14 minutes....

It took the Ronan 14 minutes to go to sleep tonight -- not the worst we've seen, not the best, but he did it all by himself! We've been super busy since we started sleep training him almost 2 weeks ago, so it's been hard to stick to a regular bedtime. And our hearts caved a few times and we snuck in there to comfort him. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel! When we do let him cry it out (instead of nursing/rocking to sleep), he tends to sleep much more soundly and longer. All good things for a little guy who starts smiling and talking between 5 and 6 am everyday... when it's still dark.... and Mom and Dad are praying for just 10 more minutes of sleep....

Is it easier to hear him cry now that we've been doing this for 12 days? Yes and no. I'm finally learning the quality and tone of his cries, which I think is a great thing. We used to avoid letting the baby cry at all -- which meant nursing or rocking or pacifier use whenever he got the least bit fussy. It seemed to make sense for the early months. A non-crying baby is a happy baby, right? Or so I thought. Only now do I see that we never gave ourselves a chance to learn what Ronan was trying to communicate with his early language (in the form of cries) -- bored? annoyed? uncomfortable? lonely? overstimulated? exhausted? Now that we're letting him cry it out before sleep, I'm learning the whole spectrum of his cries! It's an amazing arc from tired protests to angry shouts to frustrated wailing to the soft whimpers of a baby falling asleep. And interspersed are short periods of sighing and babbling. I'm finding that I'm learning so much about him through this process.

And yet there are still nights when I feel like Nazi Mom and my heart is all in knots!

Here's a brief recap of our last week or so:

Ronan and I went to my friend Janice's baby shower on the 7th and met her darling one-year-old Mikaela. Hard to believe so much time has gone by! And Janice is going to have another baby girl in just a few weeks - how fun!

I joined a playgroup for working moms and babies in SF and we met for the first time on the 13th. Crazy how many moms belong to the Golden Gate Mothers Group -- something like 700. I really enjoyed meeting the other local moms and it was hilarious to see all the babies sprawled out on the floor together. They're not at the point where they truly interact, but they are fascinated with one another. The screeches. The burps. The babbling. It was all so cute! Out of the 6 babies, Ronan was one of the longest. He also had one of the fullest heads of hair. He also was the first to get bored with the playing on the floor action. And the first to get hungry. And the first to fall asleep (during his marathon nursing session). But, surprisingly, NOT the first to poop (heh).

Yesterday was the Pagemill Partners summer BBQ at one of the partners' amazing abode in Atherton. Yummy catered food, great people, and lively shuffleboard tournements (who knew it was so much fun?) made for a completely enjoyable afternoon. Ronan was the star of the show and managed not to have any explosions.

Okay - time for bed! Ronan is sleeping like an angel. I still can't believe we went cold-turkey on so many things at once. The pacifier, swaddle, and soothe-to-sleep routine all went out the window at the same time.... and our little bug is well on his way to being a wonderful sleeper!