sleep, coda

It’s not over until the skinny baby sleeps.

I thought I could get away with a nice sum-up and move on. But then, something happened that was different and I just had to write about sleep one more time, ONE MORE TIME, because every time I hear someone report something semi-sane about how their baby sleeps, I assume it’s like that for them every night from now on, and if that were true for us, fine. I mean, I left a lot of room in my last report for a range of truths. 5 to 30 minutes of crying before falling asleep? Come on. He could have stuck with that.

But it wouldn’t be fair to that one person out there, like me, who needs to know that it can still get worse even after it gets better.

I wish I’d taken notes, because exhaustion is making my memory go funny. I think it’s fair to say that yesterday, he didn’t nap at all.

I’d like to say it this way: Jonah is staging a nap strike. Any babies out there want to join his union? Dues are paid in peach slices, skins removed.

I believe yesterday there may have been one mini-nap, in the morning, when I held him on my lap while I meditated. Other than that, there were at least two 45-minute I-will-bitch-but-I-will-not-sleep sessions in the crib.

Last night, he woke up at 10, 1, 3:30, 5:30, and 6. (We fed him at 1 and 6.)

Today, after another 45 minute sob-story sing-along non-nap in his crib this morning, we stuck him in the car and went off to the antiques and collectibles fair, because, really, why stay home and continue to torture him in the crib?

He’d won.

He fell asleep for a few minutes in the car, stayed asleep in the transfer to the stroller, and woke up as soon as we got inside the gates. Stayed awake through strollering, ergo-ing. Through drowsy and manic states. Passed out in the car again on the way home. Now is sleeping in the bucket on the floor of his nursery. Sleeping the sleep of the dead.

There, I think that does it. Unless his sleep varies dramatically from the range of possibilities contained in the previous post through everything in-between and up to no naps and 5 night-time awakenings, maybe I can stop writing about The Magnificent Act for a while.

Good night.

5 comments for “sleep, coda

  1. July 6, 2008 at 8:22 pm

    Oh lord. We said goodbye to you just before ten and you looked so relaxed and happy. Then the night from hell. I would have been shrieking with rage by the 3:30 wake-up call. God bless you both.

  2. July 6, 2008 at 9:00 pm

    Maybe the fact that we had such a lovely dinner with you guys beforehand made it more bearable!

  3. July 7, 2008 at 11:33 am

    I so remember how all-consuming it is, trying to fit all the pieces together — the advice, learning what YOUR kid needs, balancing that with what YOU need — it’s so hard!

    mayberry’s last blog post..Again with the waterparks

  4. July 8, 2008 at 10:10 am

    If sleep’s so dang important, why is it so elusive. When you do get it all figured out, you’ll forget what the big deal was.

    daring one’s last blog post..Twas the Fourth of Jul-ee

  5. July 9, 2008 at 12:02 am

    Not to scare you, but my almost 2 year old is still doing this to me. He finally started to only wake twice a night a couple of months ago, and I thought for sure we were finally getting somewhere, but that only lasted for about a month or a few days after we moved. It’s hard when you can’t even punch out to get just a few hours of CONTINUOUS sleep. I totally know how you’re feeling.

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