I'm serious. I want to know.
Why does a baby come out so unable to just be okay for a goddamn minute? Why don't they just go to sleep if they're tired? Why can't they just eat without puking? Why can't they just spit out the words if they want us to know something so bad?
I'm so incredibly irked right now. N is throwing a cataclysmic fit about taking a nap that he knows he wants. He is so tired he just can't seem to get himself to sleep. How does that make any sense God? I'm serious. I want to know. He's so tired that after being rocked and sung to and put in his crib the same way he has complacently submitted to for the last 6 months now - he just can't bring himself to go to sleep. Instead he must scream bloody murder and ruin any chance I have at a decent blogging break. (((sigh)))
Come on N. I nursed you, I loved on you, I fed you blueberries and cheese and goldfish, I took you to play at Kidsville, I held you, I shushed you. It's your turn to pitch in. Just go to sleep, dammit! (((sigh)))
***
Okay, it's tomorrow ~ Well really today. But yesterday is when I wrote the above beginning to this complaint. After 30 minutes of screaming, N did eventually go down for his nap, only to wake screaming 30 minutes later. I nursed him and he fell asleep for another 40 minutes. If he was so damn tired, why couldn't he have just kept sleeping? I'm serious. I want to know. Wouldn't putting the 30 + 40 minutes together have made for such a much more satisfying and restorative sleep for his little brain cells? So why wake screaming in the middle? I don't understand.
Speaking of not understanding... He woke up screaming this morning at 5:45, I nursed him and now he's back down again. Why couldn't he just stay asleep, dammit? He's done it many times before. I know he's not hungry. I'm serious. I want to know.
But just in time to save me from myself comes this message in my inbox from my bestest daily spiritual source: "Nothing is what it seems. Everything is always happening to assist us in our spiritual growth. How can you enjoy the ride today?"
Fine, just fine. Make me look on the bright side. Make me realize that this time between N's pre-morning and real-morning wakings is exactly when I've constructed the vast amount of my blogs. Make me practice my unused wisdom preened from my toppling piles of spiritual self-help books by simply accepting what is.
Yes, it is what it is. N's wakings are what they are. His nonsensical change-ups simply exist, like my couch does, or a potato does. I don't wring my hands wondering why one of the potatoes in the bag went rotten while the others didn't. It just did. So move on sister and pick out another one. I don't question the couch pillow's decision to flatten on one corner due to uneven user use - it just did, so sit on the other end sister.
So N just does what he does because he does what he does. And I'm just going along for his ride. Okay, fine, that'll work for now. But why does it work this way? I'm serious. I want to know.
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So what is the source of your "bestest daily spiritual source?" If you really want to know why human babies come out so not ready, I'll say it again for the umpteenth time - start reading Meredith F. Small's Our Babies Ourselves: How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We Parent, and Kids: How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We Raise Young Children. They aren't self-help or how-to parenting books. The short answer to your question is: evolution, reproductive success, walking upright, large brain size, and the insertion of childhood into our growth pattern. Now you know. I personally find it easier to accept my child's neediness knowing the biology and culture behind it. But maybe that doesn't make as interesting of a blog entry as just ranting until you feel better.
ReplyDeleteMaybe N has another ear infection?
ReplyDeleteHow would Ferber explain these sleep anomalies?
There is no god.
ReplyDeleteAs the new saying for 2009 goes "it is what it is" comes to mind, but that does not really help with your questions of why? All I can help you with is the sleep pattern. If you had something that would help him get to sleep and stay asleep would it be something you want to know? It is all natural and will not effect anything that he is taking or not taking. I work with a lot of mothers that want to help their kids sleep, but don't really want to "know". So lets me know if I can help.
ReplyDelete