Month 6: No Sibling For You!

There is nothing more fun than watching a baby try to figure out the solution to a problem. Not just blindly stab at a guess, but really think through it.

Having already mastered the art of rolling from his back to his front, yestereday Daniel set out to overcome the next obstacle: rolling from his front to his back. Easier said than done, by the way. He apparently had done it in his sleep the night before (we put him down on his back, Fernando snuck in at 2 am and saw him on his tummy, and I found him on his back at 8 am). But doing it intentionally, while awake, was a whole other challenge.

First, he would attempt to turn his torso. Arms would stay in the same position, and he'd just rotate that little butt as far as it would go. First one direction, then the next. No luck. Then the legs were the next attempt. He'd swing the left leg as far to the right as he could, and vice versa. No luck. Then the winning ticket: that giant noggin of his. (Whoever said that your weakest point can't work in your advantage never saw a baby flip over).

He figured out that it's all about the head. First, he'd suddenly drop his head onto the ground, looking left or right. This usually was accompanied by the butt twist. Then he'd try the other direction. The problem was his little arms, that acted like a kickstand on a bike. Acting confused that the sudden head drop did nothing, he stared at each arm for a minute. Then, in a stroke of genius, he threw his head again, but this time, over the weight-bearing arm. In slow motion, the momentum of his oversized cranium slowly lead the rest of his body and he landed on his back (in a fit of giggles, of course).

The rest of the day was filled with rolling practice. He looked like a dog that someone was training to "lay down!" or "play dead!" with all that head dropping. It was priceless.

The past two days have been fairly eventful overall - our air conditioning unit bit the dust, and we had to pack up a few bags and escape with out lives (we do live in Phoenix, after all). The result was Daniel sleeping in his pack-n-play all night for the first time. We were skeptical, but he came through like a champ - 12.5 uninterrupted hours of sleep. Out of town vacations, here we come!

The downside of yesterday was last night, when for no apparent reason, Daniel decided he wanted Mommy & Daddy's company at 9 pm, 1 am, 3 am, 4 am, and 5 am. And he wanted to scream the whole time. We had no idea what happened (still don't know) but it was utterly exhausting. We tried everything in the book, and the only thing that put him to sleep each time was rocking him in a specific position. We all woke up at 8:30 this morning - Fernando and I feeling like zombies, and Daniel in a dandy mood.

It was a blast from the (not so distant) past ... just six months ago, that was our nightly sleep routine ... and the nightmare of it all came rushing back in a torrent. This morning, I had a nice little chat with Daniel about how I wasn't angry with him, but that every action has a consequence. I let him know that his actions last night might very well have cost him a future sibling - that Mommy and Daddy just couldn't go through that again! I'm sure he understood every word, as he contentedly sucked away on his morning bottle.