Max is the perfect baby. As long as he is being held. He laughs and smiles and plays and loves to be loved on. Lay him down and it's game over. He will release the most awful blood curdling scream within 30 seconds. The kid can turn it on FAST. One minute after laying him down, he is having the most horrendous meltdown and I am worried that his head will start spinning like the girl from The Exorcist. No lie. His face turns red and he's digging and clawing at his face like Freddy Krueger. He knows that once he starts this, I'll immediately pick him up because the last thing I want is my baby to be self mutilating. I pick him up. Immediate silence. I look at him and realize that there were no actual tears. He got me. I fell for it. "You are a rotten little boy!" I tell him. He grins the biggest cutest grin and I know that he's thinking "I win again." I sigh. Well, guess I won't load the dishwasher right now.
Nap time? Ha! Max is the KING of cat naps. He takes little cat naps here and there all day. The catch is: I have to be holding him. Because, remember, if I lay him down, he might try to claw his eyeballs out just to spite me. So I do. I hold him so he'll nap for 20 minutes here, 45 minutes there. Gasp! I HOLD him while he naps?? I don't lay him down and let him get himself to sleep??? I don't allow him to self soothe?? Sometimes babies need to just cry it out! YEP. I SURE DO. I DO THOSE THINGS. Oh the horror! Pshh, please. I do what I have to do to get him to nap. Even if it's only for 20 minutes. Whatever. I can not bring myself to let him cry. I HATE IT. A few nights ago he was screaming for no reason other than the fact that I laid him down. I went to pick him up and husband says "no, he's fine. I'm letting him cry until 8:40 and then I'll get him." I look at the clock. 8:34. OMG. Six minutes? Oh man. Ok, I can do it. At 8:37 I stand up. Husband pulls me back to the couch. "No." He says. "Ugh! I can't do it! I can't stand it! Just go GET HIM!" (I may have been squealing) Husband laughs. "Nope, 3 minutes." The next 3 minutes were the longest 3 minutes of my life. I sat on the edge of the couch shaking and gritting my teeth. As soon as that clock changed to 8:40, I was off like a rocket. I scooped up my baby and bounced and shushed him. Immediate silence. I look at Max. He smiles. Bah! He wins again! I am such a sucker!
I did this to myself. I am lucky enough to be a stay at home mom. So it's just me and my little man. All day every day. Husband was away at a job training when Max was born. So it was just me and Max at the beginning, and most days it still is because husband works long hours. I held Max ALL THE TIME simply because I wanted to. I just wanted to cuddle with him and take naps and so we did. We're like best friends. But now, he's 4.5 months old and is attached to my hip 24/7. If I could sew him to my side, he would be thrilled! He loves his mama and I love him. But c'mon, mama needs to shower. Mama needs to throw the clothes in the dryer. Mama needs to take the dog out. FOR THE LOVE OF MOSES MAMA NEEDS TO PEE. You would think that he would get tired of being held. You would think that he would want his space once in a while. You would think that he would want to stretch out and play. No. He doesn't. He wants to do whatever I'm doing with me. So I let him. So sue me. Some days it drives me absolutely bonkers... but I remind myself that he won't be little for long and pretty soon he will be crawling all over the place and won't want me to hold him all the time. So for now, I hold him. I let him win over and over and over. And when I get tired of letting him win, and need a small victory of my own... I whip out the bulb syringe and go on booger patrol. He hates that with a passion. I get a little satisfaction out of that. Mommy-1, Max-875,981,234. Eh, you win some, you lose some.
Right there with ya. It's all new to me too because Andy was nowhere near this clingy. I am holding a sleeping Riley as I type this. Lol. Have you tried swaddling or car rides to get him to nap? Those usually work for me.
ReplyDeletesomehow my little houdini baby wiggles out of every swaddle! even when i think i'm doing it tight, nope. and he HATES the car seat lol but USUALLY calms down once the car gets going and the music is on (he loves music) the other day he fell asleep in the car after his doctor appt and i brought him in the house and left him in his seat and he slept in it for over an hour! it was great! but that is rare. he got shots that day so that may have had something to do with it.
ReplyDeleteRaegan was this way too. I felt sometimes like I wasn't doing anything all day long. Then I realized, I am being a mommy. If she needs me to sit and hold her ALL day long, then so be it. They do grow out of it, and quicker than you think. And you can't spoil a baby. They are babies. They need their mommies to take care of them. No cry it out for this mommy. We tried it once when she was a few weeks old and didn't want to be put down. She cried for maybe five minutes. We decided that wasn't for us, and I packed her around doing everything. :)
ReplyDeletetotally agree rachel! not for us either!
ReplyDeletedo you have a baby carrier that you use, that way you can have your hands free, but max can still be close to you. amy has one for Kipton, and he LOVES it!!! my mom made it for her, it's the best!
ReplyDelete