Sunday, January 14, 2007

A long-awaited dream

I'm still reeling a bit from disbelief. I'm a little giddy, in fact. William slept for...wait for it...almost TWELVE straight hours last night. That's TWELVE. Twelve! The big 1-2!

I never ever, in my wildest dreams, thought such a thing could happen. I remember my friend Mary Clare telling me about how her daughter Leland, who's about six months older than William, did that, and how glorious it was when it finally happened. And I thought, "Wow. William will never do that."

He actually slept until about 7:15 yesterday morning, and David and I wondered what was going on. When David crept into check on him, William just smiled and waved at him. Same thing this morning. David couldn't stand it any longer at about 8:30 (I was still luxuriating in bed--my own bed--at 8:30!). He went into the nursery to peek at William, who was playing with his Tigger toy and sucking contentedly on his binky. David is not sure if he was already awake, or if the noise of the door opening woke him up. But still! We last saw him at 8:45 last night, when we put him into his crib with his "Goodnight Moon" book.

And even weirder...William has been taking a nap now for an hour and a half. That's after a crazy long night of sleep.

I know that some sleepless nights do still lie ahead of us. William hasn't started teething yet, so I know that when that starts up, he'll be fussy. I actually dreamed that he suddenly got two bottom teeth, not that my dreams count for anything.

But overall...I love this age. I love having an older baby. William has a more predictable routine now, and I know what to expect, generally speaking. It was so hard when William was little and ate constantly and never slept for any extended length of time. I never really believed that it would improve, even though intellectually I knew that it would. And it did. And thank God for it, too.

And he's fun. William always thinks I'm funny. It's like having the world's best audience for your jokes. The easiest way to make him squeal with laughter is to suddenly say "I'm going to get you!" and then grab him and kiss him all over. He loves the "surprise." It doesn't get old, even after about a dozen times in a row.

He's just a happy little guy. Here are a couple pictures of him in the tub the other night. I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say bathtime is his favorite time of day.



















Every night David pulls him out of his tub so that I can wrap him in a towel, and we both say "whee!" That used to elicit a big grin from the little prince. But now he just looks vaguely dissatisfied because he'd rather stay in there and play with his bath toys (a Baby Lego ship and a boat with three stacking toys that pour water) and splash water all over his parents. If he could talk, he'd probably, say, "Aw, man." I guess we'll have to start bathtime a little earlier nowawadays so he'll have longer to play.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! Sounds like William is heading for the "Best Rester" award in pre-school, just like you-know-who. He looks so much like his Daddy in the picture with his hair wet and slicked back (when David was about that age, I mean).
Love, Diane

Anonymous said...

I think I recall a number of mothers and grandmothers (some now greatgrandmothers) crowding into the bathroom at the beach to watch David give William a bath. I'd consider selling tickets this summer if I were you.
Eleanor :)