Some of you are going to know exactly what I mean by this.In a house of more than one small child, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Safety is met first, then urgency, then everything else. But what's urgent is usually defined by who is loudest. And most of the time, the loudest in my house is Asher.
I'm almost sad that Silas is such an easy baby. Well, he's easy for me. Silas loves his mama, and as long as I'm around, he almost never cries. And since he doesn't complain, he is often just along for the ride. I know it's a blessing not to have a fussy baby, and I'm glad for it most of the time. But it's a little sad to think about all the time I spent watching Asher's every move as a baby, versus Silas's life on my hip (or in the carrier, as you can see from recent pictures).
There are a few times in our day, though, when Silas does have my undivided attention - bedtimes. I rock him to sleep, and I love it. Many days it is the only time that I have a few quiet minutes with just Silas.
So tonight, when I had no choice (for the second time this week) but to put him in bed awake, I was surprised and disappointed to find he fell asleep very easily on his own.
In general, my philosophy on babies and independence is to give them the chance to do whatever they are able to do, and not to push the rest. I rocked Asher until he was 8 months old and too alert to settle down unless he was in his bed. So now I'm wondering, do I need to start putting Silas to bed awake? If he's ready for it, shouldn't I let him do it?
No, I don't think so.
Not all of parenting is pragmatic. I am not ready to give up rocking him, even if he is able to function without it. Our quiet time together, even when it's only a few minutes, is good for both of us. He's my baby, and he's only this little for a very short period of time - a fact I appreciate much more the second time around. Before long he'll be too big to fit on my chest, much less fall asleep there. No, I don't think I'll push independence just yet. Maybe he's over being rocked to sleep, but I'm not. Not yet.
4 comments:
David fell asleep leaning against me in the pew at church, last night. I lay his head on my lap and let him sleep while I rubbed his head and back. It was a tiny sliver of his babyhood returned to me and I refused to wake him up or let Corey take him. So, I completely understand and say, "Keep rocking."
Thank you for this post. I have been pouring over baby sleep books for the past week because I felt like it was time that I was "supposed to" put Bethany down in her crib to fall asleep alone. I don't think this works for me or her. So, as long as she will rock for a bit and then go down- I am a happy momma.
The party looked like a blast, the bedding is GORGEOUS and I hear you on the few minutes at night being almost the only alone time with the second little one. I am seeing that more and more. Baby Bean does love being helpful though so that's good. :)
Love it...keep on rocking. The longer we wait for a baby, the harder I think he/she is gonna be to put down!
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