Our second child took their first tiny step yesterday!
this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2024
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Congrats! We hit a similar milestone with our youngest, he's crawling all over the place now where only like 2 weeks ago he had no interest 😅.
2 and a handful of months. Will not sleep. Takes hours and oftentimes we're not all in bed until after midnight. They're tall enough to operate all the doors in the apartment so even if I wanted to, I couldn't just leave them in their room. I just want to sleep a whole night
The only thing that works marginally for our three-year-old is getting up early in the morning. Like obnoxiously early. Our current wake up time is 5:00 AM.
I've known others with kiddos like that. I remember with our oldest, we started a routine pretty early. Our Pediatrician had told us It's good to turn off all the lights around a specific time to induce that "nighttime" feeling and get their bodies ready to sleep. Lights out around 7 to simulate nighttime, probably around 1yr-old we started using that as the queue to move them to their crib, which eventually morphed into 7:00 means stories in bed, and then lights out, and now it's a hole thing. Brush teeth, Wash face, stories with low light, then sleep. We have music on + a white/brown noise device. There was a time when I would sit in the room until they were fully asleep, but I was in there until like almost 10:00 or later, so I gradually introduced me leaving before then to get them comfortable. They're going to be 4 this year and most days they're so exhausted that they might not even get through all the stories they want to read, ha.
At some point, we'll have to start that routine building with our youngest. There was a time with our oldest where they were also taking forever to get to sleep, and I feel like having that routine really helped them. We also try and be vocal about bedtime approaching so they don't get sucked into an activity or so it doesn't blind side them. I also have an alarm on my phone that goes off at bedtime. Mostly a boon, but man if they don't hear that alarm go off they get very upset about it "not being bedtime yet". Gotta be ready to fudge the alarm in those moments.
But even with all that, we're still getting like no sleep, ha! Kid 2 still wakes up to eat in the middle of most nights. Kid 1 periodically wakes up in the middle of the night and hasn't mastered the skill of just going back to sleep, so they come and get one of us. It's a battle. I'll probably sleep when the kids move out of the house, whenever that is, maybe when they're 30 given the state of things.
I've been taking my kid to the park and introducing them to other kids and asking if they want to play. I'm hoping my kid will pick up on it and get more comfortable approaching people they don't know to chat / play. I usually have to do a round or two of hide and seek before they do their own thing.
It's silly because I'm pretty shy but I know it's for all the wrong reasons. I'd like my kid to not have the same feelings about socializing that I've had drilled in to me.
Taking my kid out to play at the playground and suddenly having to interact with strangers. It's become so alien to interact with someone that I havent known for years. Imagine talking to someone being out of your comfort zone 
Hope my kid isn't taking his cues on socialization from me
Also I got to know the family living directly below us a bit better and I dont think they are well. Absolute dinner party with Michael and Jan vibes. Their kid also didn't want to play with mine since she is much much older but her parents seemed to ignore it. I just felt like an imposition on the kid but didn't know how to get out without seeming rude. Or I am reading too much into all of this, i dont know. Wish my wife was there she knows what to do in such situations.
My youngest continues to be super sweet to everyone. I love seeing the person he’s becoming.
🥰