October 2023 Book Reports

Charis in the World of Wonders by Marly Youmans - This was the second time I read this book (first review here). This time I wasn't recovering from Covid and I was able to read it with my book club. I enjoyed it just as much. Charis is able to see the glory and beauty of Creation, and to feel God's loving presence, even in the midst of pain, suffering, and abandonment. I know she's not real, but she is my hero. (received as a gift)

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov - This was another re-read for me, but I hadn't read this one since I was in high school. It was thoroughly enjoyable. Writing this little review now, more than a year later, I am reminded that I wanted to read more of the robot books. Asimov is a master storyteller and a giant in the sci-fi genre. Everyone should read at least some of his books. (library copy)

Goodnight Mind: Turn Off Your Noisy Thoughts & Get a Good Night's Sleep by Colleen E. Carney, PhD, and Rachel Manber, PhD - This is a nice helpful book on the importance of sleep and the strategies for assessing your sleep and improving it. The part I remember best was the research that showed a person's impairment after a restless night is almost always not as bad as they thought it would be. I have felt so much freer when I can't fall asleep to stop worrying about it, and even sometimes to get up and read a book or watch a little show. I wanted to share it with my kids, but then I found one geared toward teens. I bought that one and my kids will read it as part of their high school Health course, but I actually haven't read it myself. I would also suggest recommending prayer to kids who can't sleep, which isn't mentioned in this book. (library copy)

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Amazon and Bookshop are affiliate links.

My Favorite Picture Books: The Big Book of Slumber

The Big Book of Slumber by Giovanna Zoboli, illustrated by Simona Mulazzani, translated by Anthony Shugaar

I should qualify my post by stating I'm not entirely sure this is one of my favorite picture books. It's whimsical and, while I recognize whimsy as a good for children, I'm not inclined to appreciate it myself. Nevertheless, I read the book aloud to Second Son (who's 5) and he loved it. It is, therefore, one of his favorite picture books.

In the book, a variety of animals are snugging up in beds in the evening. Camels on a bunkbed, seals sleeping on chairs balanced on branches, a bed for a butterfly? Nonsense - and yet illustrated with bold delightful colors - the kind of illustrations you'd easily imagine framing and hanging on a child's wall. Second Son enjoyed exploring each spread for little jokes: the chicks still up when the grown-up chickens are sleeping, a bug escaping his bed, frogs nestled in the crook of a crocodiles tail, palm trees growing on top of the camels' bunk beds, a banana tucked carefully in with the monkey.

If you're looking for a bedtime book that welcomes careful contemplation of each page, this is the book for you. The more you look, the more there is to enjoy (you know, for those who love whimsy).

My Favorite Picture Books: At Night

At Night by Jonathan Bean

Almost nothing happens in this story. A young girl can't sleep until she drags her pillow and blankets up to her roof. That's it.

But it's so lovely.

Her family lives in the city. Their roof is a place of family, with a clothesline, a table, a garden full of growing plants (flowering and fruiting). I can easily imagine Second Daughter quietly sneaking all of her bedding up to a rooftop garden to snuggle in her own world in the dark of night.

The illustrations of the roof and city are wonderful, but I most love the illustrations of the river and trees and sky. 

She lay in her bed on her house in the city, in the night, under the sky.

She thought about the wide world all around her and smiled.

Aren't those two lines delightful? They're spread over three perfectly illustrated pages.

In the end, as she's sleeping peacefully, her mother sits beside her in the night. That moment is so precious. Her hand is resting on the girl, protectively, but she is gazing up at the moon as if she's discovered something lovely for herself in her little girl's search.

What I Loved About Last Week (7th Ed.)

1. Our caterpillars arrived on Monday! We have five and they were all alive when we opened the box. Within a few days, they all starting making crysalids. By Sunday evening they were ready to move to the butterfly garden. Now we just have to wait for them to hatch. It's too bad they'll have to live their whole lives in our house; it's too cold to let them go outside, but we're starting to study butterflies on Tuesday so the timing was good for our curriculum.

2. Tuesday was our last day of soccer practice! On Saturday, we had three games, Second Daughter's last ones until next spring. First Son still has one more next weekend. It's been fun and great for the kids, but I'm glad we're nearing the end.

3. Our goddaughter was born! We met her on Sunday and her sweet parents let me hold her even though she was sleeping in her car seat.

