Sunshine

Thanks for all your prayers. All is right with the world again. Well almost. There is still no sunshine. It is the rainy season probably wont be any sunshine until mid July. From snow to rain, then the heat. We don't have any air conditioning so you will have to endure my complaints of the heat when that happens as well.

Many of the blogs I read are from wonderful moms who are having trouble getting the little ones to sleep through the night or to go willingly into that good night. Here is my story for what it is worth.

Every night this last week has been hell for me putting Lily down for a nap or to bed. She has been hitting, kicking, screaming all the way from the moment she realized we are going to bed to the moment she falls asleep. With Mandy I felt bad for her and never once left her in her crib crying. I rocked her or took her to bed with me, later when she was in her own bed I laid with her until she fell asleep and returned if she ever woke up. Not Lily. I decided at three months that it was in everyone's best interest if she learned to put herself to sleep and I therefore did everything I could to ease the process but when it is all said and done if she is still crying I leave her alone in her crib in the dark crying. I guess that makes a lot of mothers very mad. That some of us let our babies cry while they are awake all night for months and months or even years and years never sleeping more than a few hours at a time. God Bless each and everyone of them I am afraid if I were to do that I would shake the baby or something horrid. I have also never read a single, how to put your baby to bed book. Even Jeff puts her to bed differently than I do, we each have our own unique routines.

After a week of hell, where Lily cried and screamed and acted like she was dying during her going to bed routine she finally got over it. Due to our bad weather and her hurt foot she was missing the two key elements in our sleep inducing plan, those elements were sunshine and exercise. On those days she was a very difficult child, I being the horrid mother I am, I let her cry. But, normally what happens and what to my complete and total relief happened again yesterday after plenty of exercise and perhaps a bit of UV through the cover of clouds was heaven.

Our ritual mine and Lily's is at nap or bed time first we clean up the toys. I say it is time to clean up. And Lily agrees. We sing our clean up song and she loves to organize her toys just so. Then we go upstairs and hid behind the curtains, as if it were our own private secret playhouse. There we sing some songs, we usually sing songs in monster voices, first really squeaky high and then really growly low. Followed by a diaper change and then the crib. Once Lily is in the crib, she has to arrange her pillows and blankets just so. I am not allowed to help at all. Then she lays on her side and I rub her back and hum her a two songs. She smiles the whole time. At the end of the songs she says, "Good night, I love you, see you in the morning, bye" and then I repeat it to her, turn out the light and leave. Sometimes she gets up and jumps in her crib for awhile. Sometimes she sings to herself. Sometimes she talks to herself. And sometimes she cries. Mostly she doesn't cry, but when she does I usually just let her be. Sometimes if it is a hysterical cry I go back and try to calm her, or if she is sick or having an allergic reaction I will go and try to comfort her. Mostly if I do go and pick her up and rock her in my arms for awhile when I put her back down she is fine.

So that is our thing. I guess everyone has different theories on when or if to pick up the crying kid. For Lily mostly I don't, but when I do I don't think it gives her the message that she should always cry. When I don't I don't think it gives her the message I don't love her. I think that both Lily and I are not people who live in the world of absolutes we just wing it and see what happens.

Whenever I read about other mothers struggles and then some of the really popular blogs end up getting really mean and nasty comments and fights about weather or not to let babies cry themselves to sleep. I have refrained from commenting. I am trying very hard to learn how to not be a big know it all, I am not very successful, am I. Anyways I thought I could write down my thoughts here get them out and not be pushing my opinions on other people. Except you.

So it seems to me that my opinion is that lots of sun and exercise are big helpers in the sleep cooperation department regardless of all the other stuff.