Eight

I bought Eli a little doll a few weeks before Esme was born, hoping it would help with the transition. He didn't take much interest in it until a couple of weeks ago when I took him to see my friend Anna's newborn. He was completely smitten yet shy with tiny Everly. When we got home he went straight for his doll that he soon decided to name Eight. I assume the idea came from his recent church lesson about baptism, but who knows, maybe he's conjugating verbs and it's actually "ate."

I love this long-lasting copying phase. It teaches us both. I realize changes I need to make when I see Eli reinacting my bad habits. On the other side, it warms my hear, literally, when he's super sweet. He treats Eight just the way I do Esme. He's even shown concern that Eight has no hair. (Since all babies must have a full head of hair.) He gives her naps, claps when she sits up or rolls, swings her in the air to make her laugh, feeds her pretend baby food, and even nurses her. Brian was disturbed to witness the latter last night. I see it more matter-of-factly. He's just giving his baby milk the only way he knows how. He isn't aware of gender roles and constraints.

He's also extremely bossy. Part of his immitating also assumes that there is no hierarchy around here and that we are all equal in command. If Eight is sleeping and I talk above a whisper, he quickly commands "Shhhhh, be quatet!" and then tells me to finish my dinner.

Every day he learns how a family interacts, works, and loves based on what he sees. Yikes. I better be on my best behavior.

It's Finally Getting Easy

Actually, bath time has always been a piece of cake with her, but this picture is too cute.

I thought things were going to be much easier with number two, but not so. A couple weeks ago we had the most horrible night yet, it's hard being sleep-deprived for 3 months straight. It was then that I decided Esme was being (1)weaned of the binkie, (2)going on a strict schedule in the day, and (3)learning to go longer stretches through the night. I ended up learning to not make rash decisions in such a desperate state and that I shouldn't compare us to a certain friend whose baby has been sleeping through the night since she was 6 weeks. Esme only agreed to one of those and I gave up on the other two, figuring I was more sleepless trying to hold her and tie her over for a couple more hours during the middle of the night than just feeding her when she wanted.

I also decided the Baby Whisperer doesn't have it all right. Eat, Activity, Sleep, Yourself she says. I understand the separation of eating and sleeping so the baby doesn't need to nurse to fall asleep, but Esme was taking 6 45 minute naps a day because she grew too hungry to sleep longer since she'd been awake for a while after eating. So we do EAESY, 2 hours awake, 2 hours asleep. Now we have a good routine with 2 long naps and one short nap during the long stretch before bed time.

As a second-time mom I know that just when things start looking up, little ones change and find reasons to not sleep well (growth spurts, teething, new mobility, stuffy nose), so I'm not counting on anything. Currently I'm just grateful yet stressing myself trying to figure out how to recreate the circumstances that led her to sleep her 10 hours last night, only waking once to eat, the likes of which have never happened before. Was it the long-sleeve onesie making it harder to bust out of a swaddle, was it staying up late, was it the humidifier on high? Probably none of the above.

It could be her plumpness. I weighed her on the kitchen scale (we don't own a regular one) the other day and she's now 10 pounds, the point at which I've read means they can start sleeping through the night. If we could just get Eli to do the same. Sheesh. Not complaining. Really. Although I would be if I was the one going to him.

Believe it or not, this is the condensed version, I could've gone on much longer.