You've been telling me to take naps for years. Over a decade. Starting now is reviving an ancient tradition, not creating a new method of playing "Torture the Alex".

Well, yes, but the new version is going to involve tossing a fuzzy blanky over your head, and then running away very fast.

And no, I won't promise to not smite you. Are you mad?

Is this a trick question?

Mmm...fuzzy blanket.

Wait! This is a trick, isn't it?

Fuzzy blanket...

I have been trying to share this cartoon with you for days:

Heh. "Wassup Terns."

Hee. I knew that guy in college. He's still very funny.

She is teething a little. Sigh.

Growing from her size to our size HURTS.

Aimee, O goes through EXTREME bouts of not sleeping. He used to sleep like a rock for 9 hours. Now, he'll wake two times a night. Sometimes he's still asleep, standing at the side of the crib wailing. Sometimes, he can put himself back to sleep. Or else we usually get him right back to sleep in about two minutes, but it's the waking part for us that sucks. Even if we let him cry it out (I've tried, I just can't take it) we're STILL AWAKE. So we're losing the sleep anyway. Bleh.

Once DH found O standing at the crib rail--FACING the wall. I don't even think he was awake--just standing there crying in his sleep. Strange.

His naps are still right on schedule and of a goodly length, though. I'm going to have to talk to his ped when we go back for his year appt.

Once DH found O standing at the crib rail--FACING the wall. I don't even think he was awake--just standing there crying in his sleep.

Poor O!

Yeah, she does the crying with the eyes shut tight. And sometimes, she just wants to be held. She'll fall asleep in arms but wakes the instant she touches her crib mattress. Silly babies.

I'm just lucky I can function with four hours of sleep. Plus, I only have to function at home--not at a job so the pressure is off me, entirely. Which gives me the luxury of catching up on my sleep when he naps.

He tends to cycle this way when something comes up. This time, it was cutting a big side tooth (bicuspid?) and a week and a half long cold. I'm hoping that with a little effort, we'll get him back to sleeping on his old schedule.

Question to the baby-having:

Are parents still being told to be worried about cuddling their children too much, about making too much of a fuss if the kidlet is dinged or scared etc.? I've heard arguments saying that "coddling" the child will make it harder for them to go out and experience the world, but I have a hard time imagining a self-respecting ten-year-old afraid to leave his mother's side.

Or is the operative word "self-respecting"?

I have been told that it is impossible to spoil a child under the age of 6 months. I do, however, let her cry a bit if she's not being held and she needs something. Sometimes, she sticks her fingers in her mouth and is fine. Other times, she freaks the hell out and gets plucked up quickly. For me, I'd rather she know that if she needs me, I'll be there.

None of that made sense.