Monday, February 11, 2008

Sleeping Beauty

Back in the early 90's I saw an interview with a singer, can't remember who, who talked about how she couldn't sing at all as a kid. Then she had some major illness that affected her throat, and when she recovered--voila, she could sing! Well, Abby seems to have undergone a similar metamorphosis through her two week fever, though not with her voice--no no, now she SLEEPS!

Poor kid is just like her mama when it comes to sleeping: she's just not good at it. Takes forever to go to sleep, doesn't sleep well once she does. But for the last week, she's been telling me "no books" when I've taken her up for nap or bedtime, which is crazy since she usually demands that I read every single book in the bedroom before we turn off the light. "Take a nap" she'll say in a slow voice when I confirm, "Really, you don't want to read any books?" Phase two is the singing, which I've done for as much as 45 minutes in the past before she'd actually fall asleep. (Usually it would take about 10 or 15 minutes.) Lately she's been falling asleep halfway through my "set" of Jesus Loves Me, Away in the Manger, Silent Night, and Amazing Grace (1, 2, 3, and 4 verses respectively). Then, usually she sleeps for about 9 or 10 hours--but three nights ago it was 14, then 12 the night after that, and 11 last night. Oi! But the best part of it all: she's sleeping through the night! The irony of this, of course, is that I am awake for at least an hour every night thanks to pregnancy discomfort. It figures this would start just as I'm about to embark on midnight feedings again. *sigh* But regardless, I'm thrilled that she's finally doing it!

I don't know if it's going to last--it may just be that her poor body is trying to catch up from two weeks of illness. But regardless, it's been a nice change!