Sleep and the City.

Me: Baby, this is curry spice. Mama adds it to your rice cereal so that when Daddy and I are able to take you to a restaurant, we won't be limited to Swiss Chalet and Wendy's.

Baby: Mmmmmmmm......

I have to say, what the sleepless wonder lacks in sleep he certainly makes up in eating. He has an amazing appetite and has been such a great eater ever since that tiny spoon entered his mouth. I'd like to think it was all the curry and spices I ate during my pregnancy, but I don't sit around wondering why; I just enjoy the fact that he loves food. I can deal with bags under my eyes if it means that we can at least find joy in this.

Baby: Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!! (shakes his little fists in a fury and kicks legs excitedly in his chair where he sits with us at the kitchen table)

Me: (quickly mixing a new batch of food as baby screams at me for more) Patience, my sweet thing....who clearly inherited his mother's lurve of food. (I whisper that last remark under my breath

We make baby's food and he has yet to turn down any concoction we whip up. This is a great sign as we embark on our first winter road trip. My mom has agreed to take baby in the morning and fix him breakfast thus giving my husband and I a few extra hours sleep-god bless her. We arrive at the resort eager and ready. First thing on our agenda: check out the pool and get baby swimming. I am convinced that if he tires as much as I do after a swim, then perhaps we won't keep the entire hotel up all night. Before I swim, I plop down on the couch for some 'light' reading: Ferber's Sleep Solution. I must admit, I thought I had this guy all figured out, but there is more to his theory than I knew (and clearly the 200 page book is not simply 'let baby cry until baby falls asleep'). The idea behind his work is that babies need to learn to fall asleep on their own. This process takes time, encouragement, compassion and patience, but if consistent, baby and parents can have a full night's sleep fairly quickly. The method itself is actually quite simple: follow the sleep routine that we have (bath,book,crib), place baby in crib, say 'night night', walk away, and then wait. If (and in our case, when) baby cries, wait one minute, go back into the baby's room, reassure baby that he is ok, that you love him, say 'night night' and walk away. Wait 2 minutes if baby continues crying. Repeat this process and enter room at 3 minutes, then 4 minutes and so on until you reach the maximum time you are comfortable with-for us,we decided we would not let him cry any longer than 10 minutes at a time.

I was skeptical and 6 months prior, I would have been horrified at the thought of allowing my little one to cry, even for a minute. But the fact of the matter was, baby was crying for way more than a minute, even in my arms, even in my bed beside me. I was determined to finish the book and get down to business when we returned to the city.

It turns out I didn't have to. I only had to read to chapter 5.