for the past week or two, i have been practicing my new favorite word.  mama.  mama.  mama. that’s what i say all day long.  mama. when i say it to daddy, he responds “da da”.  when i say it to mommy, she responds, “yes, baby?”  it warms her heart.

and just when mommy thought she couldn’t love me more, guess what else i have been doing for the past week.  i have been… SLEEPING… say it with me… THROUGH… THE… NIGHT!!!  i didn’t mention it sooner because i didn’t want to jinx myself, but yup, i’m finally sleeping through the night (~8:30pm to ~7:00am).

it started last week when mommy came home from dallas.  at first, she thought that she was just so tired that she just didn’t hear me when i woke up.  but after a week, i think it’s official

mommy is so happy that she almost doesn’t mind that i am starting to move on from mama to dada.  (i’m actually trying to say “koda”, but don’t tell daddy that!)

for about 3 months now, i’ve had a regular bedtime around 7:30pm.  and for the past two weeks, i’ve been sleeping through the night with only one midnight feeding.  (this just happens to be right around the time that mommy went on her last business trip.  coincidence?  i think not.)  this is my nighttime schedule:

• 6:00pm:  dinner
• 6:45pm:  bathtime (every other day)
• 7:00pm:  change into jammies, brush teeth
• 7:10pm:  bedtime stories
• 7:20pm:  nursing and singing
• 7:30pm:  zzzzz
• 12:30am:  midnight snack
• 6:00am:  rise with the sun

sure, i still wake up during the night sometimes, but mommy has learned that if she doesn’t come running, i almost always go back to sleep in less than a minute.

so this is great news, right?  well… sort of.  my predictable schedule works to mommy’s and daddy’s benefit most of the time, but it can also put a damper on their social life.  back in the day, i could go anywhere, anytime.  and if i got tired, i would just sleep — no matter where i was.  but now that i’m older, i’ve not only become set in my ways, but i’m also a party animal who doesn’t want to miss out on any action.

over the weekend, mommy and daddy brought me to a wedding reception.  they hoped that i would be so excited by all of the activities that i would be wide awake and wide-eyed with awe until i passed out from exhaustion — just like when we go to sharks games!  the wedding reception was beautiful and perfect, and it seemed like it was going to be a successful outing for us… until about 7:30pm.  i got sooo tired, but i refused to sleep.  where was my crib?  where was my bernie bear?  and why was i wearing slacks instead of my comfy footed sleeper?  plus, i didn’t want to go to sleep and miss out on the party!

i fought to stay awake for another hour and a half, but i was fussy and squirmy and very unhappy about not being allowed to climb and crawl around.  i think the only reasons why my aunties and uncles didn’t shove me into a closet are because (1) the music was almost loud enough to drown out my occasional screams and (2) i was pretty handsome in my fancy shirt and slacks.  daddy had to take me outside of the reception area (away from all of the fun festivities) before i finally fell asleep.

so…  what to do?  mommy and daddy think that i need to learn to adapt to different surroundings so that they can continue to take me places without causing a commotion.  i think that they need to adapt their social calendars (even more than they already have!) to revolve around my schedule.  i’m pretty sure that i’m gonna win this one.

about month ago, i wrote about how daddy, the sleep master, sleep-trained me.  mommy went away for two days, and when she came home i was practically sleeping through the night.  yay, right?  yeah, well, that didn’t last for long.  i quickly reverted to my twice-nightly waking/feeding schedule and it seemed like that’s just how it was going to be.  mommy was ok with that.

and it’s not that i don’t know how to soothe myself back to sleep when i wake up — i do.  mommy always lets me fuss for awhile to see if i’ll settle back down.  but when i stand up, bang on my crib, and let out a blood-curdling shriek, she comes running.  sucker!

about a week ago, i started waking up earlier and earlier from my first long stretch, and then more and more frequently throughout the rest of the night.  i still have my 7:30pm bedtime, but instead of sleeping until 1:30am, i started waking up at 12:30am, then 11:30pm.  then the other day when the blood curdling started at 10:30pm, mommy decided it was time to make some changes.  cuz apparently when i don’t sleep well, mommy doesn’t sleep well either.  imagine that.

