Our night routine was good. It worked well for all of us. Tycen would get home from work - he would play with Levi (which would give me a little break) then we would have family time and around 8:00 we would put him to bed. Levi liked the routine, too. He loves his daddy and he would know that it was really-fun-daddy-play-time and often times after we put him to bed he would coo or talk to his spinning mobile friends until he feel asleep. It was good.
A week or so ago I thought it would be cute if Levi could pull himself up in his crib to a standing position. I wonder now what was I thinking. I showed him once and that was all it took. The second we lay Levi down in his crib he instantly gets into the crawl position, crawls over to the crib bars and pulls himself up - all while screaming at the top of his lungs, of course.
We are not sure what to do. He can get himself up really well but he has yet to learn how to get down. He has missed the whole bending the knees thing - most babies like to "jump" up and down - Levi has always been stiff legged.
I will tell you what we have been doing - driving every night to get the boy to sleep. But a few nights ago we told ourselves no more. We let Levi cry and cry - he was so tired he but he couldn't help himself and he would crawl over and pulls himself up. After forever time passed (maybe 30 minutes - it was hard listening to him cry) we picked him up and Tycen walked around the house with him for a bit then I took my turn with Levi.
Levi did something that night that we have never experienced with him before. Levi cuddled with us for minutes on end (probably a total of 30 minutes before he went to sleep). It was the sweetest thing ever.
So, we got a taste of what it would feel like if we had a cuddly baby boy.
standing during bath time
learning how to crawl
Eating big boy food
2 comments:
Way cute pictures! David started doing this little trick, too. It is really pretty amazing how much stamina they have when it comes to standing/screaming/avoiding sleep, isn't it! We have been going through this, too. Completely changes the whole dynamic of bedtime. My most effectice trick is to lay him down, pat his back and sing to him. Then I leave the room. Immediately, he would get up and pull himself up to stand. I would wait a minute or two, head back in and lay him right down again. This routine would continue three or four times until he realized I wasn't coming back to take him out and play. Its a bit better now, but still I fight that little routine every once in awhile. And, admittedly, my favorite way is to rock him to sleep for a bit, then he is so calm he just goes down. Good luck with it all- certainly not an easy stage!
Here is a tip for you on tackling the stiff legs. (Chloe had them too)
have him in a standing position
put your arms under his armpits
lean him back until he bends his legs
make a game of this.
do the motions to his favorite song
eventually this will help him with the standing to sitting position
also,
Put him on the floor on his back
place his legs and feet together
bring his legs toward his chest keeping them strait
hold them in that position until he kicks out of it. Do this a few times a day.
This should help loosen those leg muscles of his and he will feel more comfortable falling.
Good luck
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