Our little guy has been up and down a lot lately in terms of mood, which seems pretty normal. He's getting better at communicating, staying slightly more patient doing certain things, and making development strides. Some days he's super fun, other days it's tantrum city. One pattern I'm not thrilled about is Simon's inability to sleep.
Granted, I'm sure we're part of the problem, because we don't leave him to his own devices when he cries. He's generally got a significant moment of protest within a half-hour of going down, and then we've had nights where he has started crying several times a night. This morning, somewhere between 4 and 5, I ended up rocking him on my shoulder for a good 15 minutes, and Diana I'm pretty sure got up several times before that. This is not sustainable.
The hardest thing as a parent is that he just wants love, and dammit if it doesn't feel good when he gives you a squeeze and drops his head on your shoulder. Unfortunately, he's old enough now to know about this vulnerability, and he knows that if he cries enough, one of us will show up. Especially right after bed, before he really falls asleep, he knows we'll be there. I was able to fight off the temptation to go to him last Friday though, and after 15 minutes of crying, he crashed on his own.
The other thing is that sometimes going to him seems like the path of least resistance, because it gets him on his back quicker. I think he knows this as well. We have to break the cycle. Fortunately, if he's really tired enough, he'll get through the night. I can't identify any particular pattern related to nap length, mood during the day, activity, or whatever. He just rolls how he rolls. Now if only it would be sleep from 7 to 7.
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