Harry Turns 6 Months! Starts Solids! And Is Sleeping Better!
So Harry passed a couple of big milestones in the last week. One, he had his 6 month birthday on Saturday! Two, he started on solids! Three, he has started sleeping better at night! These are all big things. Reaching 6 months just happened. The other two were more planned. We decided to hold off on starting solids until he was 6 months. Somehow, it seemed like a big step. Probably because his mummy views it as the beginning of the end of her little boy being a baby, more than anything else. But she just has to get over herself because there are such exciting times ahead. Harry seems to be excited about the prospect of solids - he kicks and smiles when he sees me with the bowl and spoon. However, when he actually eats the rice cereal he seems to wonder what all the fuss is about. But he is taking it in stride and seems ready to explore the world of food - something that his parents are anticipating with glee.
The sleeping hurdle was harder won. We had reached a place that was not good from a sleeping perspective with Harry needing a parent to soothe him every time he woke up in the night and that was starting to become every 15 minutes. So we took a step that we thought we would never take as parents - we let him cry it out. It was more out of desperation. We were all so tired - Dan, Harry and myself. The process has sucked! It has been the hardest thing I have ever done as a parent, with perhaps the exception of seeing Harry being taken off for his circumcision. But as with that, the pain is temporary and we are better off in the long term. We seem to have conquered the night time sleep problems - with Harry sleeping seven and a half hours straight last night without waking up and no crying. (Hopefully I am not jinxing things for tonight now. :-) ) So now we are turning our attention to daytime sleep. This is more of a challenge with a babe who is very alert and doesn't want to miss a thing. However, I have hope that we will get there. Everyone being well rested is such an important thing. Harry's personality was starting to change into a babe who was not the sweet, mellow, and laid back baby we knew. Fortunately, as our sleep deficit has decreased, his wonderful disposition is returning, which makes the pain we are all going through seem worth it. Parenting is not an easy process and one realizes that sometimes one has to do things for your child that are not easy but are critical as far as their long term development is concerned. All we can do is make sure that he knows we love him and provide him with the sense of security that we will always be there for him to help whilst he grows up.
The sleeping hurdle was harder won. We had reached a place that was not good from a sleeping perspective with Harry needing a parent to soothe him every time he woke up in the night and that was starting to become every 15 minutes. So we took a step that we thought we would never take as parents - we let him cry it out. It was more out of desperation. We were all so tired - Dan, Harry and myself. The process has sucked! It has been the hardest thing I have ever done as a parent, with perhaps the exception of seeing Harry being taken off for his circumcision. But as with that, the pain is temporary and we are better off in the long term. We seem to have conquered the night time sleep problems - with Harry sleeping seven and a half hours straight last night without waking up and no crying. (Hopefully I am not jinxing things for tonight now. :-) ) So now we are turning our attention to daytime sleep. This is more of a challenge with a babe who is very alert and doesn't want to miss a thing. However, I have hope that we will get there. Everyone being well rested is such an important thing. Harry's personality was starting to change into a babe who was not the sweet, mellow, and laid back baby we knew. Fortunately, as our sleep deficit has decreased, his wonderful disposition is returning, which makes the pain we are all going through seem worth it. Parenting is not an easy process and one realizes that sometimes one has to do things for your child that are not easy but are critical as far as their long term development is concerned. All we can do is make sure that he knows we love him and provide him with the sense of security that we will always be there for him to help whilst he grows up.
posted by dan at 11:18 PM
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