Natalie Giggles

I love rocking my babies to sleep. Charlotte was rocked to sleep up until the day Natalie was born - almost 2 years old. Natalie has been rocked to sleep probably 90-95% of the time in her (nearly) 15 months. It's often the only time I get alone with her during the day. We're quiet, calm, sweet. When I rocked Charlotte, and now with Natalie, I often tell the story of the day they were born, sing lullabies, or make up little tunes to hum as I pat her little bottom. They're moments I'll treasure forever.

But for the last week or two, Natalie has been showing signs she's ready to put herself to sleep more often. She pushes her feet, plays with my hair, takes out her paci a million times to tell me one last little jibber jabber story, and even sits up and reaches for her crib. So I give her a kiss & put her in her bed to see if she'll go to sleep without me. Each time I close the door, I pause for a moment wondering "what if she never lets me rock her again?" Sometimes she rolls around and is silly in her bed for a few minutes, then gets upset & wants one of us to go in to pat her bottom or rock her some more. But lately, including today's nap, she's gone to sleep just fine without me. No crying, no tears, no fuss.

She is still usually taking two naps each day - a shorter one in the morning around 9:30, and then a longer afternoon nap around 1:30/2:00. She'll do okay without the morning nap, but as long as she's willing to take one, I'm willing to offer it :o)

Grandma Val surprised Charlotte at the end of preschool and we had lunch and played at the park for a while before nap. I got C all snuggled up in her bed and then sat down in Nat's chair to rock her to sleep, but every time I looked at her, she giggled. If I blinked, she giggled harder. It was too cute to resist trying to capture on video! You can even see her do a funny little blink at the end. What a sweet baby! When we were done with our little blink-n-giggle game, I gave her a hug and kiss & put her in her bed. She rolled around in there chasing pacis and saying goodnight to all of her stuffed animals for about 10 minutes & has been out cold for the last hour and 15 minutes or so.


It will be sad when she no longer wants/needs me to rock her to sleep, but it makes it a little sadder not knowing when that last time will be. It was a bittersweet feeling when I quit nursing both girls - I was ready to move on, but those are special times I'll never have with them again. Same goes for the rocking - it will give me that many more minutes of "free time" in the evenings, but oh how I'll miss the sweet sleeping baby falling heavy in my arms.