in the days to come. For all my rocking, nursing, swinging, etc., Caleb wasn't a very good sleeper on his best days. This is a skill he needs to acquire, and if there were some way to acquire it without crying, I'd be the first one to sign up. Crying has helped TREMENDOUSLY with nighttime sleep. We saw results so quickly that we stuck with it. If the naps could only climb aboard, we'd be in great shape.
I pray that my son learns soon that sleep is not a thing to fight or be feared. I simply want him to have this most precious gift- the gift of peaceful sleep.
