New Things for Avelyn (updated)

I'm not sure if we're going through a phase or what, but I'm pooped! It seems like every night for the past week (we had a few REALLY good nights of crib sleep) from 3-7am, I don't sleep. I put A back in her crib at 3:30 (she's been waking up at 2:30) after a bottle, but then she fusses a bit (while asleep) on and off for a couple of hours, then finally goes to sleep around 4:30, only to wake at 6:15 laughing and talking, at which point I've been doing another bottle and bringing her into bed with me, so that I can get a few more hours.

I have my own sleep issues. I've never been one to lay down and BAM! I'm out...it takes me a bit to fall asleep, knowing that I'm going to be woken up in a few hours, makes it even harder for me to fall asleep, and on top of that I'm not getting enough physical exercise, so my body isn't as tired and ready for sleep as it should be (in spite of not getting much sleep).

A has started doing this new thing...it's actually really annoying and scared the crap out of me the first time. On Sunday night, at 2:30...I keep hearing a THUD over the monitor, then suddenly I hear the crib rattling (the drop side). I go running in there...A has completely moved herself! I put her in laying lengthwise in the crib, she's rotated herself 90* and is kicking the side of the crib. She's done this the past few nights and I think she's waking herself up. I tried putting her closer to the other side, so that when she moves, she's not too close to the side she's kicking (she only rotates in a clockwise direction).

Now throughout the early morning, not only does A fuss, but she moves in the crib so that she can kick the side: YAY!

The second new thing (besides moving around her bed) is a direct result of the night time lack of sleep. I think part of A's waking is that she's hungry (as noted by the 4-6oz she takes at 3am and again a few hours later). Today I introduced a bit of rice cereal.

At first she was making faces at me (I was spoon feeding it), but tthen she started to enjoy it...she didn't get very much and it was more or less for me to see if she would take it by spoon and whether she would actually eat it. I want to add a tiny bit of it to her bottle at night, to see if that helps the sleeping thing.

Of course most anything you read says no "solids" until 6 months, but I've also read a lot of stuff with people doing rice cereal at 3-4 months in a bottle at bed time. I figure it's worth a shot...particularly if she isn't adverse to it. We'll see how it goes tonight.

The other thing is about school: We've planned on homeschooling since before we were married, but I keep hearing "Montessori" popping up in a lot of places. I've been looking into it and found this website, which has a section specifically for Montessori learning in a home school environment. I think there is actually a Montessori school in the next town over, about 40 minutes away.

They actually have a whole section on their website about Montessori learning in the first year, which is quite interesting. What I like about it, is that it's not an education as much as it is learning. I love learning! It provides babies, kids, etc with a cause and effect way of seeking out new things and developing their own interests and knowledge...whether it's researching a topic that interests you or learning how to use a toilet.

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Well we did a bottle (2oz) of rice cereal at 6 last night. I could already tell she was sleepy. Usually she just naps in the swing in the evening, while I get dinner ready, but last night I decided to see if she'd go down in the crib. She did: From 7-10pm, woke up then, gave her another 2oz bottle with rice cereal and 3oz of formula, and she was down until 4am (woohoo!).

We even managed to avoid the kicking the sides of the crib; I put her in the opposite way, so if she was kicking it was the side against the wall, and didn't make any noise.

Then she pulled her usual of waking up at 6:15, fussing and laughing. I brought her in our bed, but she was not interested in cuddling, so I put her back in her crib for 30 minutes, until she wasn't laughing, then gave her a bottle and brought her in bed with me until 8:45.

I ended up taking a benadryl to help me go to sleep...it worked. Was it a perfect night? No, but it was certainly better.