red eyes in morning, sailors take warning

This was the calm and pleasant face before bedtime.

So many things went wrong with our attempt to sleep train Cole last night. Bill had to rush off for a plumbing emergency at his folk's house, so I was alone to do the deed. I procrastinated as long as I could, waiting to see if Bill would return in time. When he didn't, I gave Cole a nice long bath, read him a story, then fed and rocked him to sleep.

These were the exact recommendations in my book. Cole was out like a light. . .sleeping like a log. . .or a rock. . .or whatever they say when the kid is out. And I mean out. I waited until I could raise and drop his arm without waking up before I put him in his crib. I even sung one more verse of "My Bonnie" before letting go of him while laying him on his crib (very tough on the back, I should say).

I got all the way downstairs and even was able to make a phone call before the wailing started. And he wailed. He wailed so loud and so hard that I shut off the monitor because he was filling the entire house with his pain. I called my Mom and she couldn't listen to it. Tracy asked, "Do you think he's too young for this?" Greg said he was just telling me in babyspeak how much he liked what I had done with the furniture.

All the while Cole was screaming. He stopped twice for less than a minute to recharge and finally, after what seemed like 3 hours but was actually only 27 minutes, I went and got him.

He had turned over on his belly and managed to wedge his arm through the slats in the crib. No wonder he was wailing! About a half hour later Bill returned to find Cole and I watching the Celtics, both of us sniffling with swollen eyes. It was not a pretty sight.

I guess we'll just try to stabilize the daily naps for now. Maybe work on sleeping in the bassinet first. I certainly can't repeat last night for a little while or at least without a few glasses of wine. Think it's time to realize that's it's not I who's training him . . .he's training me! Course all that excitement has him pretty sleepy this morning. . .