A letter from your sleep deprived, paranoid mom.

Dear Nathan,
You do not know what you are doing to me. I know you don't mean it, in fact, you can't help it, but you have become a horrible sleeper. Just last night, I broke down and cried for the first time since you were born. I was so desperate, and frustrated, after being waken 3 times since I had gone to sleep. It was only 4 am.

Bedtime has been super stressful. I don't know why. Maybe you're teething. Maybe it's because you've just learned to do this:

Sit up from being on tummy

 and this...

Pull up and push the walker unassisted

 and this...

Get into weird yoga poses

Let's hope that last night was a one time deal and you don't repeat that. Ever. 

I bet you are liking this new sense of freedom and independence. You are now able to pull yourself up on almost anything and with the walker, you can get anywhere. You're still a bit slow, but soon enough, Teddy will have to work harder to keep you from catching him.

Your naps have also been short. Like 30 minutes short. There was one time where I was successful in getting you back down for another 90 minutes after you sat up in bed, but that was a one time occurrence. Let's improve on your sleeping behavior, Ok?

I'm kind of at a loss of what to do. Being the paranoid, google-crazed mom that I am, I looked up "9 month sleep regression." Most books and websites pretty much say this is what you should do with your baby normally, except during growth spurts, teething, etc. But they don't mention anything about what you should do during tough times. Gee, Thanks.

I've tried crying it out with you and it usually seems to work really well. But I'm reluctant to have you cry it out if your gums are sore, or if you are starting to have separation anxiety. I get that even now as an adult, and I wonder if it's because my parents had me cry it out too.

So, recently, I've been resorting to patting you to sleep. I'm reluctant to do that for too long because I don't want to create a new sleep prop. It's not that I don't want to spend the extra 5 minutes to pat you to sleep, it's just I don't want you to fall asleep knowing that I'm right beside you and later, when you wake up, you will find me not there anymore. But if you know that I have been gone since you fell asleep, you may not feel as abandoned. You know that all you need to do is call for me, and I'll be right there.

Anyways, I should stop complaining. Besides the sleep issues, you've been a very happy baby during the day. We've had lots of fun this week. One day, Daddy had a bit too much fun with your blocks and got into this predicament:

Silly Daddy

On Friday, a few of your friends came over to play.

It's so cool to see you and your friends actually interacting and playing together. 

We went to the pool and you called another dad "dada" as you waved to him. It was super cute. 

We have also started playing with Teddy. You really like it when we chase him around the house. Teddy is a good runner so I try to set up obstacles to keep him in one area. Teddy is getting really good at jumping over obstacles. When we almost get him, you let out these awesome belly giggles. 

You've also become really interested in Teddy's food egg. You will crawl all over the house just to get to it. You've seen Teddy get his food out and you try to get some out yourself. Hopefully you haven't eaten any of his food yet. 

I feel like you are starting to be just as smart as Teddy. You can't do things on command yet, but I have a feeling that before we know it, you'll be high-fiving us and sitting down on command.

This week you've also started to imitate us. Daddy first noticed that you pat our backs when we hold you. You will also make smacking noises with your tongue after we do it too. You will even make "bababa" noises by tapping your fists against your mouth. When will you start to clap your hands and wave bye bye?

Well, Bye Bye for now.