Laurel usually falls asleep at night while I'm nursing her, and then after she's solidly asleep I set her down in the crib. If she doesn't drop off while nursing, which is happening with greater frequency, I hand her off to Craig and he tries to rock her to sleep. Then if that doesn't work, he hands her back to me and I try nursing her again.
But three or four times in the past week we have laid her down in her crib awake and she has fallen asleep there. By herself! Alone in the room! Without crying!
When she didn't fall asleep nursing tonight, I put her in the crib. She was sleepy and peaceful and initially it seemed promising -- although it has now been 25 minutes and she is not yet asleep. She hasn't cried yet, or even gotten upset, but she has been keeping up a steady monologue. Because setting her down awake is a new experience for us, we are listening to her talk through the baby monitor. (We used to do this with Isaac, too.)
We were glad to have this insight into her private thoughts, although she didn't say anything that surprised us. Probably no one else will find this interesting, but here are some of her remarks, some with annotation:
Mama awake. Daddy awake. Mama asleep. Daddy asleep. [She makes a loud snoring sound.] Bed.- - - - -
Kim. Kim and Carrots. Kim's mommy. Mama haircut. [Kim is a character from a book, and she has a stuffed rabbit named Carrots; in one story Kim's mother leaves Kim behind while she goes shopping, and today I left Laurel behind while I got my hair cut.]
Baby down slide.
Door knock-knock.
Bear so big! Daddy so BIG! Daddy SO BIIIIG! [This is from a book; it's the action rhyme where you raise your arms over your head on the word "big" to show how big the baby is. Every time she got to that part, her voice rose to a high-pitched squeal.]
Cat. Mouse. Dog. Dog. Dog. Woof woof. Horse.
Opa, Oma. Opa and Oma. [She's a fan of my parents!]
Sheep. Baa. Cow says moo. Pig says oink oink. A dog. Oink oink. A dog.
Baby. Shh. Shh. Shh. [This is the soothing sound you make while rocking an upset baby; she also makes the sound while she cradles her doll, which is absolutely adorable.]
Wait! She's been quiet for almost ten minutes now! After 28 minutes of talking to herself, she must finally be asleep!
- - - - -
Here's my first post about Isaac making the transition away from nursing to sleep, which started happening at 18 months, and here's another from when he was Laurel's age, 21 months, and he finally began sleeping through the night on a regular basis.
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