At 8:30 am the father comes in to have family prayer and say good-bye before he heads off to fulfill his hunter-gatherer role. It is hard for him to rouse his sleeping wards--not because he doesn't wish to wake them but because they do not wish to be waked. The mother grunts her farewell while Rachel sleeps on.
Between 9 am and 10 am, Rachel and the mother wake up simultaneously. It is one of the great mysteries of nature how and why this happens. They open their eyes and smile at each other.
The mother picks up Rachel, rushes off to the potty and quickly undresses her. While being held over the potty Rachel leans back to look at the mother and offers her a series of slobbery kisses, which the mother accepts. Rachel does her morning business and the mother praises her in delight. This makes Rachel laugh.
The mother allows Rachel to play around wearing nothing but a diaper for quite some time unless they have some pressing business, such as playgroup or a walk to the library, to attend to. The less clothes Rachel wears, the easier it is to get to the potty on time.
Throughout the day, Rachel voices her demands. She wants to be fed changed, taken to the potty, played with, read to, bounced on the mother's knee, taken outside, and so forth. Rachel is often happy on the floor rolling around, and trying to crawl. Sometimes the mother encourages her to sit up all by herself.
Playing with toys
Sitting with mommy's help
Sitting all by herself...timber...
Sitting with mommy's help
Sitting all by herself...timber...
After playing really hard for an hour or so, Rachel calls for her lunch. The mother feeds her and Rachel falls asleep. This half hour of sleep hardly constitutes a nap for a regular child, but for wild Rachel it will have to do. While Rachel has a little power nap, the mother tries to work for a bit, but it is often tempting for the mother to just nap along with her offspring.
All too soon for the mother, Rachel is up and ready to entertain and be entertained for a few more hours. As ironic as it is, Rachel usually falls asleep 10 minutes before the father comes home so he is left to wonder why the mommy didn't get the laundry done or the floors cleaned. He always remembers why, though, when Rachel wakes up twenty minutes later. There are also days when Rachel skips this afternoon nap altogether.
The mother and the father work really hard at trying to keep Rachel happy. They sing to her and play airplane with her. They feed her and read to her. Rachel demands more fun all the time. She laughs and coos, egging her parents on to do really silly things to accommodate her.
Around 8 pm, Rachel will take another short nap (if the mother and father are lucky). This one lasts between 10 minutes and a half hour. The mother has tried putting her down for the night at this hour but Rachel always wakes up after just a short nap so the mother lets her get up to play some more.
When Rachel looks like this, though, the mother knows it is really time for bed.
This happens around 10 pm. At this time, the mother will try to be calm and gentle and change Rachel's diaper one last time, have her try to use the potty, and put her to bed. Rachel does not remain calm and the minute her diaper is off starts kicking and laughing like crazy, trying to trick the mother into thinking that she is not tired one bit. But the mother sees through the smiling face--the droopy eyelids are a dead give away.
Rachel and the mother lie down in bed together for a while to snuggle and nurse. If Rachel calms down and shows signs of sleep, the father will come in and read scriptures and have family prayer. If Rachel refuses to settle down, the mother just lets her get up and play some more. The mother is a push-over, but who can resist that smiling face?
The mother lets Rachel play around until Rachel tuckers herself out and, in turn, conks out. This usually occurs between 10:30 and midnight.
And that's your typical day of the wild-child Rachel who refuses to nap but stays happy and smiling for most of the day, anyway.
(Man alive, this girl wears me out! She got up at 9:30 this morning. She finally fell asleep at 11:37 this evening after I let her crawl around on the bed for an hour and a half. She napped for about 1 hour total today. Who is this wild child and why does she have so much energy?)
All too soon for the mother, Rachel is up and ready to entertain and be entertained for a few more hours. As ironic as it is, Rachel usually falls asleep 10 minutes before the father comes home so he is left to wonder why the mommy didn't get the laundry done or the floors cleaned. He always remembers why, though, when Rachel wakes up twenty minutes later. There are also days when Rachel skips this afternoon nap altogether.
The mother and the father work really hard at trying to keep Rachel happy. They sing to her and play airplane with her. They feed her and read to her. Rachel demands more fun all the time. She laughs and coos, egging her parents on to do really silly things to accommodate her.
Around 8 pm, Rachel will take another short nap (if the mother and father are lucky). This one lasts between 10 minutes and a half hour. The mother has tried putting her down for the night at this hour but Rachel always wakes up after just a short nap so the mother lets her get up to play some more.
When Rachel looks like this, though, the mother knows it is really time for bed.
This happens around 10 pm. At this time, the mother will try to be calm and gentle and change Rachel's diaper one last time, have her try to use the potty, and put her to bed. Rachel does not remain calm and the minute her diaper is off starts kicking and laughing like crazy, trying to trick the mother into thinking that she is not tired one bit. But the mother sees through the smiling face--the droopy eyelids are a dead give away.
Rachel and the mother lie down in bed together for a while to snuggle and nurse. If Rachel calms down and shows signs of sleep, the father will come in and read scriptures and have family prayer. If Rachel refuses to settle down, the mother just lets her get up and play some more. The mother is a push-over, but who can resist that smiling face?
The mother lets Rachel play around until Rachel tuckers herself out and, in turn, conks out. This usually occurs between 10:30 and midnight.
And that's your typical day of the wild-child Rachel who refuses to nap but stays happy and smiling for most of the day, anyway.
(Man alive, this girl wears me out! She got up at 9:30 this morning. She finally fell asleep at 11:37 this evening after I let her crawl around on the bed for an hour and a half. She napped for about 1 hour total today. Who is this wild child and why does she have so much energy?)
It is because she is related to Josie! She sounds NORMAL to me.
ReplyDeleteAnd Josie would say the same thing if this was really her typing this comment.
These are some cute pictures! What I want to know though is how do you manage to sleep so late? I have to be up at five thirty if I want to get anything done :(
ReplyDeleteSee, I don't get very much done. I stay up an hour or two after she finally goes to bed (she went to be last night at 11:30, Andrew and I went to bed at 12:30).
ReplyDeleteI got up pretty much at 7 when Andrew got up (Rachel didn't wake up until 9 this morning) but I stayed in bed with her to cat nap.
If I want to be a happy momma, I have to get enough sleep.
Remember in Jordan when I would go to bed super early? That was normal me. I like sleep. I like to go to bed at 9 o'clock.
Unfortunately, I'm a little out numbered now because both Rachel and Andrew seem to be night owls. I've adjusted my schedule and I get a lot of stuff done (like house cleaning, etc) at night instead of the morning. We use our mornings for sleeping, missing many a sunrise.
Oh, yeah...or I try to do non-baby things while she's still awake and she ends up being poked in the eye or something :)
ReplyDeleteI love that sleepy picture! It's adorable!
ReplyDeleteAnd our husbands think we don't do anything all day!!!!!
ReplyDeleteCute pictures!