kim through
   the looking glass

On my last post, I mentioned that naptime is now the easiest part of my day! Lisa commented:

“I wish Michael could go to sleep on his own. Is there anything you did to help her with this?”

I want to say firstly that although I love that naptime is easy, I miss snuggling with my little girl.

A lot.

Beginning in my pregnancy, Gwen stopped nursing to sleep at night. Still did it for naps, but started wanting to snuggle with daddy for sleep. Since she was so good at doing it for nighttime, I began to encourage her to snuggle with me to fall asleep about halfway through the pregnancy. We would nurse until she was sleepy, and then we would snuggle in the rocking chair and I’d rock her to sleep.

I miss that.

Once Gil was born, it became mostly impossible for me to rock her to sleep while balancing a newborn on my lap as well, so then I began reading her a book and then having her hop into bed and I would hold her hand or rub her back and sing/hum until she fell asleep. This way, I could nurse Gil or sway with him while he slept to keep him asleep.

That method worked just fine until Gil got a bit older and decided he didn’t always want to nurse while Gwen was falling asleep and that being in a dark, quiet room was B-O-R-I-N-G! So, one day when Gil was especially unimpressed, I tucked Gwen in after a big hug and a kiss and let her know that Gil wasn’t happy in there and that I would be in the next room with him. So, I stood with him and bounced …

Gwen: “Mommy!” Me: “I’m right here Gwen - sleepies time.” Gwen: “Mommy!” Me: “I love you, sweetheart! I’m right here!”

After about 10 minutes of that, she fell asleep. The next few days followed a similar pattern. Now that this is how we “do” naps, I bring her upstairs, she has a pee, I ready her room/bed, she hops in, I give her a big hug and a kiss (or eight!) and then I leave the room. I normally sit with Gil in the next room for a few minutes just to make sure that she’s not upset (sometimes she will have to pee if she refused to go earlier or sometimes she’s just a bit riled up.). Then, after about 5 minutes, I head downstairs.

I honestly wish that it could be different for us. I miss snuggling with her at naptime and bedtime. I miss rocking her to sleep. I miss holding her little body next to me. But, with another little body to worry about, this is easiest for us. And she didn’t protest the transition, so I’m taking that as a sign that she was ready.

Bedtime, however … now that’s a different story.