Saturdays

So I began to work one day a week at a local agency. It is nice because it is on Saturdays and therefore I can work without having to pay for childcare since GT is home with TT. People keep asking my if I have a hard time leaving T with others and I always say "no", especially when it is with his Dad.

Yesterday was my first long day. I came home yesterday at 2:00 and T was awake, happy and smiling. He looked like he had a pretty good day so far and I was shocked when GT told me that T had been awake for almost 2 hours. He never lasts that long when I'm home. I left again and came back at 5:00. Usually 5:00 to 6:00 in our house is pretty difficult because T is tired from the day and ready to go to bed for the night. I walked into the house and T was sitting in his bouncy seat and smiling! He and Dad were just hanging out. GT and I started to talk about his day. He said T had taken 3 naps that were 1.5 hours each and when he was awake he was smiling and happy.

I love to see my baby happy. It is what I work for all day long but I never get three 1.5 hour naps, a baby who is happy for 2 hours, or a smiling baby after 5:00 (well almost never). It got me thinking about all the things that I am doing wrong as a mother. How can GT get T to be so happy and well rested? I actually know the answer. He lets him cry. When T starts crying during a nap and it hasn't been 1.5 hours GT leaves him alone for 5 minutes or until he finishes whatever he is doing then he goes and gives him the pacifier and baby falls asleep again. He doesn't fall for it when he gets upstairs and T looks at him and grins and tells him he is done with his nap. He doesn't let T get cranky before he puts him down for a nap and T ends up a happy baby at the end of the day.

When I am home with T, I can't handle listening to him cry. Having GT at home with T has been great because it has given me perspective on what I am doing right and what I am doing wrong. I think that in the case of baby sleep I need to take a lesson from T's Dad. Ditch the mommy guilt and let the baby cry every once a while because in the end what we all want is a smiling baby.