SUCCESS!
Well, I say this now, but ask me again next week.
After the most torturous couple weeks of non-sleep (for us), it finally occurred to me that maybe – just maybe – if we taped up the stupid, ghetto, handmade skylights in the bedroom so that we didn’t all get drowned in sunlight at the crack of dawn every morning, Nugget might stay asleep. I, personally, did not appreciate the light, either. I am of the firm belief that bedroom should be dark, dark, dark.
Well, we taped them up and he’s been sleeping from around 10-10:30p until AT LEAST 8, sometimes 9, every morning this week. Let’s hope this lasts. But I’ve a strong feeling it will. And I don’t have a thing to complain about now.
My biggest fear about having a baby has always been that we’d have one of those babies that always woke up at 5 or 6 and you couldn’t break them of it. Really. My BIGGEST fear. Because as long as I’ve had sleep, I can handle just about anything.
Life suddenly seems very easy.
People keep telling us to enjoy this age because it’s the best age, and once they start crawling, all bets are off. I’ve already realized this – that this is a fabulous age. He’s really not all that high maintenance, as far as babies go. Most of the day he hangs out in his seat while I cook/do stuff on my laptop/do other things. Or he naps. Or he lays on his play mat. Or he sits in our laps and observes.
And that right there is part of the reason I don’t want a second one. There is NO WAY that a child could be easier and more amicable than he is. There are plenty of ways that another one could be supremely difficult. Let’s say, such as being the baby that has to wake up at 6 every day? (I know, some of you are scoffing at that because a LOT of people get up at 6 or earlier every day just for work. But at night, I’m on Chris’s schedule, which means I don’t go to bed until I’ve seen him for a few hours. And look, I can’t help it. I’m not just “not a morning person” like some people don’t like mornings. I’m not a morning person in the respect that waking up early leaves me feeling drugged up, inhuman, and disconnected from the world. So if I can get up anytime after 7, that’s a huge help.)
And it’s also helpful for Chris, who works long & hard hours at work. Being able to stay in bed till the alarm goes off is a huge help for him, as well. Quite frankly, after the year we’ve had, I think we deserve to sleep past 7 for awhile.