4. Wonderful news from a friend that she's having her first baby!

5. Second Son playing the piano - He loves it! Notice the big bump in the middle of his forehead? That's from him trying to climb down from the piano bench and hitting the futon. It looks worse than it felt, I think. Also notice he's in disposable diapers? I washed his cloth ones and haven't even had time to stuff them! (Well, that, and we had half a package of size three diapers that were really too small for overnight and all the babies I know are bigger or much much smaller.)


6. We celebrated Halloween at story hour this week. All the kids dressed up in their costumes and were able to climb on the table (always a treat) to tell who they were. I dressed Second Son in his lion costume. I was surprised how well he wore it, but I think he scared himself when I put him in front of the mirror.

7. Spending Thursday afternoon at home. We've been running around, going on lots of field trips and visits, so it was nice to spend some time at home. I drank a whole pot of tea and read two short stories while the kids cleaned the living room. (Note I did not finish stuffing those cloth diapers.)

8. On Saturday, Kansas Dad and I each took a turn playing Wii Fit using the balance board. Because I was feeling magnanimous, I let the kids all play a game or two as well. When the Wii and TV were turned off, I found Second Son standing on the Wii balance board slapping his hands just like us. It was so adorable! I would have taken a picture, but he's squarely in the too-fast-for-you phase. Exhibit A:

Fuzzy adorable toddler

9. Second Son toddling to Kansas Dad while he taught the Sunday School class and asking to be picked up. Kansas Dad scooped him up and taught the rest of the class holding him. I love how cute Second Son was. I love how handsome my awesome husband looked. I love how the class just laughed and continued on as if nothing were out of the ordinary.

10. A birthday party today full of building and dirt. I missed most of it because I didn't want to wake Second Son who had cried all through lunch and then fallen asleep in the van. So I sat with him, reading my Kindle, until he woke up -- one and a half hours later! The other kids had a great time at the party and I was lucky enough to see most of the families again later in the day.

11. Last, but not least, our parish hosted an All Saint's Trunk or Treat today. It was wonderful! There was a great turn-out, both of kids dressed as saints (babies through high schoolers) and families with decorated trunks handing out candy. There were games, cookies, coloring pages. Really, it was fun and gave us many more reasons to be thankful for our parish family. My kids dressed at St. George, St. Elizabeth of Hungry (notice her basket of bread), St. Bernadette and St. Juan Diego.

Juan Diego did not want to stay still for a picture, so these are the best I have. Thanks to fabulous family members, I spent $0 on our costumes!

My, it was a full week here on the Range! What did you love last week?

Second Son Is Eleven Months

It's been a long time coming, but we are approaching Second Son's first birthday. I cannot possibly express to you how sweet, wonderful, and delightful he is now. I watch his lovely chubby arms and legs as he explores toys and whatever else the others leave on the floor and want to scoop him up and kiss him all over. I watch him drop everything and crawl frantically and hopefully toward open doors to the bathroom, the office or the master bedroom and laugh along with him. Oh, it is good to be Second Son's mom!

I did take some picture on his 11-month-birthday, but they're still on the camera. I am very very close now to having a new-to-me laptop with a functioning battery and thought it would be better to wait to put the pictures on it. Hopefully they'll be posted here later.

Second is eating nearly everything we eat now. He wants to eat everything we eat. He'll look directly at something in my hand or on my plate and screech to show that he sees I have something he doesn't have. Sadly, he's not quite ready for raw vegetables or raisins, yet. We try to keep the choking hazards and sweets out of his diet.

Speaking of meals, Second Son easily eats more than First Daughter and Second Daughter at nearly every meal. That boy can eat nearly as much roast beef as I do.

He's night-weaned. It wasn't something I'd really planned. The other three babies all nursed at night much longer than they did during the day and I was not too distressed by it. In fact, with First Son I was working full-time and pumping three days a week, so was much happier to give up a daytime nursing than an nighttime one. Second Son was sleeping through the night almost every night, though, so one night I just decided I wouldn't nurse him when he did wake. We snuggled him then put him back in his crib. That was about three weeks ago and he hasn't woken during the night since. He usually sleeps until 7 or 7:30 am, but I'll get him and nurse and snuggle anytime after 5 am.

