Night #4

Phew. This evening my confidence that this process is working was shaken a bit. Sam had a good start to the day (woke up on her own around 7:10AM, after a stellar night) and went down for her morning nap at 10:30AM as usual. However, this nap was cut short by a phone call from our realtor in Altoona, telling me that we have a date set for the closing on our house (Whoohoo, settlement! but D’oh! the phone woke the baby up). Sam did not fall back asleep, so I got her up after just over an hour of nappage.

Afternoon nap: once again a dismal failure. After about 20 minutes I went in to check on her and she was standing up in her crib, peering over the side at the three stuffed animals she had evacuated. I am perplexed that she couldn’t fall asleep, because earlier she was yawning and rubbing her eyes.

AC had an unexpected late night at work, so our evening routine was disrupted. While I was feeding Sam her pre-bed snack, she actually started to nod off in the high chair! This was around 7:30. So I quickly hustled her out of there, skipped the bath, and went right to stories and bed. She was not happy. She wailed and cried as hard as she EVER has. Tired and worn out myself, I began to second guess what we were doing. AC came home in the middle of this, and after the first 15 minute interval, we both went in to calm her. She was standing up, clutching Emma Bear. We put her back down, stroked and soothed her, and then left again. She cried, but this time it was different. Within 5 minutes she was quiet and asleep.

I wonder if it helped that she got to see her Daddy. Was the intense crying the result of the missed routine, or her over-tired state, or both?

Next task: solve the napping problem.