Sleep Nirvana

Three consecutive days of 7am-730am wakeup times! Wow! Wow in two ways - 1) that's luxury now and 2) if you'd told me 2 years ago I'd be excited about getting up at 7am I would have thought you were crazy. But that was then and this is now. It was after a week that included some 5am's, but all in all wakup times seem to be stabilizing nicely. It still gets out of whack sometimes - timechange + sickness took about a month to recover from, but I think recovery is easier now (easy for me to say since Bec does most of that work...but I think it's true). He still usually naps for a couple hours each day too.

It's been a tough road and Bec has been a superstar. I think the biggest lessons learned are: that everything is connected (night sleep length and time, nap(s) length and time, feedings, fresh air, exercise, stimulation); that each kid is different and no book or expert should tell you otherwise (no book will say 9.5 hours of sleep at night is enough...but attempting anything else with Quinn just pushed the problem around); and that consistency and ritual is king (the nightly routine puts him on rails toward bed, and it has even proven to be portable when we travel). And one thing I've come to accept is that things can knock it off the rails, especially sickness, but that it *will* recover again.

I can put him to bed now quite comfortably for all involved, and down for naps, though Bec still does the majority of it. It's pretty special, and he seems more attached to me in days thereafter. All this semblance of normal life makes us hesitate when considering a second one, but who knows...maybe one day.