Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Like Mother, Like Daughter

When I was about Emily's age, my mom introduced me to my baby blanket. It was a gift from someone (my mom doesn't remember who) and I have had this blanket for 27 years. It still comes out to comfort me on rare occasion, and my younger sister (who is a junior in college) has an identical one that she still sleeps with every night. I've tried introducing Emily to a few stuffed animals in the hope that one of them will spark her interest, help her sleep better, and serve as her very own "comfort object". But, until recently, nothing worked. Then one night, as I was feeding Emily right before her bedtime, I covered her with a blanket just like the one I have. She held on tight, and I let her sleep with the blanket that night. Ever since then, I have put the blanket on my shoulder as I rock her for a few minutes before naptimes and she will put her head on my shoulder VOLUNTARILY! This in and of itself gives me cause for great celebration, but the blanket has even more super powers. Apparently it can also help Emily fall back to sleep after she wakes up early from a nap, as she has done twice in the last week or so. She cries, reaches for the blanket, and after a few minutes is sleeping again. This may not seem like much, but to me, it is nothing short of a MIRACLE. And so, as my sister said, "Emily is officially part of the family". Below are pictures from this morning: how I found Emily in her crib when I went in to wake her up and on the floor right before she ate breakfast.


2 comments:

  1. How cute! You are soooo right. Hannah and Emily could be twin sisters! Hannah never cuddles either, until recently she will put her head on my shoulder for just a few seconds. I savor every moment!

    My mom got Hannah a little bunny blanket with her name on it. I tried so hard to get her attached to it by putting it in her crib with her since she was born. Guess what she's taken to? Her burp cloths! If I think about it, they have been with her constantly since she was born spitting :) So sad for cute little bunny, but I'm not too disappointed because burp cloths are easy to replace and wash :)

    Good luck transitioning to one nap. It took quite a few weeks and Hannah still goes down in the morning occasionally. She did the exact same thing as Emily...pushing that morning nap later and then refusing to take the afternoon nap. It was (and still is) a long stretch until bedtime! Hopefully these girls will get on better napping routines.

    I'm so glad that we've remained in contact through Facebook and Blogs. It's really nice to see that I'm not alone out there and there is another baby who is a little more on the wild side :)

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  2. this make me so unbelievably happy :)

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