My Shining Star is 10 Months Old

Wow, two days ago Bruce turned 10 months old. It has been more difficult to get good snapshots of the little tike in all the holiday bustle, but here is a recent one of him in his new hand-knit sweater from Grandma (who we lovingly call Mère-Mère). Those adorable little star buttons make me want to just squeeze and smooch him! You'll notice that he is still orange -- not unlike the planet Mars or maybe even Alpha Centauri. A slightly orange star, but a star nonetheless.

You'd think as congenial as he normally is, Bruce wouldn't have chosen to outgrow his third nap right in the middle of the holiday rush. (He's never been a long napper. In fact, I call him the "King of the 30-minute nap.") But even three, short, 30-minute breaks are better than nothing when you're desperately trying to keep your sanity (sense of humor?) while keeping your house in order, cook meals, walk dogs, and attend to any outdoor chores or errands that need to be done. All you moms out there, let me hear you say,
"Yeah! You got that right!"

Interjecting a small tangent into this tapestry of late-night thoughts -- I watched a movie today (Thank you, Mr. TiVo Inventor-guy!) called The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio starring Juliann Moore. It was quite a good "strong-woman movie" and offers new stay-at-home moms a bittersweet perspective on what life was like in the 1950s. Based upon a true story (taken from Terry Ryan's memoir of the same name) it is a tale of a 50's mom who excels at writing prize-winning ad jingles. 'Nuf said. If you have seen or set your TiVo so that you will see it, drop me a line and tell me what you thought of the movie. I now return you to my regularly scheduled train of thought...

For some unfathomable reason, Bruce wakes up around 1:00 a.m. bright-eyed and ready to play for three hours. Augh! It's more exhausting than his two-hour feedings were when he was a newborn. So, I've been playing around with his nap schedule, trying to find a balance that lengthens his two surviving naps (morning and afternoon) and encourages him to sleep through the night. No, let me rephrase that last bit slightly. By "encouraging" I mean that I've started teaching him to learn to go to sleep by himself without nursing if he wakes up in the middle of the night. It has been exhausting, those nights when he's awake for that "oh-dark-thirty" three-hour stretch. I'll write more on that later...

I better get to bed, in case tonight is another marathon "oh-dark-thirty" night.