From Snow to Sleep

I kind of enjoy being home-bound the first morning after a big snow. The end of the driveway is always way too full to drive through and it takes awhile to shovel it away. Ryan and Miles are out there working on it right now. Well, Ryan is working on it and Miles is eating snow. Don’t worry, we’ve explained to him that he should avoid yellow snow. It’s funny how things get translated in his busy little brain. Now he says “we can’t eat the yellow snow cause Tia goes pssss on it.” I don’t know how he came up with sound effects, I promise it wasn’t Ryan or I. Except maybe when he was sitting on the potty chair and I tried to help him understand what sound it might make when he actually goes potty. oops. I can just imagine what it will be like at school when he walks up to a teacher and says, “I have to go psssss.”
Yesterday we came in from getting our tree and piled all of our coats, hats and mittens on a chair. Asher was in the living room watching everything from his car seat. His hat was on the top of the pile of coats in the other room and Miles came over and said to his hat, “Oh, Hi Asher!” He then lifted up the hat and shouted, “OH NO, Asher is gone!!!” Stuff like that is what makes all the hard work so much fun.
There’s a parenting book called “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.” To read it would make you feel like everything in the world and in your child’s life is dependent on perfection of a nap schedule and night-time sleep. There’s a whole lot of pressure there. The thing is, some babies have it hard due to a million different reasons, and it prevents them from staying asleep. Asher seems pretty happy despite his “unhealthy” sleep habits. Yes, he gets cranky when he’s only sleeping a half hour at a time. I do too. But I’m learning that real life just ain’t like the books. I do enjoy getting ideas from parenting books and I respect a lot of authors/parents/doctors. But as time marches on in my sleep deprived world, I continue to remember that Asher isn’t a robot to be programmed. Sometimes I can’t sleep when I don’t feel good. I guess I wouldn’t want someone trying to force me if I was uncomfortable. His sleep will come (hopefully!) as his system improves.
I say this in hopes that the more I do, other parents of babies will feel better. Each of our babes is different and you just do the best you can. The pressure’s off! Sure, we all want perfection for our little ones, but let’s not to be so hard on ourselves! What is encouraging is to remember that each little baby takes their own time in their own way. Some sleep through the night peacefully at a month old (I can’t even imagine!) and some struggle along like Asher. But he too is making strides. Sidenote: We can now lay him down awake and he’ll go to sleep on his own. WOO HOO!!! We honestly feared this may never happen, but everything has a way of working out. Enough said.
Happy snow day!