Until it Sleeps

Nathan, 4 weeks, sleeping in his swing

Sleep.

It’s a commodity around here.

When the opportunity arises, I grab it like an addict grabs for her drug, saliva dripping from my mouth, tasting the anticipation.

Nathan has made it clear, however, that he does not share my sentiment. The past few days, Nathan has decided to rip up his previous sleep schedule with a vengeance, tossing it around in his pudgy little hands and molding it like play-dough, creating a whole new schedule for us to live by.

Ah, my little benevolent dictator.

Previously, we would wake around 8am, then he would nap around noon for about an hour and a half in his crib, and then around four, he would nap another hour and a half. The past few days, on the other hand, Nathan decided he wanted to get up earlier and not take a nap at all during the day.

That made a grumpified baby and a grumpified mommy.

I attempted in vain to put him down for his nap during the usual times, but it was met with animalistic howling, screeching, and other ethereal sounds that I didn’t know a human being could produce.  I tried rubbing his head, singing to him, lovingly patting his back… all to no avail. He simply did not want to sleep. There is only so much yowling a mother can take before she caves to the heart-wrenching pleas. As soon as I picked him up, all sounds of anger abruptly ceased. His face lit up with a huge, toothless grin and he planted an open-mouthed, drooling kiss on my cheek.

My little guy is learning how to manipulate quite well. 

Today, I initially planned to not put him down for a nap at all, but when I saw his eyes become glassy from sleepiness, I jumped at the opportunity and laid him down in his crib. He didn’t so much as whimper and slept for three solid hours. Perhaps he desires one long nap a day rather than two short ones. Perhaps he doesn’t want to nap at all. He becomes very grumpy when his nap is later in the day or when he completely forgoes his nap, but I’m fine with that because no matter how grumpy he gets, I know that sooner or later, sleep will come. Even if it’s not until his bedtime, he will eventually sleep.

And so will I.