Here's Alex getting ready for our walk this morning! She enjoyed this one more than ever before, too... this time she not only sat up straight, she actually leaned forward in her seat and held on to the tray/bar in front of her and talked quite a bit as she rolled along. And she didn't fall asleep when we went over the clackity clack clack sidewalk!

Eating breakfast tho, was another story! She was especially obstinate (stubborn like her mother), and acting fussy and difficult, so I did something I have only felt I had to do one other time in her life (a couple of weeks ago)! I picked her up from her chair and took her upstairs and put her in her crib and let her be fussy and difficult up there, alone. As I was walking her up the stairs, I simply said, "This behavior is not acceptable. Babies who fuss and are difficult need to have time alone, so you are going to spend a few minutes in your room." And I put her down and told her, "I will come get you when you are feeling better." She fussed and fumed a bit (maybe 5 minutes?) and then I could hear her chatting and playing again, so I went in to get her as promised, and she smiled and kicked and jumped and I said, "YAY! You feel better, don't you?" and picked her up, gave her a big hug and kissy, put her little sundress on her, and popped her into her stroller! And then the wonderful mood and behavior on the walk followed! So, at 7 months, it appears that a nice time-out might be a good little disciplinary tool! Hurray!

Julie and I have been discussing Nathan's sleeping issues. I have so much empathy for Mommies who are struggling with their babies in this area. I struggled with it early on, too. What stopped my struggle was a conversation at Alex's two month check-up with her wonderful pediatrician. The doctor was adamant that I start teaching Alex to fall asleep on her own. Her reasoning was that she was READY for the skill and that if I put off letting her learn it, she'd have a harder and harder time sleeping as she grew older and her sleep cycles changed and she began waking in the night. So, reluctantly, I did what she told me to do, and I'm glad I did. I'm glad mostly for Alex, because she gets plenty of very good sleep, although sure, I do also appreciate spending 3 hours alone with Al in the evening, and then sleeping with him all night in our bed together, and the two 2 hour naps a day are wonderful opportunities for me to take care of my other responsibilities.

And I'm glad for another reason, too. I'm glad because doing the hard work it took to develop good sleep habits has given me confidence in myself to be able to teach Alex more complex skills, and in Alex to be able to learn those skills and adjust and adapt to changes we all have to make as we grow up.

It is hard, making a child do what she doesn't want to do. But sometimes (more often than not), the hard thing is the right thing. I'm the mommy... I have to make the decisions and enforce them now, so that Alex will grow up knowing she can count on me to take proper care of her, make the right decisions on her behalf, give her boundaries, and generally raise her to be a flexible, easy-going, obedient, confident child that other people will enjoy being around. That will take love, and nurturing and discipline. I'm okay with that.

And yep, we are entering a new phase! Alex has started fussing a bit when I put her to bed (usually no more than 60-90 seconds) for naps or bedtime... clearly saying, "but we were playing and having fun, Mommy... come back and let's play some more!" Heather, there have been times off and on (maybe 10 times since she was about 3 1/2 months old) when Alex has cried (minimally) as she's been put to bed... when she's very tired, when something about the bedtime routine is missing (like Mommy is out and Daddy is putting her to bed alone), and now this new thing with the "why are you leaving me?" But I just say, with empathy but resolve, "You are tired now and need to sleep... that is how life is... everything will be much better when you get up!" and close the door and go tend to something else. I expect her to go thru phases like this until she's 12 or older, really. I intend to remain empathetic but firm.