The long sleepful nights are awesome. I lay him down around 8 pm and he often sleeps eleven hours. Very impressive! Naps, in consequence, are much less impressive. Sometimes he'll take a morning nap from about 10:30 am to 11:15 am. But sometimes he doesn't. Sometimes he'll sleep for about an hour in the afternoons starting around 3 pm, but not always. I am willing to sacrifice daytime sleeping for nighttime sleeping.

He has three teeth! The third one came in on June 19th (Father's Day) and the fourth is just under his gums. Soon he'll have two teeth on the bottom and two teeth on the top. They are, of course, adorable. Hopefully we'll also have a little while without teething pain.

When I'm changing his diaper, I'll say "How big is [baby]?" and he always throws his hands up above his head. Then I tickle him under his arms. I'll repeat it and he'll raise his arms again. After a few times, he'll start to giggle before he even raises his arms. He never tires of this game.

He also never tires of peek-a-boo. I cannot understand how fascinating that is for babies, but I've heard it's universal. The older kids love to play peek-a-boo with him and he laughs and laughs.

Second Son is obsessed with electrical outlets, electrical cords, the bathroom, my Kindle, the Wii, the buttons on the TV, the yeast dispenser on my bread machine, the dog's water bowl, pencils, books (not the board books, oh no, books with paper pages!), Wii remotes, the Wii balance board, doors (he likes to open and almost close them), the plug for the cordless phone (which, when unplugged, disables the cordless one and sends me racing over the baby gate and through the kitchen to grab the one off the wall), pulling my hair, grabbing eyeglasses, grabbing anything on the kitchen table, and (most recently) pulling up my shirt and chewing on it. I'm sure he'll find more favorite things as he discovers more we say he should not have.

Have I mentioned he's adorable?

He's wearing mostly large diapers. I hardly use the prefolds anymore because he needs two. He usually wears toddler or size two fitted diapers with Duo-Wrap Thirsties covers or Knickernappies pocket diapers (the old version one) stuffed with Super-Dos. No regular insert for him, oh no!

He had his first cookie this week. A delicious sugar cookie recipe I hope to share here eventually colored for Trinity Cookies for the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity. He wanted one and I relented. Please don't judge me.

He says "dadadada" and "mamama" and all sorts of other cute baby syllables, but we're still waiting for the official Dada or Mama.

I remember when he first started really crawling to get from one place to another how he would giggle to himself as he moved along, delighted in his new skill. He will often crawl for a few feet, then stop to sit up and look around. Perhaps he wants to know someone is watching him. He'll smile and move on.

If he's crawling toward trouble, Kansas Dad or I will call his name. Second Son will sit back, wiggle his chubby legs and grin at us, then continue on his way.

He will sometimes pull himself up, but he loves it when someone stands him next to something like the futon. Kansas Dad says he saw him cruise a little, but I'm going to pretend that didn't happen.

One more month and my little baby will be one year old! I haven't regretted a moment of this first year, but I admit to being terribly happy to be right where we are.

Second Son at Eight Months

Yesterday, Second Son turned eight months old. Today, I'm writing this post reclining a bit with my laptop, watching the three older ones play in the front yard while Second Son naps in his crib. Three months ago, I'm pretty sure I thought this moment would never happen. So it's a good day on the Range.

Second Son wants to touch and grab everything. When he's being held, he loves to pull hair, explore the textures of cloth, and pull and chew on any strings or buttons we're wearing.

He's now content playing on the floor with some toys or the other kids for quite a while, which has done wonders for Mama's productivity and peace of mind. (At least now; he's not crawling yet.) His favorite toys are ones that make noise when he shakes them or make noise when he hits other toys with them. He also loves the toys that are almost but not quite out of reach. Stretch!

He still has no teeth, but he loves to eat. And eat. And eat some more. That boy can eat almost as much as Second Daughter at a meal. Perhaps more! His most recent new food is asparagus and he loved it. (What's not to love? It's like eating spring!) He's still not a great fan of chicken, but it's growing on him. I'm hoping to try some fish in the near future. I was getting a little lazy with trying new foods, but I'm inspired again.

Other than Cheerios, he doesn't really like anything that's not pureed. I've been giving him tiny pieces of bread, though, and I think chewing things is becoming less unpleasant for him.

