pancakes, sleep, axes

Mother’s Day! I asked Scott for Dutch Baby pancakes. I was having a craving, and I found this recipe up on the internet and it looked easy enough (a second site recommended doubling the butter, which I recommended to him. “I will set you up for success,” I promised. Though I did indeed worry on the morning of, while he was banging around in the kitchen, with occasional muttering and sucking in of breath.

When I finally ventured a peek, I saw this:

Which led to this:

Mmmmmm! Topped with powdered sugar and a squeeze of lemon. Served with eggs, bacon, strawberries, orange juice, and coffee. And homemade cards in crayon. Perfect.

Mother-in-law is in town for the occasion, too:

And here I am in the quintessential pink bathrobe, clearly happy AND in need of more coffee:

* * *

As a Mother’s Day present, Jonah woke up the night before at about midnight or so and didn’t go back to sleep until what-the-h-e-double-hockey-sticks a.m.

We seem to have a problem and that problem is called “Hand!” As in, at bedtime, for a couple of weeks or so now, Jonah demands “Hand!” and grabs and forcibly places one of our hands on his face. He often asks for both, but if you can picture how physically impossible that is to do over the side of a crib, you’ll understand why we usually decline.

As with every crutch he’s developed around bedtime, this one started out okay, and then got stretched to where it can be a half an hour or more of HAND, and even Scott and I taking turns at intervals for up to an hour. HAND! And now, the waking in the night, with several rounds of HAND not working. Us giving up, him getting hysterical, me giving up again, holding him and rocking him in the chair, giving up, bringing him into bed, still no sleep for anyone, then he starts chatting with us, and finally after a bottle and another 20 minutes of HAND, he falls asleep.

Not to mention how HAND is also required at naps, too.

Tonight, we tried another tactic. No more HAND. No patting, no rubbing. We sang, we chatted with him. We took turns doing so for an hour. And then, I went in and I just said “Shhhhhhhhhhh” and rested my head against the crib rail. Still no HAND. No touching. It was heartbreaking for me at times. Because I want to pat, hold, and reassure him. But I feel in my gut that the “reassuring” nature of touch had become a game and truly wasn’t even working anymore. God bless my perpetually easily-stimulated kid. I decided that the whole point of HAND was that he didn’t want to fall asleep alone (it probably started as a way to soothe jaw pain from teething but that doesn’t seem to be the issue anymore).

I sat, patiently. I held the space (instead of holding onto him, or his jaw). Eventually, his eyes fluttered shut and I left the room.

Cross fingers he sleeps through till morning. I’ll let you know.

If this works, eventually we may have to become one of those chair-scooching families that backs away from the crib each night by halves until you’re reassuring the kid from the doorway, then the hall… (Anyone out there do this and have it work? Let me know.)

* * *

Yesterday, we went to a “Scavengerie”– recommended by my new guitar teacher — to purchase a used folk guitar. Did I blog about this already? I’ve had the same guitar since I was 15. It was too big for my hands then, and it’s too big for them now. With Jonah being so SO SO SO interested in guitar, it was time for me to try playing again. In the one lesson I took, the teacher diagnosed several bad habits I’ve had since those lessons in high school (from which point I’ve never improved until now), as well as prescribing a guitar with a smaller neck. Folk, used, from this guy at this one shop.

I found one I love, and we found one for Jonah. Well, not exactly a guitar. It’s a ukulele. But it’s the perfect size for him. HE LOVES IT. “Own Guitar!” he says. It’s his own guitar. He’s been playing it nonstop. Carries it around the house. Takes it with him in the car.

I am pretty excited about it, too. I found web sites that helped me tune it. Even though Jonah is not exactly playing chords yet, it sounds a lot better, what he IS doing, when the strings are tuned. I am looking forward to learning a few chords on it for the songs Jonah loves.

And now, here is Jonah, singing Home on the Range — with Daddy: