Michele and I have been trading who gives Avery a bath or who puts her to bed for quite a while. There are the occasional nights where one of us will do a double duty but for the most part we split this as much as possible. Lately if I do story time and the rock to bed it seems I can't escape the room without her waking enough to beg that I "yay down" with her. In her most adorable plead she says "please daddy" and works up a little drama. Now I know that I'm already wrapped around her finger and I know she knows this too but I love this very small but wonderful piece of snuggle time that we share. More than not I fall asleep in the bed, but before we do fall asleep she asks me to "dough uner daddy" which means lets pull the blanket over our head which she thinks is hilarious, or she moves in close and puts her arm around my neck and acts like she is sleeping by doing the stereotypical snoring sound. This is mixed in with multiple kisses either on my arms or my face and sometimes she rubs my face (I think she is trying to do the face tickle that I do sometimes to get her to sleep). I realize that mostly I just love the fact that I am a comfort to my daughter. She feels safe with me and she wants nothing more than some quality time with just her daddy. Most days this is the only time we spend just us and I cherish every moment. When she starts to settle down she turns her back to me and edges her butt up against me so she can make sure I'm there and soon after her breathing becomes very slow and deep and I know I can slip out of the bed. More than not I don't and I stay, "just a few more minutes for you and I" I think and we sleep. Usually I get a little tug on my toe from my wonderful wife and I go and snuggle with my other love. I am truly a lucky man. Life is good.
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I meant to post a comment earlier but things got busy. This post melted my heart and I can only hope Travis feels this way about Sophia. I'm sure he does. All daddies share a special bond with their little girls-- it makes me smile to read your stories about it though. :)
ReplyDeleteHey Bookie, when Avery was younger did she have a tendency to sleep better with Michele versus you when you tried to bathe her and put her down at night? Due to our schedules and the fact that I'm on maternity leave, I've been Isabelle's "primary caregiver" and more frequently put her to bed at night and get up with her in the middle of the night. We've noticed that when Jason tries to put her down, either at bedtime or at 3:00 a.m. when she wakes up for a bottle, she wants to stay up forever! He has the hardest time putting her down because she wants to play. We're wondering if she gets too excited to see her daddy since he's not around as much as I am...
ReplyDeleteAvery was always more comfortable with Michele at first. There were times where only Michele was able to calm her but I had my moments as well. I read that you need to create as little stimuli for the baby as possible when doing bedtime. One thing I did was make sure the bottle was as ready as I could get it for the late night wake up and try to get it before I went in to pick up Avery (or at least start it, pick her up, and get the bottle w/ it as dark as possible). If she was really upset I would of course get her first but if I could come in w/ the bottle I found that getting her back to sleep was easier. I also purposely tried to not talk as much as possible when putting down and did as much as I could in the dark or with very little light. I had a bad habit of falling asleep on the couch while feeding Avery at night though. Avery's bedroom was against a student wall so I would sooth and feed in the living room away from walls that led to student’s apartments, so we would chill on the couch with some serious pillow propping systems. I would usually wake up an hour later w/ her sleeping, my arm asleep, and me sitting upright. I would then just put her back to bed. So my biggest tip is eliminate as much stimulus as possible. I think the most I did when she fussed at night was shhhh, shhhh, shhh...you know, to sooth but no talking.
ReplyDeleteHope this helps.
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