He's starting to play games with us. He yells "Mbah!" to get our attention and laughs if we say it back to him. He'll clap to get us to sing Pat-a-Cake with him and laugh even before we get to the tickling part. He plays "So Big," too. I recorded this video last night.

His 12 month clothes just fit. Perfectly...it's not clear there's any room to grow.

He's sleeping so much better at night! He usually sleeps from about 8 pm to about 3:30 am, sometimes as long as 5 am. I still haven't had much luck with napping in the crib. I try to lay him down when I know he's tired once or twice a day. Sometimes he naps for 20-40 minutes. Sometimes he doesn't nap at all. He might nap better if I got up with him at 6:30 am, but who wants to do that?

He loves the dog. The dog loves him, too. Moses will lie down next to Second Son and let him grab his fur, leg, ear, nose, lips. I do not encourage this behavior (in either one). Moses will also bring his tennis balls to Second Son when he's sitting on the floor. He'll bring three or four before one of us notices and throws them for him, as much to keep Second Son from chewing on them as to entertain the dog.

Second Son is so much fun! The first six months were rough, not least because I was so sick starting when he turned five months old. I've always told friends with new babies, though, that it gets better and better. It's just as true with the fourth baby as with the first. We started to see real increases in Mama's peace at six months and it's getting easier every month. There's even more fun in store!

He's fussing now, at the end of his morning nap, with perfect timing. Ready to post!

Hands Free Napping

Today, for the first time in his life, Second Son took a nap in his crib.

He was awake when I laid him down. He only slept for about 30 minutes, but it was enough time for me to start a load of laundry and a loaf of bread in the bread machine.

Oh, how I want him to nap in his crib! I'm finally starting to feel like I have a grasp of my day. Meals, school, dishes, laundry...it's all getting done. The living room usually looks decent when Kansas Dad gets home and every now and then I have dinner going. I find, though, that I am completely exhausted every night. Even though Second Son is sleeping well in his crib starting at about 8 pm, I haven't the energy to tackle anything substantial on my List.

Deep Sleep

Last night, Second Son nursed around 8 pm, settled down in his crib around 8:30 pm (with about two minutes of fussing) and then slept until...5:15 am!! (Okay, he fussed a little at 10 pm and 11 pm, but only for a couple of minutes each time.)

That's almost nine hours. Not that I was asleep the whole time, of course.

I figured I should post it on the blog because it might be another seven months before he sleeps so long in one stretch again.

Second Son Sleeps

Recently, Kansas Dad and I reached our limit with Second Son. He wasn't napping well, even if I held him. He wasn't sleeping in his crib at all at night. I would sit on the sofa, holding him, for hours before we went to bed. I watched a lot of Netflix, but nothing was getting done. You know, fun things like paying the bills.

So we decided to take action. As soon as Second Son's cold was a bit better, we prepared. We checked out Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems: New, Revised, and Expanded Edition by Richard Ferber. Kansas Dad bought some wine and Ben & Jerry's ice cream, in preparation for a stressful evening. On Friday, I read a special nighttime story to Second Son (The Going-To-Bed Book by Sandra Boynton, of course), nursed him, then settled him in his crib while he was still awake.

He cried.

We followed the schedule in the book, going in and talking to him briefly. After an hour, he fell asleep. All in all, we considered it fairly easy.

On Saturday, he cried for less than ten minutes.

On Sunday, he cried for about two minutes before falling asleep.

Tonight, no tears at all!

Oh, the joy! The bliss! Wandering the house without a baby in my arms!

I'm nearly too exhausted to take advantage of it, but soon, very soon, I expect to start making a dent in the List of Things That Have Been Left Undone for Two Months. Hopefully I can tackle a good bit of it before he starts teething and stops sleeping again.

Last Night

First Daughter wore underwear to bed because her pull-up had been dry for the previous three nights. She woke up dry this morning.

Second Daughter slept in her "new" toddler bed. (She'd been climbing in and out of the crib for months.)

Second Son, who split his time Friday night between nursing and Kansas Dad's arms (literally all night long), slept for at least an hour in his "new" crib. Eventually we snuggled him in bed, of course, but using the techniques in The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night, he only woke to nurse a few times and then we both went back to sleep.

It was a big night!

And Second Son is six months old today! We have to remember to take some pictures.

Sleeping Second Son

Look at that belly! This was taken on Sept. 26th, when he was two months and three days old.

