Monday, July 25, 2011

bedtime

We are learning to fall asleep here. Small Son is 2 1/2. He still nurses, though it's mainly limited to naptime, when he wakes form his nap, and bedtime.

I suppose it would be just as accurate to say, "We're working on weaning here." It's a process. We stopped nursing at night this past winter. That was far less traumatic than I expected. I never planned to be nursing my son into his third year. I had thought, I'll give it a year. And then, I thought perhaps a few more months. And then, perhaps until he's two...

I am not in a rush to wean completely. Weaning begins when the child starts to take other nourishment, and that started when A. was 6 months old with his first tastes of banana and avocado. By 9 months, he was eating Happy Baby rice cereal mixed with baby food once a day. We were not big solid food promoters. He ate when he showed interest.

He certainly has plenty of interest now. Small Son's favorites include most fruits, but not melon, chicken, ham, toast, oatmeal, broccoli, peas, and raisins. Nordic Naturals Nordic Berries vitamins are also high on his list. I don't blame him -- they're yummy.

So, now we are starting to shift away from nursing to sleep, which he has had a lot of trouble doing in the evening for the past few weeks. He still nurses down quickly for naps, but bedtime was starting to take all night.

We're working on shifting the routine, simplifying, making his own bed the place where he falls asleep, tucked in all cozy with his Lambie, Wolfie, and Blue Baby.

It's starting to work, slowly, slowly, slowly, but tonight I left the room before he was totally zonked, and he slept. It was like a miracle.

It seems like falling asleep ought to be so easy, but as anyone who has lain awake, counting the minutes, mind racing, can tell you, sometimes, it isn't. I want bedtime to be a welcome respite for our son, a safe, sweet, cozy time, when he knows he is loved and cared for, and where he can recharge for the next day's adventures. I want him to look forward to his journeys in Dreamland, and to learn to sleep easily and deeply.

We are learning to fall asleep and to wake up, and teaching these things is part of being a Waldorf educator, as well as part of parenting. We have to put our own thoughts to sleep to really listen to someone else. We have to dream our way into stories, and our feeling life is like a dream, half-remembered, barely understood. Sleep and waking and the liminal spaces in between -- if we can make these transitions well, then we can learn to move from action to stillness, from lassitude to industriousness, with ease and calm in other realms of life, too.

There is much to say on the topic of sleep, and for tonight, I will talk less and sleep more, hoping to bring some insights later in the week...

Sweet dreams, dear reader.

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