Updates

I think we may have turned the corner on Wesley's sleep problems. All along I've been fighting the "cry it out" method of sleep training because I hate listening to him cry but on Sunday night I reached my breaking point. He woke up a few hours after being put in bed and wouldn't settle down without being fed. It wasn't time to feed him but I felt I had no other choice. He woke up a couple of hours later, again crying and nothing we did would calm him down. Nick held him for a long time and he kept screaming. I held him and then he wanted to eat, and there was no way I was going to feed him again. He kept sucking on my arm and ended up biting me so I put him in bed and went back to bed myself. He cried for a long time and fell asleep. He didn't wake up again until it was time to eat, so I fed him then. He also hasn't been having naps without being nursed to sleep. Yesterday afternoon I was determined not to do that so I put him in bed awake. It took him 45 minutes but he did fall asleep.

Last night he didn't wake up until it was time to eat. For this morning's nap I again put him down awake and it only took him 30 minutes to fall asleep. Already an improvement over yesterday.

I'm not saying our problems are solved but I do feel like we're on the way. I just have to keep myself occupied while he's crying to keep myself from going crazy! We know he's safe, that there's nothing wrong with him and that he just needs to fall asleep. Now we just need to help him realize all those things.

Darcy is loving springtime and oddly enough, her favourite part about it seems to be all the cleanup that needs to be done around the house. So far this spring her favourite tasks have involved washing her bike, washing the car, sweeping the driveway, those sorts of things. We have a huge maple tree in the front yard that keeps shedding "stuff" all over the yard. I don't even know what the first round was, just little green stringy things. They were a mess and they got everywhere. Now it's the helicopters. We've taken to keeping the broom in the front entrance because we have to sweep up every time we come in the house to keep the mess from getting everywhere, especially in Wesley's mouth! Now Darcy's favourite thing is sweeping the hallway. She's getting pretty good at it too. Sometimes she has trouble working the long broom but she generally does a really good job. When it's time to play she'll often go and sweep the entrance. What a funny little kid!