Sleep, Brought to You by The Woombie

I originally read about the Woombie on the Cloth Diaper Outlet blog. We were using some swaddle blankets we bought after the receiving blankets were obviously too small to swaddle Second Son, but he was still waking me between six and eight times each night. (That's not an exaggeration!) That boy just didn't seem able to settle down and I was getting pretty tired. I showed it to Kansas Dad and said I wanted it but thought it was a lot of money when we already had swaddle blankets. He pointed out that it would be a small price to pay if it worked and I was able to sleep more.

So I thought about it off and on for another week when we received an unexpected and very generous gift card. I immediately bought it! We ordered the big baby size (14 to 19 pounds) and started using it when Second Son was almost exactly 13 pounds. The first night was Saturday, August 21st, and he woke up once. All night.

Once.

It was heavenly!

Not every night is that wonderful, of course. Sometimes he wakes up twice.

I cannot possibly say enough good things about the Woombie. In addition to giving us some much needed rest overnight, we have been able to zip him into the Woombie and lay him down alone in the co-sleeper in the evenings. (I do nurse him to sleep, though; I like it that way.) He sleeps alone in the bedroom for a few hours while Kansas Dad and I are both baby-free to take care of the million things that don't get done during the day -- or just enjoy having a breather! (I've heard other babies do this, but only one of my four ever did.) He often stirs when we come to bed, but usually doesn't actually wake to eat until the wee hours of the morning (even if we change his diaper).

What makes the Woombie different? You can read about it on the website, but I personally love how easy it is to use. There's no messing with trying to wrap baby in a blanket or even getting the velcro straps adjusted well enough to keep baby inside. Just zip him up! There's a second zipper, too, so you can change the diaper without unleashing the flailing arms. I think Second Son particularly likes the snugged feeling for his arms. He wiggles them, but they don't go far so he feels safe and secure even if we're not holding him.

I love the Woombie so much, I wish I could afford to buy one for all the mamas I know who are expecting or are home with a newborn. I know there are a few babies that don't seem to like the swaddled feeling. Second Daughter managed just fine without it, though she didn't seem to mind. I can only imagine, though, how much easier it would have been with First Son (who didn't let us put him down for the first three weeks of his life) or First Daughter (who insisted on being swaddled until she was over six months old).

I have only one warning: I would recommend not using the Woombie on a baby that hadn't regained the birth weight unless you plan to set an alarm to wake and feed baby. I'd be afraid everyone would sleep too soundly!

You can find the Woombie in a number of stores, in person or online, but at the Cloth Diaper Outlet, you can get a discount if you plan to order more than one. (I'm not even using my affiliate link this time; I feel it's only fair since I didn't purchase mine there.)

I did not receive anything in exchange for this glowing review. 

Has anyone else tried one? What did you think? Is it as wonderful for everyone?

Is There Hope?

Today, I had one goal: vacuum the living room.

It was 3:00 pm before we finished. There was much cajoling and threatening (from me), whining and moaning (from the two eldest) and crying (from the youngest). I had to vacuum with Second Son in the carrier -- and even then he only stopped crying when the cleaner was actually running.

You might think I'd be proud and happy with my nice clean living room.

Not quite. I am dismayed to report that it is impossible to tell that the living room was clean a few hours ago. It is once again strewn with toys, dress-up clothes, and books. Probably some other stuff, too. It makes me a little depressed to look at it too closely.

At least one of the school cabinets is assembled. (We must end on a bright note.)

Oh, and Second Son has been sleeping soundly on our bed for an hour now. Alone. Without me. Without Kansas Dad.

Did I mention he's alone?

Sleeping Baby, Happy Mama

Today, Second Son slept in the baby swing for over two hours! We've not had much luck at all laying him down in the swing, the co-sleeper, our bed...anywhere. Every once in a while he'd fall asleep in his car seat and stay asleep after we came in the house, but that's it. The rest of the time someone was holding him or snuggling next to him. It's not that I mind so very much...but there are a number of things easier to do when not holding a baby.

Anyway, I set him in the swing just for a few minutes to clear the lunch things off the table. And he stayed asleep. I quickly started another load of laundry, folded what was clean and dry, picked up a little bit, cleaned out a corner of our room that has been collecting extra pillows and blankets, put Second Daughter in her crib for a nap, planned a bit of our schedule for next week when we start school and even blogged a little bit. It was almost more time than I knew how to fill after so long pretty must just holding a baby.

