Night owlett

I think we've passed the busiest part of summer, and I'm actually happy to say our summer travels are done. As much as we love seeing friends and family, it's nice to have some time at home. Highlights of the past couple weeks include visiting Ohio once again for Angie and Dave's beautiful wedding (Charlie, who was not invited, gave Grandpa and Grandma a run for their money when he wouldn't settle down and had to be driven around), going to  great-grandma's 80th birthday party, meeting another lovely and tiny baby girl (look at that pretty little face!), and Charlie providing  the entertainment for our French-themed dinner party.

Unfortunately, the low points of the last few weeks have been the nights; Charlie continues to wake every couple hours. We've tried lots of things (short  of letting him cry it out) but the problem only seems to be getting worse. In desperation, Billy and I bought a book that outlines how to get your child to sleep, and though parts of it seem silly and more strict than we'd come up with on our own, we decided to give it a try. The plan involves letting Charlie cry while we go to him  at longer intervals so he knows we're still there. The first time he woke he cried for 40 agonizing minutes, but the next time he only cried for 5, and then he didn't cry again until the morning. Coincidence? I suppose we'll see. 

There is one part to this sleep business I find really funny. Supposedly, when babies learn a new skill, they become a bit obsessed with it and wake at night to practice. In the past few weeks I've come into Charlie's room to find him crawling around the crib, half-asleep, and crying when he runs into the side and can't go any further. Last night, when I checked on him while he was crying, he was crawling, sitting, tipping over, and crawling again. While the whole situation broke my heart, his enthusiastic movements were so funny to see.

Hopefully next week's blog will report that all three of us are peacefully sleeping through the night.