Another one of those posts: Sleeping

(Yes, more stuff for the baby book that will surely not entertain or amuse you. The photo was from this summer.)

In almost two years, I have written almost nothing about Zeke's sleep habits. Frankly, for the first year, his sleeping (or lack of) always felt like my Achilles heel as a parent. I am reminded of the joke McCain made a year ago about how he felt after losing the South Carolina primary in 2000. He said he slept like a baby after he lost: he slept for a few hours, woke up crying, slept for a few hours and then woke up crying. Zeke slept like McCain.

At about the nine month mark (wow, that was a long time ago), that all changed. Zeke started sleeping full time in his crib in his own room, he slept through the night mostly, went to bed earlier, and night weaned. Some of it was our doing and tightening the night routine, but I honestly think the biggest reason for the change was that his teeth finally came through. The first night after they came through, he slept nine hours in a row!

This is the routine: after dinner, we go upstairs for a bath. He sits on his potty and flips through a book (usually to no productive end). Zeke likes to splash about in the tub for a very long time. He does not like to sit in the water anymore and sits on a little Ikea stool -- no idea why. After the bath, he is very good about brushing his teeth and -- new this month -- flossing. He is not as good about getting on a diaper after the bath and likes to try and run around naked. After much wrestling, he gets into his pajamas. We might play for a little bit while listening to music or videoconference with Trish. Then it is a couple of books -- Dr. Seuss or books that can be sung are very popular. Zeke then is prompted to say night - night (which he can say now!) to Daddy. He often gets past Aaron though to make sure he says bye bye to Maggie. After a hug to Aaron, Zeke points to the door, closes it and runs where I am. I sing "Slip Sliding Away" by Paul Simon and "Goodnight" by Laurie Berkner while Zeke nurses. He stops nursing at the end of the second song, babbles something, gives me a hug and a kiss and touches his forehead to mine. He then settles into the crib. In his crib, he has a blanket, pillow, baby and (now) Elmo. We still play ocean sounds as a white noise on a CD player through the night. He might not need it anymore, but I'm too chicken to try it without and always travel with a CD player. I usually stay until he falls asleep and sit by the door and read (the only time I read during the day), though sometimes will leave a little sooner.

He wakes up around 6:30 or 7, one of us will go up (almost always Aaron), change him and bring him downstairs where he nurses or sleeps with us until we (or he) feel like the day should be started, usually by 8. He jumps out of the bed, pets Maggie and then goes off into the living room to demand music.

More boring posts to follow!