I could not believe how long he slept!

Then, when he did wake up, I think he smiled at me!

I Have Heard You Calling in the Night

Here I am Lord, Is it I Lord?
I have heard You calling in the night.
I will go Lord, if You lead me.
I will hold Your people in my heart.

I've been thinking of this song a lot lately, as we teach Second Daughter to stay all night in her own crib. I try to hear His voice calling, even as He sounds just like Second Daughter, First Daughter or First Son.

She's Growing Up

Without really planning it, Second Daughter was weaned while we were on vacation. She had been nursing four times a day. A few weeks before we left, she gave up the 5 am one all on her own. Sometimes she would wake and want to snuggle, but she didn't ask to nurse.

A few days before we left, we missed the pre-nap nursing two days in a row. So I just didn't start up again when I had the chance. It's almost like she didn't notice.

Then, all on her own, again, Second Daughter slept through the night a few times. She was in a crib in my parents' room (with First Son and First Daughter in sleeping bags on the floor) and just didn't wake enough to wake them up to bring her to us (at the other end of the house). She started waking again after a few nights, but didn't ask to nurse.

So she was down to just once a day, right before bed. And then, Kansas Dad and I went on a date (more on that later, I hope). I missed bedtime and my mom said Second Daughter didn't even seem to notice I wasn't there. So that was the end. Friday, January 1st, 2010, was the last time I nursed my baby girl.

I had been trying to find the right time to wean her (you know, when she wasn't sick or teething and when Kansas Dad didn't have a million things to do and a million reasons to get a good night's sleep), but I still cried a little when I realized she was weaned. (Yes, Kansas Dad already pointed out how ridiculous I can be.)

When we got home, we started bedtime for Second Daughter in the kids' room. She has a crib in there, with First Son and First Daughter in the bunk beds. Though she had cried horribly when I tried it for nap time before, she was just fine. (She still takes naps in the crib in our room; I doubt First Daughter would ever let her nap otherwise.)

Last night, she slept through the night again. When I woke at 7 am and she wasn't in our bed, my heart almost stopped. It was, however, so wonderful and refreshing not to have her trying to sleep on my head all night.

She's been so sick the past five days, it was just a delight to spend the day with a baby girl on the mend who had a full night's sleep.

She also learned how to say "no" while we were on vacation. She's rather restrained in her use of it, for a toddler. In fact, she's quite adorable. She's really talking a lot and is nearly speaking sentences. She still doesn't say Mama, though, just "Mom!"

Morning Prayers, More and More

When we first started officially homeschooling, I instituted morning prayers. From the beginning, Kansas Dad thought the second prayer "Watch O Lord" lent itself too much to the evening to be the best part of our morning ritual, but I really liked it, so we kept it for a while.

Recently, though, we switched. At our parish, we always say the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel at the end of mass. I thought including it in our morning prayer would help First Son and First Daughter become familiar with it, so they could recite along with everyone else. We still say our morning prayer, just follow it with this one instead of "Watch O Lord."

Because "Watch O Lord" was a bit long, I didn't expect the children to memorize it, but they had! Kansas Dad usually reads and prays with the older two at bedtime. There's an elaborate ritual involved: one book from each (Kansas Dad is reading snippets from The Book of Virtues as his choice each night), then lights out and rocking for one song with First Daughter, then rocking for one song with First Son (they take turns picking the music; First Daughter always picks Junior's Bedtime Songs while First Son always picks Rock-A-Bye Veggie), then Kansas Dad prays for God and his angels to watch over all the kids (and so on), then each of the kids prays whatever they like, then Kansas Dad prays something more traditional like a Hail Mary.

Well, it turns out First Daughter has been reciting "Watch O Lord" as her prayer a great many evenings. It is such a sweet sound to hear her little voice recite the prayer!

Quote: NurtureShock

The performance gap caused by an hour's difference in sleep was bigger than the gap between a normal fourth-grader and a normal sixth-grader. Which is another way of saying that a slightly sleepy sixth-grader will perform in class like a mere fourth-grader. "A loss of one hour of sleep is equivalent to [the loss of] two years of cognitive maturation and development."

