At 7 months he has completely mastered the crawl. He could probably win the gold in a baby crawl race. He's also pulling up on EVERYTHING. The coffee table, the couch, the bar stools, the cabinet pulls, the kid chairs, the shelves....everything.
It's quite cute. Once he pulls up he looks for the nod of approval then proceeds to bang out a mock drum solo on whatever surface is available. I suspect that he will be an early walker.
Tyce loves his big brother. He goes bananas just at the sight of him. If you happen to be holding him, he gets all slap happy and beats you up during the crack up. Ryder is assuming the roll and becoming more and more helpful. He's able to keep an eye on him for a few minutes at a time, so I've actually been able to pee alone. It's great.
The big, big news to share is that Tyce is sleeping through the night. Yes, you heard right...sleeping all the way through the night!
About a month ago, he began regressing in the sleep department. He went from waking every 3-4 hours to waking every 1-2 hours. It was completely exhausting. I thought I was going to loose my mind. I mean, I hadn't really slept a solid night through in a year. When he was in my belly I had to wake up to pee or just change positions. At 6 months old, I thought I would at least be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Instead he was waking up more. Insanity.
I knew the waking was just out of habit and comfort. There were a few exceptions, but mostly once I went in there and picked him up, he was back asleep with in 5 minutes. He didn't even always take a bottle. I was at a loss, I had tried the "cry it out" method with Ryder and couldn't do it. I couldn't even last 15 minutes. The screaming killed me and I felt like a horrible mom. But...Ryder also was progressing to longer and longer stints of sleep on his own, so it wasn't a necessity.
This time something HAD to be done...immediately.
So, one night I just said, to heck with this, I'm gonna let him cry.
And cry he did.
Did I say cry? I meant scream. Screams like I've never heard. Luckily, I have a video monitor so I was able to see that no one was actually in there ripping his arms off like the sounds alluded. One hour...one hour is how long the first episode lasted. Utter torture. About 3 hours later, it started up again. It literally took every thing in my power not to go in his room and pick him up. 45 minutes was the second episode. About 2 hours later it started up again....another 40 minutes. By this point you can imagine, I was sitting on the floor clutching my knees and rocking back and forth like a loon. Finally, it was 7 am and he woke up and I rushed in to get him. I thought he would start screaming in my face, ya know, because he was mad that I left him in there all night. Nope. All smiles. Hmmmm?
Nap times were usually the same routine as night. I would rock him with a bottle, then when he fell asleep I would put him in the crib. Sometimes he would wake back up and I would pick him back up and rock him some more. Since the episode at night, I thought lets just see what happens if I don't pick him up. So I laid him down. The crying started and I shut the door and sat on the couch. 8 minutes later he was asleep. I couldn't believe it. I did a mini jig. This could work.
Night #2 was mostly like the first night. More screaming, more of me feeling like the world's worst mom. But in the morning, all smiles.
Night #3 only had 2 long crying episodes...
Night #4 he woke up 3 different times and only cried for about 10-15 minutes each time.
That's it, the end. Now he sleeps all night long. It's been about 3 weeks and we are still going strong. A few nights in between, he woke up and whined for a few minutes but that was it.
We are still working on nap time, but making progress.
He takes three hour long naps a day and mostly at the same time give or take a half an hour. In the beginning of this "training" he would fall asleep in my arms and as soon as I laid him down, boom, awake. So, like the night, I put him in the crib and shut the door. He would cry anywhere from 10-30 minutes. Now, as soon as I see the signs of fatigue, usually the eye rub, I give him a bottle and lay him down. Sometimes he goes right down and sometimes he just kind of hangs out for 20 minutes or so then eventually just goes to sleep, Occasionally he will cry for a while, but I just leave him to it.
It's totally crazy that this worked but it did. And I can't believe that I made it through, but I did. I think it was more out of desperation than anything. I just needed the sleep.
So, while I write this blog for a variety of different reasons, I really hope this helps at least one mom get some much need sleep. Know that it totally pays off and your baby will not be mad at you or hold a grudge. In fact, they may even be happier because of the great night sleep they had.
:)
