Growing up

Jackson slept through the night last night. Actually, that makes it 4 nights in a row. We put him in his crib between 8:30 and 9:00 PM, turned off the light, and walked away. No crying, no fussing. Just the sound of a thumb being sucked, followed by silent slumber until 7:00 AM, when he woke us up with his morning call and morning smile. I was ecstatic at first. Thank you Babywise!! Continous sleep!!! But now I'm a little sad. Feeding time was my special time with him. And it used to happen 7-9 times a day. Don't get me wrong. I'm not asking for middle of the night awakenings any more, but now he's down to 4-5 feedings. And because I'm back at work now, more than half of those feedings are with a bottle...with Ian. Meanwhile, I feed "the pump." I think I'm also sad because I'm struck with the reality that my baby's growing up. Next thing you know, I'll be doing the mother-son dance with him at his wedding. He's only 3.5 months old and he's already outgrown some of his endearing newborn behaviors. No more mildly squeaking monkey. Now he's a screaming banshee. No more endearingly dependent floppy head. Now he's a bobble head. No more burrowing into our necks to sleep. Now he wants to crane his head around to look at everything. No more pacifier checks every 5 minutes. Now he finds his own thumb. No more startling assplosions to let us know when to change his diaper. Now he stealthily unloads his bowels right before we enter public places, or worse...closed quarters. Everyone talks about how fast they grow up. I just didn't expect to be agreeing with the fact so soon.

Clarice