A final thought on sleep training.. For now.
April 22, 2014 The Wine Time Dad 0 Comments Category :
This will be the last post I pen (type) related to sleep training. I promise. It may not be the last time you hear me talk about baby sleep problems, but I'm over the sleep training aspect of it. Our daughter is now almost 14m and, for better or for worse, her training days are over. Of course, there may be other aspects of sleep training we will have to implement when she's older, but I'll worry about that bridge when I come to it...
If I were going to overview the success or failure of the whole process, I would say that it has been mostly successful. Not a wild success, as she still wakes up in the middle of the night and forces us out of the bedroom (maybe things would be different if we lived in a 2 bdrm). When this isn't the case, then we have to at least get out of bed and comfort her, but I suspect this is something I'll be doing over the next several years until she's 9 or 10. So, no loss there. Since I didn't know what to expect and I don't have any other children to compare her to, I'm definitely not disappointed with our results.I imagine that if I were to give a presentation on our process of sleep training, I would sound like Obama when he talks about healthcare reform..."It is working, people.. You just have to give it time. It isn't going to be an overnight miracle." Emphasis on the 'is' because I don't have the confidence to say it without a stress.
Just like the new healthcare reform, we won't really know how much of a success [sleep training] is factually, until a year or more down the line. But, for all intents and purposes, it is working. She does still end up in the bed sometimes but for most of the night she stays in her crib. By now, she also understands the idea of her crib and knows why it is there. I thank my lucky stars that she hasn't started climbing out of it, yet.
My advice to you... is don't expect to have a perfect baby who learns to sleep in his/ her crib all the time and goes down to sleep quietly all the time. Expect it to work some of the time or even most of the time but don't be so strict that you never let your bed hogger back into bed with you. Especially during bouts of sickness or teething. Just go with the flow and you won't stress yourself out. In the long run, you'll all be better off. I mean... You don't want to have the nipple eating demon baby make an appearance, do you?
New Fiction Alert (not mine, though)!
April 17, 2014 The Wine Time Dad 0 Comments Category :
The following post is very unrelated to DC Daddy's mission, but I also like to post about new fiction that is out or coming out soon. Plus, neurally speaking, I'm still recovering from a long, trippy weekend way up the eastern seaboard. Ergo, attempting one of my poorly written posts about fathering, snowboarding or "lifing" would not end well..
On with the show...
On with the show...
This is just a blurb from a forthcoming book by the up and coming author, Chris Ward, who I have been following for some time. Trust me when I say that his writing is always unique and always original. I know that sounds cliché, especially in a world where uniqueness and originality are harder to come by and (more and more) are just a novel relabeling of existent material... I mean there is nothing unique and original in faeries, elves, warlocks or even gods, nor will there ever be (unless that tradition of story telling is rekindled after an apocalyptic event where all the former stories are wiped out). Neither will there ever be something utterly unique and original in space travel or inter-dimensional beings. I suppose we can only use pre-existing archetypes and invent new situations for them... Oh, this tangent is getting messy- maybe I should avoid literary analysis for now..
However! Ward is quite original and unique in his plotting, characters and story lines. Of course, you may see some familiar archetypes in there, but that's where it ends. His stories always take you someplace you've never been before and the storyline is active. ACTIVE! The writing is also fucking great.
So, without further adieu...
Pretty suspenseful, right? I mean, what was it? A vampire? An inter-dimensional being who landed in the wrong place and time for Masanori? A time traveler who ended up a little off course? Well, the possibilities are far more than I care to list here, and I bet you that Mr. Ward will surprise even the most shrewd speculators. I especially love that the opening scene takes place in rural Japan, a place that I have a good feel for and know well enough. Being able to use my memories as a reference for people, places, personalities and cultural phenomenon, instead of just my imagination, brings an extra and more intimate dimension to reading. I'll be watching you Mr. Ward! I'll know if you're just making shit up.
Needless to say I'm excited for this future release and others (there is also a Tube Riders prequel coming out!).
Anyways, at some future time you will be able to find this book and the TR prequel on Amazon, along with Ward's other great fiction (Also check out The Man Who Built the World, which I especially like cause the main character and I share a first name).
The 13 month monster
April 09, 2014 The Wine Time Dad 0 Comments Category :
*** After being home for a couple of weeks from an awesome vacation, I noticed my 13 month old daughter and I were hitting some turbulence settling back into our routine... I decided to have a sit down with her to find out what was going on. As you can imagine, the conversation was pretty one-sided.. Mostly because she's still a baby and also because she's a girl. Anyways, this is what she had to say. I apologize for the roughness of this post.. I translated it from the "primate language" that my daughter is only capable speaking.***
Hi, I'm 13 months old and I'm slowly becoming an "average" terror for the stay-at-home big person.
Currently, my favorite thing to do is pull all the "bendy" and "clangy" things I can get my hands on out of all the "holes" in the room where the food is. Once the "holes" are empty, I scream into them because some funny sounds comes back out.
