Da?

So this morning Josh starts crying at 4:45 am. I hear him on the monitor and ignore him hoping he goes back to sleep. (I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wished the monitor had a snooze button…) He falls back to sleep and wakes up ten minutes later and starts crying again. I’m pretty sure he has a wet diaper and is probably hungry. So I make him a bottle and when I make it to his room, he’s back asleep. It takes about ten minutes before he wakes up again and I change him and give him the bottle. I rock him a bit and put him back to bed. As I leave the room he starts crying – typical. So I wash the bottle out and go back in.

He’s lying on his belly crying so I pat him on the back and tell him “No crying. You have a new diaper, new medicine for your teething, and a full belly. It’s time to go back to sleep.” He stops crying but as soon as I stop patting, he starts again. I tell him “No” and he quiets down. He starts again and I “Shhhhh” him and he stops again. After standing there in silence for about four minutes (remember, he’s on his belly and looking away so he can’t see me) clear as day, Josh asks, “Da?”. Translation: “Dad, are you still there?” I tell him “No.” (What’s he going to think about that answer? “If it’s not Da, who is it? The boogie man? That’s cool.  I’m down with the boogie.”)

He always knows when we leave the room and so he starts up again. I cracked the door and said “No.” After two more rounds, he stayed quiet. The whole process took about eight minutes. In my book, that’s way better than 30 minutes of letting him “Cry It Out.” I think we’ll try this again!