morningtime

Leif has fallen asleep in the sling. He is holding onto the string of my sweatshirt with his tiny fist and the rhythm of his breathing sounds tells me he is finally down. Our morning routine usually ends this way. It starts when we get up to change Leif's diaper and pee and poo in the sink (more on diaper-free later). We put on some clothes and I drop Leif into the sling and we go downstairs to make coffee. This is Leif's truly 'quiet alert' time and he takes after his dad in that way. We walk around downstairs and look at stuff, look out the window or at the lights of the Christmas tree. We pick up around the house and talk a little. Sometimes I read or make up a story about a kid who wants to go outside and go around and do stuff. If a little fuss comes up I pull Leif out of the sling, pull off his diaper, and take him to the bathroom to pee. It works! This morning I caught two poops and three pees, and missed one pee. We are finding that Leif will wait until we hang him out over the sink. Then he goes. I don't want to jinx it by bragging but it is going very well so far. After a while, Leif gets tired again and wants to go back to sleep. This usually means fussing so I have some work to do to help him. This morning I came to the computer and sat down on the bouncy-ball to bounce. I also played the white noise track on iTunes which really gets him in the zone. Now he's asleep, probably for another 20 minutes. When he wakes up I will take him pee and then to his mama to nurse.

Getting up early gives Rachel some time to sleep undisturbed. Although Leif is 'sleeping through the night' now, he still wakes every hour or so to nurse. Rachel has learned to feed him as they lie side-by-side. This is handy and comforting to the little guy and he has been able to fall back asleep. We don't really worry about taking him potty at night yet--that will come soon.