ella's sleeping

i put elenora into her first dress yesterday. soooooo cute. it's the only dress i have with long sleeves. i'm not sure what i was thinking getting so many dresses that are short sleeved. but this one dress is pink corduroy stripe and she's adorable in it.

so yesterday i faced the issue of sleeping with a renewed sense of necessity. we started the day off a bit strange. ella woke up at six in the morning wanting to play. so then we all slept from seven until almost ten. when i put her down for her "morning" nap it was noon, and she was fast asleep when i laid her in her crib. she woke briefly crying about one and a half hours later and i just rocked her and she conked right back out. k. came over around two to watch The Office with me, and ella woke up around three. we had a good hour of play time and then ella was acting tired so i took her into her room, rocked, nursed, and sang to her, and put her in her crib. she was practically asleep, so i thought she'd just stay asleep. but five minutes later she started crying. i went in and told her it was nap time. she didn't quite agree.

j. got home from his orchestra practice and elenora was still crying a half hour later.

k. and i were drinking oyster bay sauvignon blanc and making chicken piccata.

j. called the pediatrician to make sure we weren't somehow harming our daughter. it was extremely reassuring because the doctor talked with j. about his own experience doing this with his son. he said he and his wife sat in the other room with sweat pouring down their faces, but now they have a four year old who, when put into bed at night, says "goodnight" and then goes right to sleep.

so we stuck it out. k. and i kept drinking the wine (the knots disappeared from my stomach and i started enjoying the evening), made and ate dinner, and played a couple rounds of a card game.

ella stopped crying around 5:30.

we were all so happy. k. and i walked downtown to buy brownie mix.

elenora slept until seven, woke up to nurse and then went right back to sleep. then slept until one in the morning.

she's down for her morning nap now. no crying (she was asleep when i put her down). i really tried to pay attention to when she was telling me "i'm tired." and she seemed to fall asleep easily because i'd listened.

i know there will be bumps and set backs and i'll have to listen to more crying. but i feel reassured that i'm doing the right thing.