I get a little frustrated when that bigger "person" puts the "bendy" and "clangy" things back. I often have to shove it/ him/ her out of the way in order to immediately pull them back out. Unfortunately, the number of things I like to pull out does not exceed my interest in pulling them out. So I often have to leave the room to go find those two little holes in the wall that are always side-by-side. When I find them, the big "person" always comes at me really fast with a "NO! NO! NO!" sound coming out of the hole in its "face". It makes me laugh until I realize that I really want to touch the holes and put things in them... Then I fall on the ground and cry. The big person makes a "ha ha" sound with the hole in his "face".
I throw things. Especially the big "wooden" "shapes". I throw them at the big person when it/she/ he is not "looking". Or, when it/he/ she closes the "lookers" on his/her/ its "face"- I "sneak" up on it/him/ her and watch for a little while. Then I smash the big person's "face" to make him/her/ it move again. I run away when it/ he/ she moves. Hee hee!
I don't like getting my "diaper" changed. I always try to escape or yank on "my parts". When the smelly stuff is down there, I put my "hands" in there and try to grab the "diaper" before the big "person" stops me. We have so much fun when the smelly stuff gets out of the "diaper" and gets everywhere. The big person starts making loud noises and stomps around. His/ her/ its face changes a different color and my "lookers" get really big.
I throw my food when I don't want to eat. Sometimes I get so excited my food comes back out of my "tummy". I like to play with it because it's warm and "slimey".
Recently, I like to open and shut things. If it's open, I have to close it. I don't know why. Sometimes I shut myself in the dark. So I cry. The big "person" always comes to get me and I smile. Then I shut the door again and I cry again. I sometimes hurt myself when I shut doors and the big person comes over and more sounds come out the hole in his/ her/ its "face". The big "person" always opens everything I shut and closes the things I open. It's confusing but we keep playing that game. Then I close something on my "fingers" and the game is over.
Lastly, I don't like to close my "lookers" for too long when the two big people put me in the dark room at the end of the "day". When they come into the room to close their "lookers", I open mine and scream at them. Sometimes I close my "lookers" for a long time and we all open them up together when a new "day" comes. Everyone is happy! Ha ha! But, then I don't do this again for many days..
***I'm so glad we got that cleared up. Now where did I put that wine bottle opener?***
Hi, I'm 13 months old and I'm slowly becoming an "average" terror for the stay-at-home big person.
Currently, my favorite thing to do is pull all the "bendy" and "clangy" things I can get my hands on out of all the "holes" in the room where the food is. Once the "holes" are empty, I scream into them because some funny sounds comes back out.
I get a little frustrated when that bigger "person" puts the "bendy" and "clangy" things back. I often have to shove it/ him/ her out of the way in order to immediately pull them back out. Unfortunately, the number of things I like to pull out does not exceed my interest in pulling them out. So I often have to leave the room to go find those two little holes in the wall that are always side-by-side. When I find them, the big "person" always comes at me really fast with a "NO! NO! NO!" sound coming out of the hole in its "face". It makes me laugh until I realize that I really want to touch the holes and put things in them... Then I fall on the ground and cry. The big person makes a "ha ha" sound with the hole in his "face".I throw things. Especially the big "wooden" "shapes". I throw them at the big person when it/she/ he is not "looking". Or, when it/he/ she closes the "lookers" on his/her/ its "face"- I "sneak" up on it/him/ her and watch for a little while. Then I smash the big person's "face" to make him/her/ it move again. I run away when it/ he/ she moves. Hee hee!
I don't like getting my "diaper" changed. I always try to escape or yank on "my parts". When the smelly stuff is down there, I put my "hands" in there and try to grab the "diaper" before the big "person" stops me. We have so much fun when the smelly stuff gets out of the "diaper" and gets everywhere. The big person starts making loud noises and stomps around. His/ her/ its face changes a different color and my "lookers" get really big.
I throw my food when I don't want to eat. Sometimes I get so excited my food comes back out of my "tummy". I like to play with it because it's warm and "slimey".
Recently, I like to open and shut things. If it's open, I have to close it. I don't know why. Sometimes I shut myself in the dark. So I cry. The big "person" always comes to get me and I smile. Then I shut the door again and I cry again. I sometimes hurt myself when I shut doors and the big person comes over and more sounds come out the hole in his/ her/ its "face". The big "person" always opens everything I shut and closes the things I open. It's confusing but we keep playing that game. Then I close something on my "fingers" and the game is over.
Lastly, I don't like to close my "lookers" for too long when the two big people put me in the dark room at the end of the "day". When they come into the room to close their "lookers", I open mine and scream at them. Sometimes I close my "lookers" for a long time and we all open them up together when a new "day" comes. Everyone is happy! Ha ha! But, then I don't do this again for many days..
***I'm so glad we got that cleared up. Now where did I put that wine bottle opener?***
