well that was different!
Feb. 12th, 2012 06:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aryanhwyYesterday Gwen went to sleep around 17:20, only slightly later than she usually does...and then slept for almost 10 hours! She didn't wake up for a bottle until 3:15, and then after that slept again until her normal 7:00 wake-up. The longest stretch we've gotten from her before was 8 hours, and this is the first time she's only woken up once at night.
We had a bit of a strange afternoon sleepwise too; she fell asleep around 13:55 and slept for an hour before she woke up screaming -- always an indication that she really, really, really needs more sleep, but even though I'll pick her up, wrap her in a blanket and sit and rock her, this virtually never works to get her to fall back asleep, even when she's lying in my arms eyes squinched up and clearly so close to being asleep. But today she screamed for 15 minutes, and then magically fell back asleep, sound enough that I could put her back in her basket. I then crawled in with Joel and dozed for a bit, thinking it wouldn't last long, and indeed after 15 min. she was fussing again. But I went and put her pacifier back in , and shushed her some and it worked. She slept until almost 18:00! I can't remember the last time that she was awake in the 18:00-19:00 block. I think maybe the week between Christmas and New Year's?? This was so non-standard I wasn't sure exactly how to treat it, she was hungry so she got the bottle right away and judging from the heaviness of her eyes I could probably have put her back in the basket and she'd've fallen back asleep, like a middle of the night feeding. But I didn't want that to mean that she'd end up waking up excessively early, so instead we went into the other room and folded some laundry, and then emptied the dishwasher, until about an hour after she woke up she started grousing again so we went back upstairs, sat and rocked for a bit, and then I put her in her basket. She went to sleep around 19:15 and I have no idea when she'll wake up next.
She's starting to develop a sense of things like routine and cause-and-effect, and to develop expectations. The rocking chair is primarily for feeding, and for cuddling before bed/naps (sometimes these are the same, sometimes they are separated). We also read in the rocking chair, but not in any sort of pattern. I've now found that if she's neither tired nor hungry and I want to read to her, as soon as I start trying to get settled in the chair she'll start crying. I've also noticed that when she's tired but not calm/drowsy and I put her in her basket, turning the light off causes her to cry harder. So I've started not turning it off unless she's already calm, drowsy, or asleep when I put her into the basket, and just coming back 5 minutes later, when invariably she's calmed down from her crying and fallen asleep. And then this evening while we were putting the laundry away, I accidentally scared her! She was sitting in the bouncy chair and I went to put something away in the closet; she was looking at the closet door but it was obscuring me while I was in there. I came back out and started speaking to her at the same time, and she jerked and startled! She was not expecting that to happen.
So tomorrow I officially go back to work. On the one hand, I'm looking forward to this tremendously -- I think I have been since she was born! It's been nice having four months off, but I miss adult conversation, and my research, and the productivity and reading and writing. On the other hand, I'm not quite sure how this is going to work, because she doesn't start day care until March 1. Luckily we get good naps in the mornings (usually), so I can work then, and I'll start keeping my current book upstairs next to the rocker so I can read during her afternoon crying spells, and for late afternoon talks Joel will be awake to take care of her so I can leave her here. It's only for about three weeks so I'll make it work. The only thing I'm not so sure about is the departmental meeting tomorrow from 12:00-14:00. It's the first once I'll have been able to attend, since pre-maternity-leave on Monday I was running Latin reading group in Amsterdam, so I'm not entirely sure what people will think when I show up toting a baby!
We had a bit of a strange afternoon sleepwise too; she fell asleep around 13:55 and slept for an hour before she woke up screaming -- always an indication that she really, really, really needs more sleep, but even though I'll pick her up, wrap her in a blanket and sit and rock her, this virtually never works to get her to fall back asleep, even when she's lying in my arms eyes squinched up and clearly so close to being asleep. But today she screamed for 15 minutes, and then magically fell back asleep, sound enough that I could put her back in her basket. I then crawled in with Joel and dozed for a bit, thinking it wouldn't last long, and indeed after 15 min. she was fussing again. But I went and put her pacifier back in , and shushed her some and it worked. She slept until almost 18:00! I can't remember the last time that she was awake in the 18:00-19:00 block. I think maybe the week between Christmas and New Year's?? This was so non-standard I wasn't sure exactly how to treat it, she was hungry so she got the bottle right away and judging from the heaviness of her eyes I could probably have put her back in the basket and she'd've fallen back asleep, like a middle of the night feeding. But I didn't want that to mean that she'd end up waking up excessively early, so instead we went into the other room and folded some laundry, and then emptied the dishwasher, until about an hour after she woke up she started grousing again so we went back upstairs, sat and rocked for a bit, and then I put her in her basket. She went to sleep around 19:15 and I have no idea when she'll wake up next.
She's starting to develop a sense of things like routine and cause-and-effect, and to develop expectations. The rocking chair is primarily for feeding, and for cuddling before bed/naps (sometimes these are the same, sometimes they are separated). We also read in the rocking chair, but not in any sort of pattern. I've now found that if she's neither tired nor hungry and I want to read to her, as soon as I start trying to get settled in the chair she'll start crying. I've also noticed that when she's tired but not calm/drowsy and I put her in her basket, turning the light off causes her to cry harder. So I've started not turning it off unless she's already calm, drowsy, or asleep when I put her into the basket, and just coming back 5 minutes later, when invariably she's calmed down from her crying and fallen asleep. And then this evening while we were putting the laundry away, I accidentally scared her! She was sitting in the bouncy chair and I went to put something away in the closet; she was looking at the closet door but it was obscuring me while I was in there. I came back out and started speaking to her at the same time, and she jerked and startled! She was not expecting that to happen.
So tomorrow I officially go back to work. On the one hand, I'm looking forward to this tremendously -- I think I have been since she was born! It's been nice having four months off, but I miss adult conversation, and my research, and the productivity and reading and writing. On the other hand, I'm not quite sure how this is going to work, because she doesn't start day care until March 1. Luckily we get good naps in the mornings (usually), so I can work then, and I'll start keeping my current book upstairs next to the rocker so I can read during her afternoon crying spells, and for late afternoon talks Joel will be awake to take care of her so I can leave her here. It's only for about three weeks so I'll make it work. The only thing I'm not so sure about is the departmental meeting tomorrow from 12:00-14:00. It's the first once I'll have been able to attend, since pre-maternity-leave on Monday I was running Latin reading group in Amsterdam, so I'm not entirely sure what people will think when I show up toting a baby!
