Laela doesn’t sleep as much as Dekker. She never has even come close, and I don’t ever really think she will. And honestly, I’m ok with that. I like seeing my kids, haha, and some days I would see Dekker for a total of about two hours. Our current setup works for me. But today was sooo different!
I’ll quickly go back to yesterday. The kids often go down to nap together around 3:00pm, but they were both pooped and in bed by 2:00 instead. We had to wake Dekker at 6:00. That is a looong nap! So being that we had evening plans, we thought we might push our luck and try to put them down even earlier. Ok, background over.
They both got up pretty much right at 7:00am, and Laela was in bed again by 8:30, which is incredibly early for her. She often makes it to 10:00, but not today. She slept for a couple of hours and was up, ready to go. But she was wiped out by noon again. Strangely enough, so was Dekker. So we crossed our fingers and put them down. They never nap this early! NEVER!! So we had no idea what to expect.
Not a peep. Laela lasted two hours before we went and got her. She was just starting to talk and fuss, but Dekker hadn’t moved, so we figured we would let him finish out his nap in peace. We figured we’d have plenty of time to get him up, hit the city for a couple of little things, and then go to our friends’ place to celebrate their daughters second birthday. Plenty of time.
But we didn’t. We woke Dekker from a dead sleep after 3:30. Its sooo weird how much he’s been sleeping these days, but we’ve been noticing his almost brand new jeans are getting awkwardly short on him, so apparently he’s growing like a weed. I’d be tired too. He perked up a bit when he saw Laela was getting ready to go somewhere, and finally gave in to his diaper change and getting dressed.
We completed our errands in good time and I only bought Laela two articles of clothing, haha! We got the party a bit late, but it was a really nice, casual setting. We just jumped into the group, Brady cooked us up some hot dogs, and we sat on the deck and visited. Dekker eventually went and explored all the outdoor toys, and Laela showed interest in solid food for the first time ever!!! No judging, I know everyone has their “perfect” way of doing things, and we can’t all agree. I let her suck on some watermelon. She didn’t take any bites or anything, but a couple of times she shaved little bits off with her bottom teeth. I haven’t fought with her over solid foods in a while, because a) I don’t want to fight with her, and b) she just wasn’t interested! After diligent work, she would not open her mouth for a spoon! So I’ve decided to give her a bit of time and eventually I figure she’ll prefer to eat with her hands. If you know her, you know she’s grabby and tactile. What excited me about the watermelon thing this evening was that she had never opened her mouth in anticipation for a solid food. She hated solid food. We tried a few different baby-friendly things and she just wasn’t into them. But when she saw me lift up the watermelon slice, she would open her mouth in ready. So exciting!!! Maybe this is where we start! Seems like I need to read up on baby led weaning…
On our way out, Dekker got to pick a couple of toys from a bin, and he picked one of those clacker toys that I haven’t seen in years. We didn’t even have to show him how to use it. He just whipped it around, it clacked, and he was sold. We grabbed a pink glow ball for Laela and headed home.
Both kids are tucked away and happy after a playtime that was basically just Laela smacking Dekker and him giggling, kissing, and hugging her. It was a solid day. My heart is full.
Now to get everyone some rest. Parade tomorrow at 11:00am!