Well, we had a wonderful time in Leadville with Finn’s grandparents, cousins, and aunt. The weather was fantastic, we got some nice scenic drives and walks in, as well as plenty of relaxation. There’s nothing like sitting on the front porch looking out over a vast green valley surrounded by enormous snowy peaks as far as the eye can see.
Of course we also had our share of sleeplessness since Finn’s routine got all cattywompus, but overall, he was a total champion. He never cried during the many altitude changes, and he was charming the socks off his elders with that dimple and big smile. Speaking of smiles, Finn’s got a new addition to his grin–his first tooth emerged this week! He was teething on John’s finger, and John felt something distinctly sharp on Finn’s lower gums…and lo and behold, there was the tooth!
Another milestone was achieved just tonight upon our return home. We’ve been trying for about a week to help/let Finn figure out how to get himself back to sleep when he wakes up in the middle of the night (which has become quite frequent these days). We have adopted the “wait 10 minutes” rule before going in to help him resettle, in large part due to the fact that “helping” him seems only to wind him up more, and he’s getting to the point where he should be able to soothe himself. The past few nights have been awful–many more episodes of wakefulness and crying, for longer stretches. Tonight, we put him down for the night, and after 30 minutes he woke himself up and started crying and fussing. We waited, and he cried more, and got madder, and we waited some more, and he seemed to be calming himself down…and after about 12 minutes, he had put himself back to sleep! So now we know he can do it, and we’ll continue our wait-and-see approach before we “help”. I hope this is a sign of more positive sleep developments to come.