For When I Forget

Although I know that no two children are the same and that I cannot expect Nathan to behave at all like Patrick has, I am afraid I am not prepared for what that will actually be like. One area that I wish Nathan would take after his big brother is sleep. I'm afraid I'll forget all too quickly after his arrival about how peaceful life has been these last almost-two years.

There were early days at home with Patrick when I thought I would lose it because of how little he seemed to sleep. But now I realize we had it easy. It was only a few weeks of getting up every three hours to feed him, and he slept well most of the time between feedings. Then once he started sleeping longer stretches, and eventually through the night, life got easy.

We developed a bedtime routine early. Once he moved to his crib, our routine was to feed him one last time (his vitamin bottle while he still needed that), change him into pajamas, then tuck him into bed. He might cry for a few minutes but would soothe himself to sleep after a reasonable time. And that was it.

Now that routine has been modified somewhat. We've cut out the before-bed feeding and sometimes even changing him into pj's if we're particularly lazy (and he's wearing something comfortable). We just take him into his room, kiss him good-night, and leave him. He chatters happily for a few minutes and then goes happily to sleep. Sometimes if we tell him it's time for "sleep tight," he'll even run into his room and crawl into his bed to wait for us. I've never seen a kid so happy about bedtime.

He typically sleeps twelve to fourteen hours straight. When he wakes up, he usually just talks quietly to himself until he gets hungry enough to make sure I'm awake and ready to let him out of his room. He takes a good, long afternoon nap as well. The nap averages about two hours, and again, he's perfectly happy playing in his room when he wakes up. Sometimes I'll notice it's been over two hours and I haven't heard a peep out of Patrick, and I'll have to listen at his door to even tell if he's awake yet.

It would be a wonderful miracle if Nathan ends up sleeping as well as Patrick has. I'm fully aware that Patrick's sleep habits are not typical of most toddlers. He's never been typical in how well he sleeps, and I am completely unprepared for dealing with a normal child, at least in that area.