Bug,  illos

the cute things she does

November 7, 2006 /

I’ve been trying to figure out how I’m going to tell this story for days now. It involves sound effects and no matter what kind of wordsmith I think I am, I can’t figure out how to properly describe the punch line to this story. Not that it’s a funny joke or anything. I don’t want to lead you on that much. It’s just about this funny thing I caught Baby Bug doing the other day.

First of all some background: Baby Bug and I play this game where we bump foreheads and cuddle. I make this sound that I can’t describe with words but it’s kind of an “aaaaaaahhhhh” sound up and down the scale in soft notes. I do it to her and then she does it back to me and then I say something like “Love the baby” over and over. She’s so darling when she does this to me. I just love her to pieces.

Well. The other day we were doing our other ritual called “put the baby down for a nap”. This ritual is not so fun and loving. It usually involves lots of crying and fussing and throwing the pacifier on the floor that has to be retrieved and so on and so on. We are not yet to the point where I can just put her in her crib at the scheduled time and she will fall asleep all by herself. No. It’s a battle. And according to my Mom, not a battle I’m going to win. Apparently, I was just like Baby Bug and I NEVER ever wanted to take a nap. I officially gave them up at the young age of two. TWO! So yeah, I’ve got my work cut out for me.

Sometimes, when soft stroking of her forehead and singing and rocking and low light and her soft fuzzy bunny in her bed with her don’t work, I try the other route. I close the door and ignore the sad pitiful cries of desperation. And boy are they desperate. She will try every trick in the book to get me to come back in the room and console her. From blowing raspberries to singing to crying until her voice is gone, she will try her whole repertoire of sounds mixed in with sad pathetic whimpers of pain. I hate it. It’s like slowly tearing my fingernails backwards as I sit in the other room watching the minute hand on our kitchen clock slowly tick by the allotted amount of time before I give in and go back in to comfort her.

After going through this routine for about twenty minutes the other day, she became suddenly quiet. Eerily so. I tiptoed to her room and peeked around the nearly shut door. Could she be asleep already? Did she give in at last? Nope. There she was sitting up and holding her pink fuzzy bunny to her forehead and softly saying “aaaaaaaah” as she nuzzled it with her head. Just like she does with me. It melted my heart. My little baby girl, she’s loving her bunny. How cute is that?!!!

I don’t remember how the rest of the nap went. Whether I gave in and let her get up and play or if she finally did exhaust herself to sleep. These nap battles kind of blur into each other. I’m trying like mad to be consistent and teach her to take a nap but I’m a wet noodle when it comes to routine and schedules and sticking to my guns. I think she’s learning. Learning what I’m not sure. Sometimes she goes right down but other days, like today, she totally skipped her morning nap altogether. She took a noon nap (which is not regular at all) and then completely crashed at five-thirty p.m. It’s now seven-thirty p.m. and I have no idea if she’s down for the night or if she’ll wake up wanting dinner at nine. She has been getting in the habit of going to bed at seven (and with the time change that turned into six) so maybe she’s down for the night. And maybe that means I’ll be getting up with her at 3:30 in the morning and having breakfast at four. Joy.

Sarcasm aside, isn’t joy what being a parent is all about? Toby and I were talking about how much more joyful we are on a daily basis because of this darling little munchkin that we have tottering about us all day. She really does bring us more happiness than I ever imagined.

Now if only I could figure out how to make a wave file so I could post the “aaaaaah” sound. Maybe I’ll catch her doing it again for her 10 month movie.

23 Comments

  • Daisy Mae

    November 7, 2006 at 8:37 pm

    That’s a Hallmark moment if ever I heard one. I wish I had kept a journal when my kids were little so I could have saved precious memories like rubbing foreheads with love pats to their bunnies. That is just so adorable!

  • Texas T-bone

    November 7, 2006 at 9:25 pm

    The Cutlet has never wanted to take a nap or go to sleep at night, either. But he’s so active that he wears himself out. If he misses a nap he usually zonks out while sitting upright. Some days, though, if he’s going through a growth spurt? He’ll nap for four hours.

  • Jennifer

    November 7, 2006 at 10:34 pm

    I love this story. I love catching moments like this. I hope you’re able to get that sound recorded. My 4 year old fought naps a lot too. She’s my strong willed one. Keeps me on my toes :P

  • Gramma

    November 7, 2006 at 11:58 pm

    There are those who really NEED naps, the boistrous active ones. But I had a few who thought NAP was a dirty word and fought against them. Your uncle desperately had to have a nap. He’d zonk out right after lunch and sleep for hours. In kindergarten he’d slip away from his classroom and come home, right across the street, and climb into his own bed. One week, by Wednesday, I had had three calls from the school office asking me to check his bed…there he was snoring away. It got to the point we had to transfer him to a school two miles away. I guess he felt his bed was better than a denim mat on the floor. It was a different matter with his sisters, but they were agreeable to quiet time…to just rest and turn the pages of a favorite book.

