Eventually, it'll get better...

Ah, the naps. The goddamn naps! Why? Why will this child not sleep for longer than 30 minutes? Why does the sucking of the thumb seem to keep him AWAKE instead of lulling him to sleep? Why do we have a very nice routine to put him to sleep, and he'll fall asleep nicely on his own in his crib, but will wake up after 30 minutes and cannot figure out how to put himself back to sleep? Why? WHY?

John thinks that perhaps I should just accept the fact that Dex is a 30 minute napper, he's a good kid, he doesn't cry (until about the time John gets home from work. Poor John), and he sleeps well at night. So just accept what you have and move on with life. To that I say: what fun is that? What would I DO all day if I wasn't sitting here obsessing over my child's 30 minute napping problem? I'd have to do laundry or clean or something to keep myself occupied. Now I at least have stuff to do - I can google "why doesn't my child sleep for more than 30 minutes GRRRRRR" and see what kind of suggestions pop up. OH the suggestions that pop up! They range from the carry-your-kid-around-and-never-put-him-down types who say that a breastfed baby needs to eat every 3.4 seconds so why should he nap for longer than 30 minutes, to the oodles and oodles of people who say "well, I have no advice for you, but my kid was the same way and I can just say that eventually it DOES GET BETTER!"

Well, you know what, nice people? When you're in the trenches of 30 minute naps and desperately searching for a solution so your poor kid can get some sleep and develop his big old brain so he can become a rocket scientist and support his old Mom and Dad in 30 years... a day feels like a week, and a week feels like a year. So, it'll get better, eh? When? Next century? Truthfully, you can take your "it'll get betters" and stick them where the sun don't shine.

Anyway, on a less bitter-and-obsessive-I-need-to-get-out-of-the-house-more note... Dexter is ridiculously cute, and seriously gets cuter by the second. He's giggling and smiling like mad. We just today discovered the secret to a more happy tummy time (go outside, put him on a hill). He can suck his thumb like it's nobody's business. And his sister is cute, too. And MUCH less stinky. She got her traditional "Mom never brushes me" once a year buzz cut. On a gross and cold miserable Monday. Poor pup. But she is now cute and tiny, and will track in many fewer leaves, so I won't have to vaccuum as much. Which leaves me MUCH more time to google "GRRRRR 30 minutes NAPS!!!"

CoCo sports her summer 'do. And is now perpetually cold.
The big boy sits in a big boy chair. And the Grandpas can fight over which one of them Dexter's bib is about.
Just sittin here, lookin cute, suckin my thumb...

PS - Dexter went to Fair Hill over the weekend to score an endurance ride. And meet some horses, and some of Alissa's friends. And the horses? Didn't phase him one bit. Not sure he even knew they were there, to tell you the truth.