A great day!

Sometimes, it's really hard to be the mother of a sleepless 4 month old, and sometimes, it's really easy. For example, yesterday Ed came home to find Connor and I sleeping on the couch as I tried to get rid of a headache. Ed was barely out of his work clothes when I was requesting we order pizza for dinner and he take Connor. Let's just say that these past few months have given me profound respect for parents who do it alone, because frankly I don't think either Ed or I could make it without the other.

But today, we made it to Pottery Barn to pick up some picture frames WITHOUT CRYING IN THE CAR and we took a ride in the stroller to Safeway (again, without crying!). This is Connor's second consecutive day of cruising in the stroller and not being afraid of it. Can it be that he's all grown up? I know folks said it would happen fast, but at four months?

Connor is really grooving on solid foods. Today he tried barley cereal for the first time (one part cereal, two parts milk) and would've eaten more if I'd given it to him. But, alas, he needs to get his nutrition from milk so his solid food intake has to be limited. He gets excited when he sees me get out the cereal box and his spoon. Of course, maybe I would get excited too if my spoon were made of rubber and was a really groovy color like his is. Ed has decided that for Christmas day, he can try mushed up BANANAS! Now that should be fun. Every four days he gets to try something new, so hopefully it will continue to go as well as it has been going.

Some of you may have seen a photo of Connor in his stroller when he was just a couple of weeks old - well now he practically fits in the thing! These two facts probably account for him liking the contraption more these days. Hopefully he'll really enjoy it by the time Olimpia starts taking care of him full time because with two kids, she won't be able to carry him everywhere.


And, the most exciting news of all today, is that although it took Connor a little longer than normal to go to sleep, he has been sleeping on his own (in my bed) for the past 1.5 hours. This is twice as long as he normally sleeps before he needs me to ease him back into sleep. For the sake of everyone in my house, let's hope this is not a fluke and that he's actually learning to sleep.

Connor - when you read this in many years - here's what we go through each night. At 8:00, we put on a Bach CD which says it is "a soothing musical experience" and we put you in the bath. You splash around (finally! I know my dad kept promising eventually you would love your bath) - generally with daddy supervising you - and then I nurse you to sleep and lay beside you as you grunt, wiggle, suck your hands, look around, and generally entertain yourself, eventually falling asleep nursing. The whole time this is going on, I pretend to be asleep hoping you'll catch the idea of what you're supposed to be doing. Then, I very carefully move away from you a bit. You startle, I calm you. I move further. You startle, I calm you. And finally, I escape to outside my bed while you continue (hopefully!) to sleep. Eventually, I'm hoping to wean you of the nursing part, and then hopefully you'll let either me or your dad lay beside you to fall asleep. And then, maybe if we're really lucky, you won't need either of us. HAHAHA - I can't believe I actually typed that!

Oh - and for those of you concerned about Ed, he looked up the study with the rat. It takes 28 consecutive days before the rat dies. Surely Ed is stronger than a rat!

Elaine