Peaceful morning

OK - I may be a nerd for reading books and websites about how to parent, but today my book, "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Marc Weissbluth, has done the trick.  (Well it's not really mine - a freind let me borrow it and now I can't remember who's it was!) I started reading this book when I was on bed rest and couldn't wait to implement the ideas and suggestions for bed time and nap time but somehow I forgot all about it until yesterday in my desperation.  We haven't ever had trouble with bed time so I sort of let the nap time thing go.  He started throwing what appeared to be tantrums everytime we would try to put him down for a nap.  He would cry and scream and I'd know everything was fine because if you go in the room or pick him up he stops.  I tried to let him cry it out yesterday but after an hour (and two "checks" which probably undermined my cry it out strategy), I ended up nursing him to sleep on my bed and then cuddling with him while he slept.  While enjoyable for me, I can't resort to that every day.

So this morning I took some advice...I got up and stayed up at 7:15 when he first woke up instead of nursing him and going back to sleep, a habit that I started because I go to bed too late.  Before, I would either put him back in his crib and eventually he goes back to sleep too or I prop him up on pillows next to me and turn on Baby Einstine.  So that was the first thing I nixed today.  We both got up and played after I nursed him.  The book says to watch for any signs of tiredness and then put them down immediately for their nap.  He explains that babies get tired after only two hours of wakefullness.  It could actally be less than that - two hours is usually the max.  So there is this "sweet spot" time frame when your baby is tired but still happy.  If you put him down in that time period, there is little fussing and they usually will nap longer.  Aaron was likely getting overtired and too cranky to settle down to sleep.  I could see that because he is this adorable, happy baby all morning until we hit 11:00 at which point he turns into a monster!  Except for today...

So around 8:30 I started noticing that he seemed maybe a little tired.  The signs are still hard for me to notice but I think I can get better at it.  I acutally waited until 9 and then I took him to his room and layed him down in his crib with the mobile on.  He was  a little fussy when I first set him down (a habit at nap time I think.)  But then I put away his laundry while he lay there.  I re-cranked the mobile when it stopped and he was out by the time it finished it's second round.  AMAZING!!  We'll see how long he rests, but already, this is way better than the last few days!