THEORY A:  hungry mungry  

• problem:  mommy thought that i might not be getting enough to eat during the day, causing me to be hungry mungry at night. 
• plan:  i am now being stuffed.  instead of eating 2 small meals and a small snack each day, i am getting 3 large meals and a big snack! 
• verdict:  FAIL!  this hasn’t changed my sleeping patterns, but i think my pants are starting to feel a bit tight  

THEORY B:  separation anxiety

• problem:  i have definitely entered the separation anxiety phase.  (mommy and daddy say it better be just a phase!)  so when i wake up at night, i want mommy to hang out with me and feed me.  but am i really hungry, or am i just nursing for comfort?  that’s the mystery.
• plan:  when i wake up at night, mommy is going to wake daddy up and have him check on me.  they hope that since i won’t expect daddy to feed me, i’ll just go back to sleep.  after a few night of this, i’ll learn that mommy is not going to nurse me every 1-2 hours, so i’ll stop waking up so frequently.  that’s the theory, anyway.
• verdict:  TBD.  daddy is very excited about his role in this plan

THEORY C:  daddy the sleep master

• problem:  mommy is such a sucker for my screaming that her plans are destined to fail.  she’ll undoubtedly give in and come feed me because she can’t stand to hear me cry. 
• plan:  i think mommy just needs to go away for a couple of days and let daddy work his sleep master magic on me again. 
• verdict:  TBD.  mommy is going on another business trip next week.  i’ll let you know how it goes!

earlier this week, mommy went to texas and left me and daddy and koda all alone. it was the first time that mommy would be away overnight. she was worried.

she worried that i might starve because i didn’t eat much the last time she went away.  she worried that i would be hungry and scared at night if daddy didn’t hear me when i woke up to eat.  she worried that daddy would be tired and grouchy if he did hear me when i woke up at night.

well, guess what really happened.  i went to bed around 7:30pm, as usual.  i woke up to eat around 1am, as usual.  but instead of waking up every 1-2 hours after that, i SLEPT UNTIL MORNING!  mommy couldn’t believe it.  she was sure that i had woken up several more times during the night, and that my cries had fallen on (daddy’s) deaf ears.

so when mommy came home around 11:30pm the next night, she was prepared to feed me in about an hour, like usual.  but 12:30… 1:00… 1:30am rolled around, and i didn’t wake up!  when i finally woke up at 2:30am mommy was so happy to see me.  all she wanted to do was hold me and kiss me, but all i wanted to do was eat.  mommy said i looked like a hungry hippo frantically searching for food in the dark.  i was starving!  it had been 7 hours since my last meal — that’s the longest i’ve slept in my entire life.  and after i ate, i slept straight through until morning.  mommy was completely floored.

mommy said that she doesn’t know what kind of voodoo, torture, bribery, or jedi mind tricks that daddy used on me, but she’s not asking any questions.  he managed to train me to sleep through the night with only one feeding — in just one night!  mommy said that she should go away more often and what other kinds of magic daddy can do.  but she would miss us too much

(ironically, mommy was never all that worried about koda, but maybe she should have been.  he didn’t eat anything for two whole days while mommy was away.  he was so hungry that he gobbled up an entire bowl of food as soon as she got home.  then mommy refilled his bowl, and he scarfed that down too.  poor koda.)

about a month ago, i started sleeping in my crib.  but since i was still waking up 2-3 times per night, mommy would bring me into her room and let me sleep in the co-sleeper bassinet for the final stretch before morning.  well. those days are gone.  i’ve been officially… say it with me… KICKED TO THE CRIB!

last weekend, i blogged about how i had given up on crawling. of course, the very next day, it just happened naturally!  i guess that’s how many things are in life — you find things when you aren’t looking for them, or things come to you more easily when you stop trying so hard.  life is weird like that.  anyway, i’ve been crawling around the house all week, and i have also been practicing pulling myself up to a standing position.  so you know what that means?  the co-sleeper can no longer contain me.  so all week, i’ve been sleeping by myself in my crib all night long.

the good news:  i usually “sleep through the night” (defined as a 5 hour stretch).  the bad news:  that 5 hour stretch is usually from 8pm – 1am.  and by the time mommy feeds me then unwinds for the night, she doesn’t get to bed until 2am.  that gives her only 2.5 hours of sleep until i wake up for my 4:30am snack.  before, mommy could just roll over to plop me in the co-sleeper after feeding me.  but now, she has to come into my room, pick me up from my crib, feed me, lay me gently back into my crib, wait til i’m fast asleep, then walk back into her room and crawl back into bed.  then i wake up again between 6 and 7am.  sometimes i can fall back asleep for an hour or so, but by that time, i’m usually ready to start my day.

so, being kicked to the crib is a big step for me…  a big win for daddy…  and less sleep for mommy.  sucks to be her

now, i’m working on climbing out of my crib.  i wonder what mommy and daddy will do once i figure out how!

