Counting Blessings

When a parent is in the process (still) of sleep training, it is easy to focus on the negative. For example, It is now 3:30 a.m. and I am writing in my blog as my son cries. I have checked on him, changed his diaper, patted his back in reassurance and even gave him a couple of ounces of water to help soothe his tired throat. I know my son is okay, except that he thinks seven hours of sleep is okay for a 6 month old. I think seven hours is too short, and he should try to sleep at least three or four more. So, we are at an impasse of wills.

I often find myself tallying and lamenting the number of wake ups or jealously guarding the number of hours of uninterrupted sleep. In short, I have been focusing on the negatives.

Tonight, however, the Lord gave me a most wonderful positive. My son is learning his bedtime routine. We had our bath, drank our bottle, read our book. We are reading a book called 10 minutes to bedtime. A wonderful book full of silly little hamsters doing silly little things right before bedtime. After the book, we pray. Specifically, I pray aloud over my son as I hold him. Most of the time my prayer is cut short by squirming and fidgeting, and I lay my son in his bed. He then proceeds to fuss for about twenty minutes until he goes to sleep. Tonight as I prayed, we snuggled. It was wonderful. I snuggled and prayed for my son until he got drowsy, laid him down, and he went peacefully off to sleep.

As I look back, I realize that slowly JP is learning to trust me and sleep on his own. He fusses less before sleep. He wakes up less most nights. He does not get a bottle during the night, and he has been eating wonderfully during the day.

I am going back to bed. My son has been quiet for ten minutes -- hopefully asleep, and I have 3 hours, 13 minutes, and 30 seconds until it is time to get up.