Tuesday, June 07, 2005
So much for that
I'm finding it tough to devote time to this when Nicola and I are doing the Lindsay dance -- trying to figure out what our little one wants or needs. (Post started at work; concluding below after 9 p.m.)
Much has changed since I last wrote about her...I was temporarily distracted by my father's visit and who knows what else. I feel out of rhythm with this blog right now, like I can't establish a good routine of writing in it every night. If only watching "Law and Order" reruns counted as a blog entry, I'd be in great shape. Or my compulsion the other night to watch 3 hours straight of "Deadly Catch" or whatever it was called -- this show on Discover about crab fishing in the Bering Sea. I was mesmerized...and did not manage to write AGAIN.
Well, we've got this ongoing Lindsay sleep issue as well. The Crib Campaign of which I spoke is...not quite dead, but certainly grievously injured. We fought it for 10 days, during which Lindsay developed a habit of sleeping for, oh, 45 minutes at a time. She was constantly overtired, Nicola was wiped out as she was doing most of the night work (I was suffering through my worst cold in years)...the whole house was teetering on the brink of exhaustion. So, back into the swing she went, around May 26 or so (right when my dad came). Ah, magic swing, the sleep-giving, soul-nurturing swing! It was like welcoming back on old friend that we'd shunned only to quickly realize the error of our ways.
On one of those first swing nights, Lindsay slept from 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. Nine hours! I don't know if it's a coincidence or not, but the weekend right after Lindsay resumed swinging, she make some huge developmental leaps. Randoms goos and gahs and squeals became a constant monologue of all sorts of sounds -- Lindsay is chatty! She goes on and on to the point that it invariably makes the adults chuckle, which then elicits laughs and huge smiles from the Bean. And physically, she began to roll over -- both back to front and front to back (there are witnesses, but I've not seen it; maybe she's saving it for a Father's Day present).
The smiles and laughs and interaction are a saving grace to counterbalance the continuing sleep struggle. (On one occasion, I found myself driving with her wailing in the car seat, and we stopped in the Costco parking lot down the highway from here, and that's where I finally got her to take a bottle. It's a long story, involving much creativity, a little luck, dead batteries, closed pizza restaurants, broken shake machines, a low-gas dash light, a lazy and/or innebriated grandparent, a saintly 5-year-old, and other tidbits. We survived!) The swing is not the cure all, plus we are trying to get her to sleep some in the crib (an hour is about all she'll last). Each night is approached gingerly, as we don't know what will work to get her to sleep and what will set off an ear-splitting, patience-testing crying explosion. This trepidation is no way to go long term, and we look forward to (UNDERSTATEMENT!) more consistent sleep for her and for us.
Still, amidst all this, another milestone: we've ditched the swaddle. A special blanket for this purpose, more akin to a baby straight jacket than a blanket, has been a regular part of her sleep since, oh, her first month. We loved that blanket! But alas, it was time for it go -- a kid's got to figure out how to work her arms, doesn't she?
Vignette to sum up where we are: I put Lindsay to bed last night around 6:30 p.m., and I managed to get her to sleep in her crib. As I lingered, making sure the pacifier stayed put and her arms didn't flail, I exalted at this small sleep victory. The crib! Yes (visual: the arm pump, with fist raised and elbow swinging down in celebration). Two hours go by...and she's awake for about the fifth time. We ate dinner separately and took turns trying to get Lindsay to sleep. At 8:45 or so, I find myself sitting on the floor as Lindsay swings and fusses next to me. I'm playing defense around her face -- keeping the pacifier in and her arms down, preferably wrapped around her bunny blanket thing. Up comes her right arm -- parry! Now the left attempts to rub her face -- squelched! This goes on until she's asleep.
Life with a new baby -- you deal with the negative, challenging stuff because in exchange you get to watch a little brain and a little body and a little soul unfold and grow and blossom before your eyes. What an incredible gift! (see photo above -- god, how freaking cute!
More tomorrow, if can keep up the pace (every four or five days is just weak).
