Everyone's Vacationing

I just put Malcolm down for a nap. When I came downstairs, I thought to myself, "I should call my mom/dad/sister" and then I remembered that they are all on vacation. Jenn & Mom are on a cruise together and Dad & Carolyn are in Pennsylvania at the annual family reunion. It made me a little sad.

Speaking of sleep, I started working on teaching Malcolm to fall asleep on his own a couple of weeks ago. When he learned how to crawl, our evening routine changed a bit. He started to cry when I would put him to sleep. I thought that maybe it was a phase, but 2 months later it was still happening. I figure if he's already crying while in my arms, I might as well see if he can fall asleep in his crib. The first night, there was lots of crying, but he fell asleep in his crib and only woke up once during the night. I thought that after 2 weeks, we'd be in a routine and he'd be accustomed to me putting him down in his crib to go to sleep. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Every night is different. Some nights, I put him down in his crib and he plays for 30 minutes and falls asleep. Other nights, I put him down and he fusses for an hour and a half. I stay with him in his room until he falls asleep, so the 1.5 hour nights pretty much use up my evening hours. Anyhoo, since we started doing this, he sleeps through the night. Sometimes he'll wake up after 8.5 hours of sleep but I can usually get him back to sleep for a couple more hours. Most nights he wakes up after 10.5/11 hours of sleep. I would have no complaints if this was the only change, but it's not. His naps are really wonky now and rarely does he take 2 naps a day. I never know what to expect. This would be no big deal except that it makes planning things difficult (like a little party for him for his birthday).

Malcolm turns 1 in 3 weeks. Craziness!