Man, yesterday was awesome, wasn't it? Hard not to love the love. I totally teared up when the motorcade drove through town. I kept imagining what was going through Obama's brain... My brain would have probably been more Christmas Morning than Pending Leader (This is awesome! Oh man, this is awesome!) and that, friends, is why I have never been elected to public office.
I loved Biden's face when he was walking down the hall - he practically skipped he was so excited. Obama, though... the weight of the world. I guess there's no other way to look when you're the leader of a very fucked up free world but I was relieved to see him and Michelle at the parties, dancing so close. Boy they're a good looking couple. I find it it comforting that Michelle hasn't botoxed herself to death. Maybe she'll start a trend. Keep it real, Michelle. Keep it real.
The boy and I both enjoyed the ceremony, each in our own way. He waved at the crowd, clapping whenever he spotted the First Girls. He was allowed free reign in the living room (it was the one thing that would entertain him long enough to watch history being made) and he made the most of it: "rearranging" the video shelf for us, tearing pages (okay, page) out of daddy's expensive coffee table books, and getting his giant baby self trapped underneath the Exersaucer. It was the first time he was able to roam free in the Big Room and I'm pretty sure he almost killed himself twice. Someone's going to call Child Protective Services on us for keeping the poor kid trapped in the bedroom but we still haven't gotten around to babyproofing the rest of the house yet. Between the sharp, glass-topped coffee table, the wire forest underneath the desk, and (as I discovered yesterday) EVERYTHING ELSE WE OWN, it's like a baby minefield out here. We've got the basics done (the bathroom, the kitchen, the outlets) but it's just easier to take him to the library or the pool than tackle the madness. As soon as he starts walking we'll have to re-think but (cue parenting philosophy!) it works for now. Matt has a very zen, Cross That Bridge When You Come To It take on raising the boy. I tend to be a touch more squawky but maybe Matt's onto something. I was listening to NPR and they were talking about the ways childrearing has changed over the years. In the 20's there was a huge push to stop being affectionate towards children, fearing that hugging and kissing would lead to wussy, clingy adults. The childcare guru at the time advised parents to offer a firm handshake instead. In 1910, the reigning expert told parents that they should have no trouble potty training their children by the age of 3 months, as long as they "started early". (The mind reels.) Who knows what future generations will think about the stuff we're advised to do? (Speaking of - anybody have any pearls of wisdom for enticing a soon-to-be 13-month-old to sleep past 6 am? I'm ALL EARS.)
2 comments:
Aack! That information about past history childrearing stuff is making my early childhood therapist brain explode.
So what have you tried as far as moving that wake up time to a more reasonable hour?
I don't know what we did exactly. I think a lot of it has to do with how much sleep is needed at night and what time the child goes down for the night. We also would let the kids play in the crib for a while too, and eventually they slept later. We have been on the 8:30 bed time 7:00 wake up for a looooong time now. I think that was accomplished around the time they gave up nursing. I had to wake them up earlier before that so we had time to get it in before I had to leave for work. My kids are pretty scheduled and have been since late infancy. It has been both a blessing and a curse. A blessing in that they slept/sleep well, a curse until they outgrew naps because everything we did revolved around the nap schedule unless we wanted a miserable day, and they have a hard time sleeping past 7 even if they go to bed at midnight. Which again makes for a miserable day. BUT thankfully that happens rarely, and now my kids are old enough to entertain themselves in the morning if they choose to get up at 7 and we choose not to.
It's all a crazy cycle around here. I think he's dropping a nap, but unfortunately it seems to be the 2nd one instead of the 1st. He goes to sleep at 7 pm, wakes up at 6 am (with a brief rousing at 2 am. Damn you, 55 week regression!) naps at 9:30 am, and then awake until 7pm! I can't scoot the nap later - the poor kid looks like death on a biscuit after 3 1/2 hours of playtime - but because he's refusing a 2nd nap (I give him "quiet time" during it instead) he can't handle a later bedtime. I'm not sure how he's going to start sleeping past 6 am until he starts going to bed later, and he's not going to go to bed later unless his nap gets pushed later, which isn't going to happen until he starts sleeping past 6 am. It's crazy, I tells ya!
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