Well, as Summer grows and learns and becomes such an awesome little girl, things seem to be taking a twist. My once easy going, sleeps all night, falls asleep easily little baby is turning into a pouting, fussing, frustrated, never wants to sleep little 9 month old girl. Oh lord, she is definately a mini-me!
Miss Summer cut her first top tooth the other day. Poor girl definately needed some extra lovin and attention. She had a fever and was just plain cranky. She used to put herself to sleep if I put her in her crib drowsy. She'd play with one of her crib toys and nod off. Not while teething! Oh how she wailed! She used to whine and moan if she protested sleep pre-teething. Now she gets flat out hysterical! It's ok, mommy and papa are here to soothe her, of course.
Fast forward a few days. As I'm rocking her and helping her drift into dreamland for what seems like forever, foregoing all house duties, and my own need to soother the hunger causing my stomach to eat itself, to tend to my teething angel, I realize; crap I'm being played.
Her tooth has definatley broken through, her fever is gone, and she's a growing little baby (who seems more like a little girl each day but that's a whole other post). She wants to stay up longer and practice her new standing skills; she wants to learn anything; she wants to check out the butterflies on her wall a little longer; she does not want mommy to stop rocking her. I'm in the middle of the separation anxiety/I wanna play some more phase and I didn't even know it.
I am completely against the whole cry-it-out thing. How could anyone sit there and listen to their baby cry for so long when all that needs to be done is some cuddling and rocking, or maybe just letting baby play a little longer? So the time is here for us to decide... to cry or not to cry, that is the question (right)? We decided to let Miss Summer cry for a bit since she was obviously sleepy and not hungry, wet, hot, cold, or hurt. It's worked before- just a little protest cry and lights out. HA! What do we know?! This girl can wail! Full on "someone is stabbing my foot" crying! Of course, crying-it-out won't work, so we took her out to play some more. If she's not sleepy, let her play.
2 hours later, we're hungry, no chores are done, we're flat out tired, and Miss Summer's having a blast! She's been awake now for about 6 hours. We sucked it up and eventually she got SO tired that she cried for 2 mins in the crib before passing out. What kind of life is that for baby? She NEEDS sleep. Babies her age need 2 naps a day, which is what she'd been doing until now. It's essential to baby's well being. So, tonight, for all the world to know, I must admit, I let Summer cry-it-out and boy she had a ton of "it".
For 20 full mins, she cried so hard I thought she'd throw up a kidney. I went in a few times, held her and loved on her until she stopped crying (almost immediately cause I'm all she wanted), and put her back down only to reap the rewards of more hysterics. For the last hour, though she has been happily snoozing. I'm pretty sure she still loves me, and I'm pretty sure my glass of chardonnay will kick in soon and my "omg what did I just do to Summer" feelings will also fall asleep.
I tried letting Summer make her rules, but comprimise is key in any relationship. However, the night is young :)
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