  • detroit

    November 8, 2006 at 2:56 am

    um, love the story. truly, I do. but i’m really writing to find out what happened to your links. I visit so many of them. are they going to be coming back?

  • detroit

    November 8, 2006 at 3:03 am

    duh! never mind the question about the links – FOUND ‘EM! thanks.

    p.s. the bunny love story was darling. my “baby” is 18 now and as he bounds off to college in the a.m., i still have to stop and catch myself sometimes … wanting to reach for him and his stuffed dog – Spot – trying to go back to moments such as those. It’s enough to think of it; to act on it would be more than a little creepy. :)

  • BeachMama

    November 8, 2006 at 4:57 am

    That is such an adorable moment to capture. Just imagine the stuff she is going to continue to learn and you don’t even know it. They continuously shock you every day as they learn and grow.

    And it truly is great that you and Toby can see the joy that she brings. We find it similar here, that no matter how bad the day goes, there is always a bright spot in it.

  • Alissa

    November 8, 2006 at 5:04 am

    BB sounds like a loving little girl. The pic of her and her bunny is soo sweet. I always read your Grammas comments cause she sounds like she has a wealth of experience and very good advice too. I think it sounds like you have done a very good job of following BB cues so keep on going. I found my son was resisting nap time from about 7-10 months and then it got easier. He has never just gone to sleep on his own either. We sleep together on a futon so I lay down and just let him play around the room and he keeps coming back to me for cuddles or nursing and eventually (taking up to 1 hour) falls asleep in my arms.

    In regards to your previous post about the babysitter I totally feel the same way and have the same dilema about baby/work/self-time. I know from other posters that we are not alone.

  • jos mom

    November 8, 2006 at 8:30 am

    i used to do the same with you when you were little butting forehead and saying ahaaa was one of your favorite games especialy when you were tired

  • Abbey

    November 8, 2006 at 11:39 am

    Oh Dear Lord, that is SO STINKING CUTE!!!!!!! I love babies!!!

    I think my heart just melted a little bit!

    I was thinking I had seen that picture of BB with the bunny before (and maybe you have posted it before), but actually I had originally been thinking of a picture my dearest friend, Carrie, sent to me of her daughter sleeping with the bunny I gave her for her birthday…sleeping just that way, with one of the ears over her face. : ) Cutie Kids!!

  • aunt kathy

    November 8, 2006 at 11:55 am

    Is that the bunny she got while in H?

    They make your heart bleed with all the “torture” you put them through for a nap, don’t they?

    I have a friend who put her girls on a very strict schedule for naps and eating. To this day (they’re now four and six) the oldest asks to go to bed at eight! There’s something to a schedule but who can keep to one except the very structured person? Definitely not me.

  • Salvina

    November 8, 2006 at 9:53 pm

    My first boy had no problem taking naps (he’s 10 now!!) – he slept more than he stayed awake! Now that I have my 3rd baby who’s 10 months, putting him for a nap is a fight between laughing & whinging!! Thank god for sitters – as I work during the week…..but would definitely give up work if I can in order to enjoy those moments with him!!!

  • Kuky

    November 8, 2006 at 11:07 pm

    That is so very cute!

    You have way more willpower than I do. I can’t stand it when my baby cries, it’s heartbreaking. But we have pretty much no crying here except for the occasional bump or from shots. Oh wait or when she’s being a complete drama queen and we take something away from her. ;-D

  • Nila

    November 9, 2006 at 3:26 am

    That was the cutest story ever. It sounds like she’s learning some coping skills.

    I’m a big advocate of routines, especially bedtime routines. When mine were little, I would start off the routine with feeding cereal, then a bath, and the grand finale was the feeding and rocking. It didn’t make them perfect sleepers when they were babies, but as they got older, it made things a lot easier. I read somewhere that a warm bath every night at the same time is a great way to establish a routine. My in-laws are amazed to this day that our kids go down so easily. And they still get a warm shower every night before bed. They actually like it, which is good now that we’re dealing with BO.

  • MamaBear

    November 9, 2006 at 7:54 am

    Aaawww, how Sweet! She made her bunny her “lovey”. That’s called a transitional object and it’s supposed to help her get herself to sleep. How cool that she learned that already! And she learned the love from you…. Must make your heart fill up with love….

    I love reading how your Mom did the same with you!!!!!!! That means you learned from her probably subconsciously and now BB learned it, and will probably pass on the love to her babies!