Current Reading List

The last book I read was “the curious incident of the dog in the night-time” by Mark Haddon. I mentioned it in a blog awhile ago, but completely butchered the name and have been meaning to post to correct my error.

The book I just started reading this weekend is “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child” by Marc Weissbluth, M.D. A fellow SMC who had daughter about 10 weeks after Max mentioned she was reading it and was enjoying it so far. I decided to give it a go as well for a few reasons.

For one, I like reading and learning new things. I don’t have to agree, but I like to hear the different theories and ideas.

Also, my sister was over the other evening. She was holding and rocking Max while I did something (straightened up? ate dinner? who can remember?). And, Max dozed off in her arms. She was so proud of herself for getting him to sleep and I commented that I would be surprised if he fell asleep/stayed asleep because he has been going to sleep between 7:15 and 7:30. I was right. He dozed for a bit. Woke up, ate. And, fell asleep at 7:20. I didn’t quite realize that he had fallen into such a habit until I said it. Another night, Max fell asleep about 30 – 45 min. later than his new “usual” and woke up about 30 – 45 min. earlier than normal (6 – 6:15 am). Along the way, he has stabilized his night sleeping schedule and I must have unconsciously realized it since I noticed when it was off.

Lastly, while Max has never been a big or long napper. Ever. I noticed last weekend that he slept about 3 hours both days. One day, I napped for about half of that with him. The other, I had 3 whole hours to myself. A rare treat. Then, this week, I noticed that he was clearly tired, but couldn’t fall asleep or wind down. This was really the first time this behavior occurred in him. In the past, if he was tired, he fell asleep. Reading the first few chapters of this book, I now realize that his sleep pattern changed. The book said it typically happens between 12 – 16 weeks. Max is now 26 weeks, but …hey…each kid is different. Or, as Dr. Weissbluth (author of the book) says, each child is like a snowflake and unique. In the graphs in the book, Max seems to be around the 15% in total amount slept at night, during the day, and duration. Basically, 85% of kids his age sleep longer than he does.

I “browsed” the book last night after Max went to sleep. Randomly flipping through and reading bits and pieces. However, I have learned from past experiences that I can often leap to wrong conclusions or ideas and/or take things out of context when I do this. So, I went to bed at a decent time. Like I predicted, I did not get a nap in yesterday, but snapped out of it on the way to the restaurant and had a decent time. We took two cars because my sister Julie, whose b-day we were celebrating, needed to run errands afterwards. Julie and my mom road together on the way there. My sister Kris road with me. I was muttering and complaining about having to drop everything and getting a million phone calls while I got Max loaded into the car. My sister Kris just busted up laughing. She said, EXACTLY, I thought it was just me. She said, I needed that to snap out of my funk cause I was feeling the same way. So, we had a bonding moment. Laughed it off. And, had a good time.

I’m only on page 32 (reading bits and pieces while I could when feeding Max), but have found what I have read very interesting so far.

Without even reading the book, I noticed this week that Max has been tired/ready to eat then nap just about the time we are getting back from the morning walk. This is typically about 2 – 2.5 hours after he woke up. So, this morning, I came home. Quickly put the groceries away, went to the bathroom, and climbed in bed with him to feed him. He fell asleep within 15 min. He slept for about an hour. This gave be enough time for “Animal Bath Day”. Yes, they were all less than thrilled, but my K-9 and Feline family members all got cleaned today. Okay, it is more like an outdoor shower. I have a hot/cold hook up outside my kitchen that I use for these purposes. City Boy did better than I thought during the shower. He even let me towel dry him for a min. or two before he had enough. He gave me evil looks and was generally pissy for about 30 min. I have learned from past experiences that Shadow must always be the last in line. Otherwise, she will find a nice dirty spot and roll in it. It was Lucky, CB, then Shadow. Finished just in time for Max to wake up.

I had read the book enough this morning to try to put Max down around 12:30 ish for another nap. I tried it and we both slept this time. Me for 60 min. Him for 90.

He then had a brief 30 min. nap in my arms between 5:30 and 6 while I read more.

He is not falling asleep on his own by any stretch of the imagination, but he did get almost 3 hours of sleep in today and it felt like a good routine for him.

I think I will wrap this up and see how much more of this book I can devour before my bedtime.

The other book I bought at the same time I bought the sleep book was The Happiest Toddler on the Block. Unless something else catches my eye or interest first, it will be the next book read.

Off to read and learn more. It is a very interesting book. I like that he gives solid reasons and rationale for his theories. He doesn’t just tell you “what”, but also “why” and “how come”. My kind of book.