If Cooper Could Talk…

… he would say, “Gee, Mom.   I’ve been trying to tell you for months… stop tying me up to go to sleep for goodness sakes!   Set me free!   Let me cry for a minute.   I LOVE sleep.   Just let me do it my way!”

I mentioned a few posts back that with the new year I decided to stop swaddling Cooper and stop rocking him to sleep for bed and naptimes.    Trying to get him to sleep  was getting out of control: he wasn’t napping and was waking up all night.   So we let him be free to roll around (and sleep on his tummy) and VOOM:   He had been taking naps like clockwork and sleeping at night  like  a champ.   Sure, he cries for a bit: usually 5 to 10 minutes to settle down to nap, then hardly a whimper at bedtime, but he’s been napping in two-hour stretches and sleeping from 8 to 6ish, nursing, then settling in until 8 or 8:30 to wake for the day.

It’s a whole new world.

Kenny never napped.   That is, he stopped napping at 8 weeks and started again at 14 months.   But I always tried to nurse him to sleep.   The poor little rascal was so darn tired, he’d always fall asleep nursing, and I’d carefully try to lay him down, then *wham* he’d startle awake screaming and that would be it.   I didn’t know any different.   Grr.   Now with Cooper actually sleeping during the day and night, I have a whole new ream opened up to me.   I can play with Kenny.   Do chores.   Darn it, I may even pick up a hobby.   Ok, I’m not going that far.   But it was fun to dream for a minute…

Now if only Kenny hadn’t given up his naps so soon…