When I was pregnant and again when Simon was newly born, I remember asking Evie what Matt was like as a baby. (I don’t know how much I asked my mom, frankly. I was the third, so while Mom remembers that I scooted on my tush and disliked baby food, she doesn’t really remember that much else.) She’d tell me some comforting things, like the fact that Matt was totally easy and sweet natured; some alarming things, like the fact that Matt sat among a heap of toys more than he played with any of them; and some things I didn’t really understand, like the fact that “Matt loved his bed.”
Huh? What does it mean exactly that he loved his bed? I get it now. It was thirteen months in the making, but Simon clearly loves his bed now. I know this because he will quite regularly go and stand by it or point to it when he’s tired and ready to sleep.
He first did this for my mother. She was reading him books before nap-time, and at some point he put the book down and gestured over to his crib. It was as though he was saying, “I’m tired Bubbie. We can read later.” And sure enough, he looked happy and relaxed when she put him down, and he fell asleep with nary a peep.
Then it happened with me and Evie .And Molly. And now we are at the point where Simon pretty well tells us when he’s ready to go to bed. We will sit in the glider in the nursery at the end of the day, and he will bring us a succession of books to read. He brings them over one at a time, and each time we lift him into our lap and read to him snuggled together. After 3-5 books, Simon will leave the glider, veer to the left (the books are to the right) and stand by his crib. Sometimes he’ll lift his arms-telling us to please pick him up and put him to bed. Sometimes he’ll hang onto the slats. Either way, it’s very clear what he’s telling us.
Last night he got stuck on a single book that’s perhaps a bit too advanced for him. His frustration mounted, and he was beginning to damage the book.. My solution was to take the book away from Simon, which begat angry tears. Matt’s was to say, “Simon, let’s go to bed,” which begat his giving me the book and walking over to his crib.
No kidding. It’s a good thing that he loves his crib, frankly. Because the other thing about Simon is that he loves to sleep, logging an average of 11-12 hours at night and another 2-3 for his nap. Were I going to sleep 15 hours a day, I’d want to love my bed, too.