Elliot in Retrograde

Sleeping rules. It. Is. Awesome. And since the heavens have decided to bless me with a child who sleeps - which I believe is in reparation for the stretch marks (we're not even yet, by the way) - I get to enjoy my fair share. So how pissed was I when about a week ago I was woken up not once, not twice, but three and sometimes FOUR times a night for several nights in a row by a child screaming bloody murder. My first thought was, "gee, maybe his bedroom is haunted by spirits and they wake him up." My first rational thought was "gee, could he be teething already?." It goes without saying that, either way, I was none too pleased, but at least the "haunted room" track gave me the creepy/cool factor in telling the story.

But after the fourth or fifth night it stopped. On a dime. Then something else happened. I was getting him ready for a bath and he was laying there being all cute and grabbing his toes and babbling to me when he just rolled over. Just like that. No fanfare, no "hey mom, look what I can do!" Just a matter-of-fact action like it was old hat. So, for now, the screaming has stopped. But a whole new era has begun - that of a semi-mobile baby. Now, when I put him on a blanket with some toys and step briefly out of the room there is no guarantee that he will be where I left him when I return. In fact, it is a much better bet that I will find him flipped over and spun 180 degrees around.

Hey, I am pleased he is developing, don't get me wrong. But his new skills can scare the crap out of me. Take, for instance, the day I put him down for an afternoon nap and noticed 10 minutes in that he was awfully talkative. When I went into his room to investigate, the first thing I saw were two chubby legs dangling though the crib bars. Here, he had flipped over and turned sideways and was propped up talking to himself in the mirror. Cute as hell, sure, but all I could imagine was him trying to turn back over and wrenching one of those knees between the bars. Then, a near heart attack occurred when I went to get him one morning and found him asleep on his stomach. What made my heart skip was that, thanks to some early morning shadows and a seriously overactive imagination, his face appeared to be a dusky purple. It freaked me out so bad I yelled his name and startled the poor thing from a sound sleep.

The moral of this story for me is that my son regresses with his sleep when something big is about to happen. He has done it with his most recent growth spurts and now this. I guess we better hold on to our butts, this could be a bumpy ride.