Aaaaah, progress!

Again!

I'm sort of "weaning" Paxton when it comes to naps. I did the same thing this time last year I think! He'd been falling asleep in my arms but suddenly that freaked him out and he's shriek in terror. I had to hold him still in my arms or else he wouldn't fall asleep. Over a few weeks I got him to lay in bed while I held him tight until he fell asleep. Then I'd stay beside him and resist holding him still for longer and longer until he fell asleep. Then eventually I wouldn't touch him at all. Then I moved up to the couch on the other side of his room so I was still there as he fell asleep. Then once he was falling asleep consistently with me not near him I started leaving the room after a set time, earlier and earlier. Eventually we got to the point where he'd just go into his bedroom by himself, flop in bed with a book, and fall asleep with absolutely no intervention from me.

When he regressed during Nik's time off he regressed in naps too, by about a year. Now we're sort of fast forwarding through that process, with some days of him going to sleep normally (ie, just flopping in bed with a book) and some days of him fighting it, but mostly following the same progression from last year only much quicker. The past two days we did the "mom sits on the other side of the room" thing. It was awesome! He fell asleep so fast and I was so low stress. That's how I want sleep to be, fun and positive and calm and low stress. He sleeps better that way and we're all happier that way (though taking a stressful nap is still better for him than having a calm day with no nap!).

Since so much of my parenting seems wrapped up in his naps I'm obviously quite pleased with this. I've also been able to take two hardcore 2 hour naps this week, on Monday and Wednesday, and I had coffee this morning. I'm not normally this awake by Thursday! I'd go walk in the park or something with all this energy but it's yucky out, and gonna be that way for the next week or so.

*****

I joined a mom's group, trianglemommies.com, a few weeks ago and I love it. I just suggested to another mom (new to the area) that she join. They're supportive, caring and fun, and really laid back. That's the big reason I resisted mom groups at first. The ones I saw seemed, well, stuck up. Maybe it's the part of Raleigh I was in, I don't know. They were very exclusive, a few people talking to me until they realized I wasn't in their group then moving away. And all white of course, which makes me a bit uncomfortable for Paxton's sake.

This time around, though, the moms I'm meeting are very nice, very inclusive, very open minded and very easy to talk to. I wish I'd had this support months ago! Not that I didn't have any at all, but still...

And it's very, very nice to be part of a homeschool group where the kids are Paxton's age and the parents are all nice and knowledgeable. No one double takes when I mention cloth diapers! OMG! And nursing and baby wearing are common! Wow!

Oh, and Nik's doing great at his new job and they really appreciate him. Just had to add that as, all in all, life is going pretty well right now and knowing that it can switch pretty quickly I just have to make sure we appreciate each wonderful moment :)