Friday, October 13, 2006

No Fight at Night

I'm so grateful that so far bedtime isn't a struggle for Jada. A few
months ago, even though she was sleeping through the night, there
might be a night or two where she didn't want to be put to bed, so
she'd cry. We'd let her cry, and eventually she'd stop crying and
fall asleep, but it still pained us a little.

But now, no more tears. A little before 7, I change her diaper one
last time, and then we read books. Then I turn out the lights and
hold her while she drinks a bottle of warm milk. When she's done, she
pulls the bottle out of her mouth and hands it to me, rubs her eyes,
and then cranes her neck so I can give her a kiss. As I leave the
room, she waves goodbye to me.

I turn on the monitor to listen in. Sometimes she's quiet, other
times she'll look at her books and "narrate" them. Still other times
it's like she's got a cell phone and she's giving shouts out to all
her friends: "Hi, Gigi. Hi, Boo Boo. Hi, Maggie."

She might not actually fall asleep for another hour or so, but my
evening can now begin at 7. So I can get on with eating dinner and
doing paperwork and winding down, knowing our daughter is happy to be
in her crib, perfectly content with her alone time before drifting off
to sleep.

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