for almost a week now, i’ve been sleeping in my crib in my own room for part of the night.  from about 8pm until about 4am, with one feeding in there, i sleep all by myself.  when i wake up to eat around 4am, mommy brings me to her bed and i stay with her and daddy until morning.  so, that’s about 8 hours a night that i’m in my crib.  that’s 8 hours a night that i am surrounded by animals!  yup, my crib bedding and mobile have a zoo animal theme.  mommy made some matching artwork that hangs on my walls, and auntie barbara got me some stuffed zoo animals that sit on the shelves that daddy installed.  there are animals all around me   (look, the zoo animals are even hanging out with me on the header of my blog!)

so when matthew invited me to go with him to check out the newly remodeled happy hollow park & zoo, i was so excited.  i thought that i was going to get to pet real life lions with purple manes, turquoise zebras with orange noses, and giraffes with green horns — just like the animals in my room, right?  wrong.  instead, there were a bunch of animals that had fur like koda, big ears like koda, but smelled yuckier than koda.  mommy and daddy said they were goats, sheep, ponies, and zebus.  i never heard of a zebu before, but he looked sort of like those animals that say “moo”.  matthew had fun petting them, and i had fun petting/grabbing at matthew.  i wasn’t all that interested in the animals, and the feeling was mutual.  mommy and daddy said we should go back in a few months when i’m bigger.  then, i’ll be big enough for some of the rides, and maybe then, i’ll like the animals.  we’ll see.  in the meantime, i’m perfectly happy just hanging out with koda

i guess there were too many monkeys jumping on my bed…  cuz it broke!  yup, one of the plastic clips that supports the platform of the co-sleeper snapped off the other night.  don’t worry, i’m okay — i wasn’t even in it.  actually, it was mommy who broke the bed.  she told daddy that it was an accident, but actually, it was all part of of our plan.  see, now that we don’t have the co-sleeper, i hafta sleep with mommy and daddy, right?  right!

well, the first thing that daddy did the next morning was call around to local shops to see if they have replacement parts that he could buy.  they don’t.  too bad for daddy.  yay for me.  but daddy is very resourceful.  he found the manufacturer’s website and discovered that he can order parts from there   i don’t think he’s ordered them yet.  maybe he’ll forget.

mommy and daddy discussed the interim options.  1) i can sleep in the bed with them.  2) i can sleep in my crib in my own room.  mommy said that if i sleep in my own room, then daddy has to be the one to get up in the middle of the night to check on me and carry me to and from their bed when it’s time for me to eat.  well, that was the end of that conversation   needless to say, i slept with mommy and daddy last night, and i’ll be there for at least a few more days.  yay!

so for now, at least, everyone gets to sleep where we want to — even koda!  yup, koda has been sleeping in my room lately.  when we all go upstairs, koda pretends to fall asleep in his bed at the foot of the stairs.  but after lights out, i hear him dash up the stairs.  he usually manages to sneak back downstairs, undetected, early in the morning.  but sometimes i wake up for a 4:30am diaper change, so mommy and i go into my room and turn on the light, and there’s koda, looking all guilty.  mommy points at him and laughs and says “koda, you’re busted!”

so, life is good in the tanaka household right now.  i hope daddy forgets to order the replacement parts for the co-sleeper.  but if he does remember, i think they’re going to get lost in the mail.  yeaaah… that package is definitely going to get lost in the mail.

one of the things that has helped me transition to sleeping in my own bed (co-sleeper) is my nighttime routine. this is a big deal because mommy and daddy aren’t “routine” kind of folks, but it’s all part of the jedi mind trick. (i’ll explain. read on.) this is what bedtime looks like for me:

• change into my jammies
• sit with mommy on her bed and read a bedtime story. i have so many stories to choose from because mommy has always loved and collected children’s books (and i’m not even counting the ones that she had when she was a kid). one of my favorites is “snoozers” by sandra boynton.
• turn off the lights and turn on twilight turtle (which, despite what auntie cindy would have you believe, is not a story about baby vampires)
• lie down in my bed and listen to mommy sing songs to me. she always sings “never gonna let you down” by surface and “in your smile” by na leo pilimehana. after that, it could be “loving you” by minnie ripperton, “here i go” by sugar babes, or any of a number of other old skool slow jamz. sometimes, i get disney princess songs. ewww. (mommy says that i would appreciate them more if i was a girl.)

this whole routine is typically takes about an hour.

