Good days, bad days

I always fear the blog jinx. I'm a wee bit superstitious that way. But I'm gonna risk it.

Things are... kinda great?

I don't know if my ingenious crib side car pillow barricade idea worked, or if it's just one of those thangs. Raising a kid is like a poorly designed science experiment with so many variables that you can never tell what's causing what, and what to change. Mr. Ibis and I wonder if maybe the crappy sleep was due to developmental leaping, because Miles has been walking more lately too. (He has been able to walk for 6 weeks, but rarely tries.)

Anyway, the deal is he's sleeping 11-12 hours at night with 2-3 wakeups. One of them is early on when I'm still up, so it's just 1-2 wakeups for me and that's nice. The main one is the 2 am diaper change - I have no way to fix that since he pees a LOT. But he's going at least 6 hours without nursing so that's a definite improvement! And overall sleeping much better in the crib, not touching me during the night but still nearby.

Naps are also pretty groovy. He's napping right now IN HIS PACK AND PLAY OMG.

It is truly amazing what a little quality sleep will do to one's mood. My mood. His mood. It turns out that 8 hours of good sleep is better than 10 hours of crappy sleep, who'da thunk it?

Tantrums are lessening now that he's sleeping more and I have a better grasp on how to deal with them. Incidentally, if you are prone to overreacting to things like I am, here's a tip. Film your kid having a tantrum and then, later, watch it while you're in a good mood. What seemed like a crazy meltdown while I myself was stressed and overwrought turns out to be a bit of annoying whining when I look at it with a clear head. Funny how that works!

Yes, I can get a little STRESSED OUT sometimes. I suppose the apple hasn't fallen very far from either parental tree. Mr. Ibis and I are both pretty sensitive, emotional, stubborn people... and what do you know. Our son is just like us. Ha. But all the tantrum advice websites point out that personality traits that cause a lot of tantrums can actually be seen as positive qualities too: sensitivity, determination, etc. It's helpful to remember that in the heat of the moment.