This past week has been one of transition and adventure! After a fun few days visiting with friends in NYC and Saba and Savta on Long Island, we arrived home ready to try some new things. The first change we decided to implement was moving Maddy from our bed into her crib. Over the past few weeks, our sleep habits deteriorated rapidly. Neither Maddy nor I were sleeping well anymore, and the time seemed right to try and put her in her own crib and get her accustomed to some routine. We had tried right before I went back to work with little success, but now that she's a bit older (and before she becomes too habituated to anything else) it makes sense to try again. I also have become so exhausted by the constant waking up at night that I can barely function. I was roused every few minutes, either by Maddy's movements or her sleep sounds or her cries for her binky. That kind of fatigue made it nearly impossible to be a happy and healthy human being! So, with much angst on my part, we put her down last night ready to withstand crying and protestation. The whole thing was much harder on me than it was on her! She went to bed at 7:20pm after her bath, her bottle, and a book. She cried for ten minutes, but settled down immediately when I returned and gave her her binky. From 7:30pm to 10pm she cried for a total of sixteen additional minutes. Each time she woke up, she cried less and less. She woke up once to feed at 2:45am, but then slept again until 7:15am! I even got out of bed this morning at 7am to check on her thinking something might be wrong, but she was totally content and happy and asleep. Admittedly, I didn't sleep so great last night as I kept waking up thinking she would be crying soon, but she surprised me! Once again, the prelude to this experience was more frightening and anxiety provoking than the experience itself. I think there is a lesson to be learned here!
We also introduced Maddy to Esmerelda, a "lovey" that is a hybrid between a pig and a blanket. It is plush and super soft and I'm sure will get lots of love and attention from Maddy in the coming months and years. Tonight was also gastronomically momentous: Maddy successfully ate her first solid food. It was really quite amazing to watch her figure out how to open her mouth and take the food from the spoon. Such a little thing, but even a week ago she didn't "get it." This evening, it was like a revelation. One minute I was about to give up, and the next she was repeatedly opening her mouth for more! Maybe it's because I'm an educator, but watching her go through the process of learning something dazzles me!
Maddy is becoming more of a person every day. She constantly is growing and changing, but now she also has her own passport and bank account. Wowee...! Getting her passport photos taken yesterday was fun but ridiculous. I think it's silly that a 4.5 month old baby would need a photo ID to cross the border, but we are hoping to take Maddy up to Canada to meet some of her family and thus need to comply with the regulations! The only thing she'll be smuggling across the border is cuteness!
More soon!l
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