Schedule?

I'm not one who is big on scheduling things like baby feedings and sleeping times, because I figure they will eat when they are hungry and sleep when they are tired, when they are little.

At some point, they "get" that nighttime is for sleeping, when it is dark, and daytime is for playing. Then they actually can physically make it through the night without needing to eat.

That's an issue I'm not looking to push with Meatball. Particularly since he is pretty reasonable about going back to sleep most of the time.

I have to say, though, there are a few things that have been quite regular for a little while, for which I am grateful. One is that I can put him to bed sometime between 7:15 and 7:45 and he will generally give me a few hours (half of which are used for nighttime rituals for The Boy, preceded of course by playtime). I nurse him and turn on his music, and put him in the bassinet and that's that. If I am by myself in the evening, generally we are watching something with the little red guy in it, so that I can keep The Boy in one place.

The other, which actually didn't happen today and consequently threw off bedtime a bit for him, is his late afternoon nap. This one begins at about 4PM and ends whenever my fork hits my plate at dinnertime.

This afternoon was odd anyway, although I'm not complaining in the slightest. A friend from my shul came over for a bit to help out, and she helped by taking the children out for a walk in the stroller. I was able to do diaper laundry, change the sheets in our room and The Boy's room, and (most importantly) straighten up in the guest room. The guest room has been a dumping ground for excess crap in our lives, and I put at least some of it in better places. I bought a new mattress pad for the bed in there and will be making that bed as soon as the pad comes out of the dryer. I vacuumed the available floor space in that room and The Boy's room. I just feel better knowing that there is one less space in our house that is a total mess.

Odd, because in addition to not being big on schedules, I've also not been very big on organization either. It has served me well in that I am very good at finding things, wherever they may have ended up, because often they are not in their proper places and historically most things of mine are not. My memory is excellent when it comes to situational information, so I can not only find something but also tell you how it got there in the first place. My mother is Mommy Fix-All-Better because she is simply the greatest; my "superpower" is being able to find things, so I'm "Mommy-Find-It."

But I digress.

The odd thing was that Meatball didn't take his late afternoon nap and so was tired at 6:30, which took me awhile to figure out and I was wondering why he was being so fussy while nursing. I put him in bed and even though he cried for a few minutes, he slept for over an hour. The Boy and I had dinner together and did some playing. Meatball woke up right as I was changing a soupy-poopy diaper. Fun.

The physical therapist came while I was changing The Boy earlier in the day, and my friend came as I was changing my shirt. Fortunately, people know to be patient when you have tiny kids.

I am now further convinced that whatever "it" is, Meatball is well-served when he cries "it" out for a few minutes before going to sleep. Not that I won't go to him when I know that he needs me, and I'm certainly not trying to sleep-train him this young, but when he is tired, frequently he does not want to be held or nursed or rocked. I try it. But then when I leave him in his bed, or the middle of our bed, or when we're in the car and he is fussy, he calms down and sleeps after a few minutes pretty much all the time.

So...as I mentioned, tomorrow is a possible admission. If we are admitted, I'll need LOTS of help on Saturday. Anyone up for it?