The Arbolog |

We’ve been struggling with sleep this past week. Kale has been fighting tooth and nail to not sleep and we aren’t sure if its teething, gas, distraction, or what. When he finally gets to sleep, he is sleeping better than he ever has – for longer stretches and with less wakeups. But getting him there? Ugh. At one point I found myself holding down his hands while he protested because he kept bonking himself in the face and waking himself up. I am terrified of having a child that I have to perform a complicated ritual to get to sleep every night, one that involves a certain number of minutes of patting, a certain number of minutes of cooing, a certain number of minutes of whatever. I want desperately for him to be able to sleep easily and happily and its really frustrating watching him go through this because I realize that sleep is a learned skill and I feel a bit pressured because it’s up to us to help him learn.

I would like to think he’s learning to put himself to sleep right now, and so our constant ministrations that used to work like a sleep-inducing charm are now keeping him awake but at the same time, he hasn’t quite mastered bunking down himself. It’s a crappy no man’s land to be in these days, but as all things, this will pass. 

I introduced Kale to rice cereal earlier this week(post- sleeping issues commencement) and I am taking that v-e-r-y slowly, so while we struggle with the sleeping, I will likely put the rice cereal on hold.

BUT! he also started putting his arms around my neck when I pick him up, so honestly, Kale could cry all day and do that just once and I would totally melt anyway. 

So! Ross and I are having an open house this weekend and as we prepare for our open house (banana bread is in the oven, baby poop is getting washed out of the tub, etc), Kale got his first Christmas card yesterday – it was from his Nana.

From Kale 3 to 6 months

And I started decorating the house. I know my post re: Santa may have given you all the impression I hate Christmas but NO, I actually ADORE Christmas. I just hate Mall Santa and all that he stands for. I even made stockings this year, and patchworked the front (first attempt at quilting and whoa! Seriously? Quilters? Mad props to you for the freakin’ PATIENCE required, man, that sucked!).

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, yo:

From Christmas 2008

And I also decorated our tree and because I’m a dork, made a little 12 second movie about:

See? And you guys thought I hated Christmas.

I laugh when I write that word because my late dad’s wife used to insist that there were no problems in life, only “shallenges” (and yes, I wrote that with an “s” on purpose so you could hear the way she pronouced it).

I’m sitting and typing this entry as quietly as possible (how come this keyboard is so damn loud???) because Kale has finally fallen asleep on our bed by the desk. And by finally, I mean, holy crap, FINALLY. Its been a challenging day for our boy - I say challenging because it hasn’t been a bad day, per se, but more of the kind of day when he is sleep-resistant and oh-so-overtired so everything has turned into a CRISIS of EPIC proportions and he has really needed some serious intervention from mommy. I’ve spent all of my day so far in a constant rotation of bouncing, rocking, shushing, swaying, singing, playing, and when all the tricks in my “Go To Sleep” bag have been thrown out, I am collecting them up again and starting over. So finally, Mr. Sleep-We-Don’t-Need-No-Stinkin’-Sleep is a-slumber and adorable to boot.

First, a lovely photo of Gran with Kale. Ross’ mom, Pat was over earlier this week and we had an excellent day where Kale was Mr. Charming and Flirting and afterwards I was absolutely thrilled and proud of him to have been such an awesome and cheerful baby. Another family friend, Janet, also stopped by and we four had a nice day of tea and chat and Kale overload. Here is Kale asleep on Gran’s shoulder while Ross and I sat down to dinner together:

I’m kicking myself because my mom was over a few weeks ago and I didn’t even think to catch a photo of her with Kale – DUH. I am sure there will be other opportunities but at the same time I feel like a fool because its not like we can reverse-age the little dude in order to get these photographic memories later. So Mom – please remind me to take a picture of you and Kale next time you are over.

This week we have had a few red-letter days in which I not only get to eat breakfast and lunch (even if lunch is an almond butter and jam sandwich stuffed in my face over the sink) but also a HOT cup of tea before 10AM. It’s like I am getting the hang of this or something. Soon we will move on to showers during the day rather than waiting for Ross to get home to shower.