Later:

Perhaps most fascinating, the emotional context of a memory affects where it gets processed. Negative stimuli get processed by the amygdala; positive or neutral memories get processed by the hippocampus. Sleep deprivation hits the hippocampus harder than the amygdala. The result is that sleep-deprived people fail to recall pleasant memories, yet recall gloomy memories just fine.

Teenagers suffer the most:

Brown's Mary Carskadon has demonstrated that during puberty, the circadian system--the biological clock--does a "phase shift" that keeps adolescents up later. In prepubescents and grownups, when it gets dark outside, the brain produces melatonin, which makes us sleepy. But adolescent brains don't release melatonin for another 90 minutes. So even if teenagers are in bed at ten p.m. (which they aren't), they lie awake, staring at the ceiling.

Awakened at dawn by alarm clocks, teen brains are still releasing melatonin. This pressures them to fall back asleep--either in first period at school or, more dangerously, during the drive to school. Which is one of the reasons young adults are responsible for more than half of the 100,000 "fall asleep" crashes annually.

The schools don't help:

While the evidence is compelling, few [school] districts have followed this lead. Conversely, 85% of America's public high schools start before 8:15 a.m., and 35% start at or before 7:30 a.m.

Later:

But of all the arguments [Dr. Mark Mahowald, Director of the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center has] heard, no one's argument is that children learn more at 7:15 a.m. than at 8:30. Instead, he forcefully reasons, schools are scheduled for adult convenience: there's no educational reason we start schools as early as we do. "If schools are for education, then we should promote learning instead of interfere with it," he challenges.

It's not just academics:

Several scholars have noted that many hallmark traits of modern adolescence--moodiness, impulsiveness, disengagement--are also symptoms of chronic sleep deprivation. Might our culture-wide perception of what it means to be a teenager be unwittingly skewed by the fact they don't get enough sleep?

But there's more:

All the studies point in the same direction: on average, children who sleep less are fatter than children who sleep more.

A big difference:

Among the middle schoolers and high schoolers studied, the odds of obesity went up 80% for each hour of lost sleep.

From Chapter Two: The Lost Hour in NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children by Po Bronson & Ashely Merryman

The Molars Are In

Second Daughter now has four molars poking through. Whew. That was a few tough weeks with all four breaking through at the same time. For her and for us. Let's just hope she starts sleeping better soon.

She also has a fat lip. That's not really going to help the sleeping.

On Sleep (or the Lack Thereof)

I've been mulling over a post on sleep since we returned from our vacation.

Last Christmas.

I've been waiting and waiting for Second Daughter to sleep well. I'd hate to tell you what worked for us if it wasn't working.

Well, it's still not really working, but I'm getting tired of seeing this post in my list of drafts, so I'm going to modify it a bit and publish it.

Maybe then she'll sleep.

We were having lots of trouble with both daughters, specifically in getting them to go to sleep (Second Daughter during the day for her nap and First Daughter in the evening who would talk and sing for hours). I was so happy to discover the biggest part of our problem in Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems: New, Revised, and Expanded Edition: we were expecting them to sleep too much. Second Daughter, in particular, was sleeping about eleven hours at night, so of course she wasn't tired for a nap during the day. We delayed bedtime an hour (from 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm), encouraged earlier waking, and saw immediate benefits. I found much of interest in Dr. Ferber's book. Our sleep training methods (when we employ them) are a combination of his suggestions and those found in The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night. (You'd be surprised how well they can be blended.)

Mostly, though, our kids have been relatively good sleepers, so we're not very well-versed in sleep training methods. Mind you, I write "relatively" for good reason. I think it's unreasonable for a parent of very young children to have undisturbed sleep at night. Even First Son will occasionally wake at night and need reassurance.

The main problem we have now is how often Second Daughter wakes up to nurse at night. (And by we, I mean mainly me.) One of these nights I plan to pay attention to the time and limit her. I expect after a few nights she'll get used to it and eventually sleep better all night long. It's just so much easier to nurse her to quiet her down and I'm usually too sleepy to think straight. The real problem is my hope that, all on her own, she'll just start sleeping without nursing. First Son did, so I know it can happen, but I think it's rather on the rare side. I should decide to either night-wean her or happily night-nurse her.

Eventually this time will end and then I'll probably be sorry to realize how quickly she's growing. I think that's partly why I haven't taken more action.

But mostly I think it's because I don't think about not nursing her until after I realize she's nursing.