Sleep Training

With Andersen’s 4 month birthday I finally decided it was time to fully implement sleep training.  No more of this partial training stuff that was bringing no real results.  In fact, I started to recognize the same symptoms that Abe had shown right around this age.  Meaning, not sleeping for long periods of time and waking every hour or less if I wasn’t holding him.  And even if I was, he was still fussy because he was so tired.  It wasn’t good for me, but it mainly wasn’t good for him, and that’s when I know it’s time to take drastic action.  It now goes past my own selfish desire to be well rested and it is about what is best for Andersen.  Soothing balm to knowing that I’m going to have to let my baby cry and not comfort him, but knowing the end result is better.  This may seem like a bit of a stretch, but sleep training has always reminded me of how God often parents us:  You may not see me, but I’m here, I haven’t forgotten you, I hear your cries, but I know what’s best for you even if you’re too young to understand it.  Trust me.

We had a couple hiccups in the training, like shots from his 4 month well-check and a touch of a cold, but we’re definitely making some progress now that we’re through that.  Once all of our activities end and summer officially begins next week we’ll be able to get on a more regular daytime schedule too.  How wonderful it will be to have more order in our lives!  Oh, and speaking of his doctor appointment (which he had on the 17th), his official stats were 14 pounds 10 ounces (49%) and 25.75″ (75%).  Our doctor was very pleased with his weight gain and overall health.

Andersen has added rolling from back to belly to his repertoire, but no barrel rolls yet.  Then the fun really begins!  I’m pleased to report that he is allowing me to lengthen the leash and I’m able to leave him now for periods of time with Mike.  He even gave me a great Mother’s Day gift and was super happy in the church nursery the whole time; I finally got to hear a full sermon!  Starting from the time I left the house to teach the 3/4 year olds for first service until I picked him up after second service he was happy without Mommy; that was three whole hours!

A couple more tidbits I don’t want to forget before I end this entry:  The most common comment we hear is, “He just looks like one of y’all’s!”  I guess after three kids we now have “a look.”  He has the big saucer eyes (each kid has very different eyes in my humble opinion) and one of our doctors was completely taken aback by Andersen’s.  Mid-sentence he stopped, entranced, and said, “Well hi beautiful!!”  It took him a very long, pregnant pause before he could go on he was so caught off-guard.  Loved that.  I’ve also been waiting for his “nick name” to be discovered.  So far he most often gets called Stinker, Goof Ball, or Mister Mister (which Mike hates).  Not sure if any of those will stick.  Abe had many names as a baby but only Pumpkin (or Punky) stuck; April has always been Sweet Pea.  If you want to see more pictures, remember to check here; I try to update them once a month when he hits his “birthday”.