We got a fun little routine in the mornings. I'd get dressed, she'd stay in her pjs and we'd go down the the lobby for coffee for me. Sometimes she'd be in her stroller, others she'd push the stroller with a stuffed animal along for the ride. Along the way she'd stop at the fire extinguisher (Dis?), a heating grate (dis? and run her fingers up it) and an electrical outlet (no, Elianna, not for babies) and then we'd go in the elevator. Once in the lobby, she'd cry out, "Ball! BALL!" and run over to the Christmas tree, trying to take off the ornaments. Her latest thing is also spinning so she'd do that while looking up at the mirrored ceiling which got *me* dizzy! One time on the way back to the room, I got ahead of her, noticed and turned around to see her, stopped, looking at me with a big smile on her face...about to put her fingers in the outlet. She knows exactly when she's doing something she's not supposed to, it just blows me away.
Her first night of sleep at the hotel was less than stellar. We couldn't get where she was sleeping dark enough and I think it kept her awake. Then we moved her in our room which seemed to help but she woke up pretty frequently which is very unusual for her. At one point she started yelling, "Unry, UNRY! (hungry) so for the 1st time in probably over 8 months I nursed her and she finally went to sleep and stayed asleep until 630 (normal). I used to worry about doing things like that in case she got used to it as her new normal but she's not a 'give an inch take a mile' kind of kid which is nice.
Last night I nursed her before bed, she seemed sleepy so I took her off. Usually if she's not finished she'll let me know right away but she just looked tired. I laid her down and she went ballistic! I tucked her in, told her I loved her and went out of the room. Five minutes later I went back in and she was sitting up in the crib, yelling and signing 'more' and 'milk' over and over. I could have nursed her a little more but I decided to try something. I picked her up, rubbed her back and talked with her for a minute. I told her it wasn't time for milk anymore but she could have more tomorrow. Then she asked for Baby Signing Time and I did the same thing, we'll do it tomorrow. Then we turned on her star turtle, looked at the flowers on her wall, told her all the things we'd do tomorrow and laid her back down. Not a peep! I was so amazed and impressed by her.
I was kind of impressed by myself too. My biggest problem in being a mom is that I'm such a rule person. I want to do things the 'right' way and there's really no such thing. There's a lot of wrong ways but no right one so to be a success you have to be open to that and I just wasn't before. Last night showed me I could go with the flow, I could pick her up and soothe her without worrying I was creating a monster (which so many of the parenting books will scare you that you will) and I could try something new. If it hadn't worked, we'd have tried something else but it felt right and it worked!
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