Gametes In Love

Somewhere in the past few weeks while I’ve been licking my wounds in bed feeling icky, G in the room over decided to switch up his bed-time routine.

S loves to snuggle with G. Who can blame him? G is so great to hold. However, my easy-to-put-down child, has become a holy terror. What used to be a 15 minute bed-time at best, is now taking an hour an a half. Our routine was simple: teeth-brushing, diaper, jammies, medicine, book, song, crib WHILE AWAKE, and I walk out of the room. G stares up at the ceiling, talks to his lovey and crashes out.

NOW on the other hand? Teeth-brushing, diaper, jammies, medicine, book, book, sometimes ANOTHER book, song, rock and hold until he’s asleep to put down. And God have mercy on your soul if you try to put him down before he’s been asleep for at least 15 minutes, because then he wakes up and the screaming begins and you gotta start with the rocking and the holding all over again. Tiring? Yes! Irritating? Beyond belief.

Last week S and I had a heart-to-heart. I couldn’t do this new routine with G. I have patience, but not an hour and a half’s worth of bed-time patience. S has been great, and has done it, but it can’t go on. We decided to wait, since G was teething, and we wanted to make sure that he wasn’t so clingy because he wasn’t feeling great.

But the battle of wills began yesterday at nap-time. I put him down in his crib, layed down next to his crib on the floor and told him “Mommy is napping, and you nap too”. He proceeded to jump up and rock out the crib for about 30 minutes. Hi Go-Go-Gadget arms reached his (thankfully empty) humidifier and crashed it to the floor. I took all this in stride, ignored it all and pretended I kept on sleeping. After awhile of figuring out the party in his crib wasn’t going anywhere, he planted face first and crashed out. Ensue 2 hour nap.

Tonight, more or less same deal. G got dressed, I put him in his crib, I pulled a chair over and began reading. He quickly caught on that he wasn’t getting the treatment he had gotten used to and immediately began protesting. He was pointing to our glider, cried, and kept saying “Up!”. Meanwhile, I kept reading. When our 3 books were up, I rubbed his back and sang. Meanwhile G continued crying. It was rough, but I wasn’t going anywhere and neither was he. He quieted down after awhile, while I again told him I loved him, while rubbing his back, but I wasn’t going to pick him up. So he plopped down, snuggled with Moonka and stared up at the ceiling. I stayed by his crib, singing, and he fell asleep. Then I walked out.

Tomorrow we do the same thing with hopefully less of the crying. While not fun, tonight at least didn’t take an hour and a half.

Wish me well! I want my old routine back!

G is really liking his blocks these days. He’s managing to stack them up pretty darn high too. I love watching him finish what he set out to do. He applauds himself with pride. It’s pretty cute. What’s even cooler is how much he’s maturing. Three weeks ago if his top block tumbled he would crash the whole structure down. Now he’s more patient and tries again. The part that amazes me is how symmetrical he likes to keep things. Is it a little early to worry about OCD?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMojPt6R8cY]

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Thanx to Becoming-Mom we decided to introduce G to his first at-bat baseball experience. Honestly for S and I that’s like the blind leading the blind, since we both suck/know little of major sports, but G had a good time. Bat, wooden dowel? What’s the difference? Toilet paper holder vs. t-ball set? Eh, it works just as well. Plus G is cackling and having a jolly old time.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwIWdk6NSBI]

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Mom and Dad might not be much in the way of exercise these days, but G’s making it up for the 2 of us. Here’s the little man doing leg lifts. He’s amazingly strong. Have I mentioned that before? Kid is gonna have a six-pack by the time he’s 7.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvP4UAUKgQc]