"I Need Some Love!"

It shouldn't be this hard ... to do more than one post a month. Hopefully, I'll get better at this as I go along. February was pretty much a blur, getting ready to go to Paris (more about that later).

After I went back to work, Sam missed me, so he did what he did last year after we went to Boston in June--demanded that I sing to him and rock him to sleep, which could often take an hour to an hour and a half each night. Mostly, he just wants me to sing "Love at Home," so I've sung that song about 10,000 times in the last year. But every once in a while, "Kumbaya" or "Jesus Came to John the Baptist" is acceptable. Around August, I finally told him that I was only singing "Love at Home" five times each night (you have to set boundaries, right) and the whole rocking to sleep took care of itself. After I went back to work, it started up again. Aaagh. But this time, I had another child to take care of and I was already exhausted. I decided to try what I have always managed to avoid: Cry It Out. The first night he was tired enough to fall asleep after the first ten minutes or so. The second night, he was ready for a fight. After about 20 minutes of crying, he started yelling, "I need some love, mama! Mommmmmyyyyy, I need some love." (Of course it sounded more like, "I need some yuv.") I called my sister and we talked for fifteen minutes about all the benefits of healthy sleep for kids (and, needless to say, their parents.) Who know that the childhood bone breaking rate goes from 17% to 42% for kids who don't sleep well? By the time we finished, he had fallen asleep. Thank goodness for sisters who also have kids!