so anyway, lemme tell you about twilight turtle. he is da bomb. by day, he is a stuffed toy that hangs out with my other stuffed animals. you’d think that he wouldn’t really get along with my lion, giraffe, elephant, and other jungle creatures, but he is such a cool guy that he doesn’t have a problem fitting right in. by night, he is not only a nightlight, but he also turns the room into a starry night sky. when i get older, mommy and daddy are going to teach me about orion, the big dipper, and the seven sisters from the comfort of my own bed!

the first time i saw the starlit “sky”, i was wide-eyed with wonderment — completely mesmerized. but now, when i see the stars, i know that it’s sleeptime. (that’s the jedi mind trick.) and even when i wake up in the middle of the night, mommy turns on the stars to help me relax and fall back asleep. twilight turtle rocks.

great feature for mommies and daddies: twilight turtle has a 45-minute auto-shutoff. (he also projects the constellation in 3 different colors, if you’re into that.) great tip for all my little ladies: if turtles aren’t your thing, you can get a twilight ladybug! she’s just as cool as twilight turtle, but not as fun to say.

twilight turtle by cloud b: (out of 5 )

so much change… and i’m not talking about coins. my world is changing so much these days. but i guess that’s just how it is when you’re a little kid trying to grow up too fast.

now that we’re back home from our little family getaway, i’ve once again been exiled to the co-sleeper. i guess i won’t be making my way back into mommy and daddy’s bed until i can physically climb into it. that won’t be long from now i really miss sleeping with mommy and daddy, but they insist that it’s best for me. but at least i get to stay in their bedroom, for now.

bathtime is less relaxing now that i’ve outgrown the hammock for my infant tub. i still enjoy my baths, but it’s just not the same. when i try to lounge and dangle my feet outside the tub, i end up sliding down, and mommy has to continually prop me back up.

you already know about my two lower teeth. those things are old news. but now i have two little upper teeth, too! (uncle greg says i am like a beaver ) daddy is super proud of himself because he saw my upper teeth two days ago — before mommy noticed them! when mommy saw them, she looked really sad for some reason. i felt sorry for her, but daddy didn’t. he just laughed. he said that every time mommy feeds me, he is going to sing the theme song from “jaws” and make chomping hand motions like when the sj sharks are on a power play. daddy thinks he’s so funny. mommy was not amused.

and the BIGGEST change of my life has yet to come. mommy is going back to work in two days, and daddy will be taking care of me alllll day long. who do you think will be more sad? mommy? daddy? or me?

mommy and i both knew this day would come, but neither of us expected it to be so soon.  but for daddy, it wasn’t soon enough.  i finally got kicked out of mommy and daddy’s bed

it was a 3-day transition.  the first night, mommy read and sang to me as usual, but then she put me to bed in the co-sleeper bassinet instead of her bed.  she laid down next to me, talked to me softly, and put her hand on my chest so that i would know that she was there.  but it wasn’t the same.  when i tried to curl up next to her, i instead found myself pressed up against the wall of the co-sleeper.  it wasn’t nearly as soft and warm as mommy is.  i eventually fell asleep anyway.  but when i woke up, i remembered how unhappy i was and refused to go back to sleep.  after two hours, i was finally able to wear mommy down.  yesss! she eventually picked me up and let me sleep in the bed with her and daddy for the rest of the night.  when daddy woke up in the morning, he was surprised to see me curled up next to mommy, just like always.

the next night was more of the same.  but this time, i stayed in the co-sleeper for a few hours longer before mommy gave up and brought me into the bed.

last night, however, i slept by myself through the whole night.  oh, but nobody is celebrating yet.  it still takes me almost an hour to fall asleep.  i still curl up and press my face against the wall of the co-sleeper.  i still wake up in the middle of the night and need to be soothed back to sleep.  i still roll onto my stomach to attempt crawl into mommy and daddy’s bed.  all these things make for looong sleepless nights for mommy.  and for some reason, she is finding this more difficult than my first few nights at home when she was sleeping barely an hour at a time.   but it doesn’t matter because this is a victory for her.  or i should say, this is a victory for daddy.  (mommy told me that if it was up to her, i would be sleeping with her until i’m 8!)

mommy and daddy might have won this battle, but the war is not over.  we are taking a trip to monterey this week, and i’ll be sleeping with them while we’re there.  i think that one night sleeping in the bed with them will undo all the work that mommy did to transition me out of their bed.  if you ask me, i don’t think the timing of their plan was very well thought out.  but nobody asked ME!