A good night's sleep

Imagine working 4 months to finally get the golden 10 hours of solid rest. You finally achieve it. Now the big question is how do we repeat it? And what was the trick? Was it a fluke?

Jude was such a great sleeper in his first weeks. We (I should clarify that with "I") actually would wake in a panic because he hadn't eaten in hours. And now, of course I wish I could get those back.

The problem. Mom and Dad are not creatures of structure. A family meeting must be called of course. "We need a routine", says Dad "We can't go on like this." Mind you, Dad is asleep through 98% of Jude's early AM wakings.

So these days we do a ritual each night that we derived from that family meeting. We read that babies like habit to the point of compulsiveness. Its where they thrive. Oddly enough, So does Josh, but to see him repeat the ritual is my Late Night Entertainment. Let me explain...

First, I will make note that the nursery is now equipped with a list of how to take Jude on his "Sleep Journey"— At night it goes something like this: Close the shades in the Nursery while saying "Good Night Mrs. Moonlight", turn on the music to number 4, swaddle and soothingly pat, turn down lullaby and turn on white noise to waterfall. Easy. All in all, it should take less than 15 minutes to walk Jude through his sleep journey. He's calm when he goes for his nap or for the night. He's getting close to just dozing off in his crib. Much different when we'd "surprise" him with bedtime after 20 minutes of playing, singing, dancing, etc. You get the point. So each nap and bedtime we try to repeat this "journey" to the best of our abilities.

Josh's version - and it changes every night - could start in a closet. Every shade in the house can be opened, then shut or vice versa. Mrs. Moonlight sometimes doesn't even exist. In fact, we have new characters - Mrs. Moonshine, Moon Pie, Mr. Sunshine will even come back up from his nap. Josh will ask if they're married - Mrs. Moonlight and Mr. Sunshine.

And so his chant sounds something like - "Good Night Mrs. Moonlight Pie, Moonshine, Sunlight - whoever you are - Good Riddens". Shut the garage door and close off the computer room. Shades were already closed in the nursery by mishap at the wrong time so he will open and shut them once again to get back to the routine. Run to the Living room and tap all the shades (they've already been closed you see, he started with that 1o minutes prior) and back to the quiet nursery. Josh - where'd Jude go? Just joking, the baby is along for this ride too.

The Music, that soft lullaby to whisk Jude to dream land, is now a roaring sound machine of ocean waves, rain water, waterfall - never the same each night and never the lullaby. "Josh, where's his lullaby?" mom will ask. "I don't like it" dad will explain.

And Jude, wrapped tight in his swaddle is absorbing his father's babble waiting for the chance to tell Mrs. Moonlight "Goodnight, I'll see you tomorrow.", Sing Hush Baby and fall asleep. But in the end, I think he just gets exhausted going through yet a new version of his "sleep journey". I'm hoping it will build humor, analytical skills and the ability to read between the lines.

So mom steps in, hopefully 10 restful hours later, to sing the good mornin song, unswaddle the little man, slowly open the shades and chant...Good Morning Mr. Sunshine - I'm up from my nap and feel much better. Its time to eat.

And so we repeat another day and await a new ritual at night.