Winding Down

Today was a crazy day for Ayden. We figured he'd be a little out of sorts after a weekend off of his routine so we weren't really surprised, but it doesn't make enduring it any easier. When Ayden is over stimulated or over tired, he does this screaming/whining thing that starts off small and cute but quickly escalates to loud and out of control. It isn't crying, and he can be redirected, but it returns time and time again until he's had a decent nap or good night's sleep to "reset". We typically only see it during the evenings, especially on cat nap days, but he was at it all day today.

We only did two things today. We went to the grocery and went to water David's parents' plants. We tried to time things so that Ayden could get decent naps in but he just kept waking up after 20-30 minutes.  For instance, we tried to time it so he'd sleep in the Didymos while we were at the grocery but he didn't fall asleep until we were in the checkout lane (too much to see!!) and then woke up as soon as we got home resulting in probably a 15 minute nap.  Not so great.

During the transfer from the Didymos to his car seat.

On the way to David's parents' house he had a bit of a meltdown.  We played our "magic song" and it put him to sleep again.  We were hoping to drop everything and take a family nap when we got there but, of course, he woke up when I took him out of the carseat and wouldn't even nurse back to sleep.  I think he's just getting to the age where everything in his world is just too cool to miss!  When I realized he wouldn't be going back to sleep we went to hang out with David while he watered the plants.  It turns out it was the perfect quiet downtime. Though it was hot there was a breeze making the wind chimes chime and we sat on their back yard swing together.  

Ayden was perfectly content to just sit there with me.  He had a lot of fun looking at us on my phone screen while I had a little photo shoot.

Love this kid SOOO much!

When we got home, David took care of dinner while I tended to Ayden.  When we sat down to eat, I put him in his booster seat at the table instead of on top of the table in the Bumbo.  He looked so cute and big in it!  He sat quietly for the first time all day and just sucked away on the ice cube in his mesh feeder (maybe we were having some teething pain all day as well?  I gave him teething tablets a few times...)  After dinner, David took Mav for a walk while I started to clean things up.  Ayden had finished his ice cube so I pulled the chair closer to me and poured a little bit of water in the tray.  In true water-baby fashion, Ayden LOVED it!  He was smacking the water and making it splash everywhere. 

 

 He was content long enough for me to get the leftovers into the fridge and then started showing signs that he was ready for bed.  I took him up and finally got him to sleep after 30 minutes and came down to find that David cleaned the WHOLE kitchen while I was up there.  He is so amazing!  When I saw that it was done I immediately felt a ton of stress leave my body.  I say it all the time but having a partner in all this makes everything so much better.  Since everything was done, we decided to sit down and watch a Netflix movie together.  Awesome way to end the evening!

Tonight is either going to be awesome or... not so awesome since Ayden was so over-tired today.  Here's hoping for awesome! If it's not, no biggie.  I shall just stay consistent and work towards getting Ayden back on track.  According to The Baby Whisperer, it usually takes 3 days to alter/reintroduce habits.  I can do anything for 3 days!

~Sarah