sleep, baby, sleep.

the dude and his tongue. it's his latest thing.

had a rough night with elijah last night. actually, he slept all night long...it was just the getting to sleep part that posed the problem. basically, the poor booger wants us to lay with him while he falls asleep. it's a whim i've given in to for far too long...mainly because i've been too exhausted to deal with the alternative (crying, sleep deprived baby). but since i've been feeling much less out-of-it as of late, yesterday, i decided to do something about it. so, i went and bought a gate for his door, set up the music player in his room and just generally prepared myself for a civil war.
last night was hard, i won't lie. he stood behind the gate at his door (we put the gate up only after he'd already gotten up three times) screaming and crying like he hasn't in a long time. part of me wanted to laugh...but mostly i wanted to cry. poor baby. i felt like i was abandoning him. that is, until he figured out how to climb over the gate. then i was just mad. after about an hour of the battle of the wills, he did settle down and stay in his bed. he was asleep in minutes after only one loud thump (which i'm still not completely sure of the origin).
i debated what to do for naptime today...mostly i just really didn't want to deal with the hour-long saga we had last night but i figured, we might as well get it over with. he, of course, got up immediately after i left the room. and i warned him that if he continued to get up, i would have to put the gate up (i returned the one from last night and got a different one this morning). after the third time, i went to go tuck him back in so he'd be out of the way while i put the gate up. as i was doing this, his little voice informed me that he had "poo-poos". at first i thought it was a stall technique but nope, my nose confirmed the dirty diaper. so...i changed him...of course. but a funny thing happened when i took the diaper away. i dealt with the poop (flushing it) and took my time throwing the diaper away and washing my hands. when i started back down the hall, no sniffling boy greeted me. only silence. so...instead of going back to his room (which is where i thought i was headed), i hung a right into my computer room (the mess room) and checked my email. still no little boy poking his head out. i got on facebook. took my time on there. still no little boy. checked my blogs. by this time, i had to go check. i had to know what he was doing in there. i tiptoed up to his door, walking with wide legs so my pants wouldn't even swish together and peeked. he was asleep. seriously. sound asleep with his sweet little lips puckered up in a sigh. oh, i am a happy mama today. i didn't even have to put the gate up! not sure if this will be a trend or if it was just a fluke...but at this point, i don't really care. i'll take what i can get.