2007/11/08 10:14
You Can Sleep When You're Dead
Avery has decided, in the last couple of weeks, that 4:30 in the morning is a good time to get up and play. You can almost set your watch by it -- just before or not long after Sed leaves for work, the punkinhead will start reaching for my nipple with both hands. She and I both know, through bitter experience, that it doesn't work the way she wants it to work, but it does serve as an effective wake-up switch, especially when she clamps on with her fingernails.
I know, I know, I'm supposed to ignore her wakefulness in the night. I'm supposed to demonstrate that dark-thirty in the morning is for sleeping. I'm supposed to get her on a schedule.
The problem is when the member of the household in control of what is still the preferred meal changes her shift every month (and dare I add gets cranky when she hasn't had enough sleep), how is the baby supposed to get on a schedule? We don't know when Mom's coming home today. It could be now. It could be later. She could be hiding in the coat closet, having gotten home an hour ago but desperately trying to squeeze in more studying for her upcoming board exam before we distract her. At any rate, we'd better stay up. And then when Mom gets up (whether it's four in the morning or five in the evening), it must be time to awaken for the day.
Plus, let's see you stay asleep after a baby has latched onto your poor nipple with her talons and refuses to let go until you pick her up.
I've read the baby books. They say Avery's supposed to be sleeping for fourteen or fifteen hours a day. Well, obviously she hasn't read them. I'd be surprised if she gets twelve. Some days it's less, when she fights her afternoon nap until nearly bedtime and then wakes up three times in the night because now she's overtired and can't sleep. And given that Dad has difficulty falling asleep before 1 am and posesses an uncanny inability to nap, this means all of us are operating on Exhausted Standard Time.
Watch this, though -- next month, when Sed's working a seven-to-four shift, Avery will probably only wake up for meals, playtime with Kucha and "Design On a Dime."
I know, I know, I'm supposed to ignore her wakefulness in the night. I'm supposed to demonstrate that dark-thirty in the morning is for sleeping. I'm supposed to get her on a schedule.
The problem is when the member of the household in control of what is still the preferred meal changes her shift every month (and dare I add gets cranky when she hasn't had enough sleep), how is the baby supposed to get on a schedule? We don't know when Mom's coming home today. It could be now. It could be later. She could be hiding in the coat closet, having gotten home an hour ago but desperately trying to squeeze in more studying for her upcoming board exam before we distract her. At any rate, we'd better stay up. And then when Mom gets up (whether it's four in the morning or five in the evening), it must be time to awaken for the day.
Plus, let's see you stay asleep after a baby has latched onto your poor nipple with her talons and refuses to let go until you pick her up.
I've read the baby books. They say Avery's supposed to be sleeping for fourteen or fifteen hours a day. Well, obviously she hasn't read them. I'd be surprised if she gets twelve. Some days it's less, when she fights her afternoon nap until nearly bedtime and then wakes up three times in the night because now she's overtired and can't sleep. And given that Dad has difficulty falling asleep before 1 am and posesses an uncanny inability to nap, this means all of us are operating on Exhausted Standard Time.
Watch this, though -- next month, when Sed's working a seven-to-four shift, Avery will probably only wake up for meals, playtime with Kucha and "Design On a Dime."
