rough night

I knew we were throwing fuel onto the fire, even though we couldn't yet feel the heat.

For the last week or two Dylan has been giving us cues that say "Hey, my sleep/wake rythms are no longer lined-up with this routine we've been using". His naps are more inconsistent, he falls asleep while nursing in the evening (RESPECT THE BOOB!), and doesn't go to sleep as easily after his bath. Worse than those, he's waking up several times a night, sometimes before we've even gotten ourselves to bed.

Still, we packed our weekend full of activities not very amenable to Dylan's adjusted rythmic needs.

The Boy didn't sleep as much as he often does on our Rancho Walk, but he was very well-behaved at our new breakfast place, Tom's Depot, and sat in a restaurant high-chair for the first time.

After breakfast we went to visit Nana and Grandpa Joe. Paul and Elaine were back in town and we hadn't seen them yet. I knew D was tired, and I had imagined he might be willing to take a nap there, but the folks were on their way out the door when we arrived and the house was being cleaned, so we hung out on the patio table until D started to get irritable.

And here comes the gasoline.

Uncle Marc had phoned Grandpa and mentioned that he and Aunt Lisa were hanging out at home watching the World Cup.
I decided to stop by.
Dylan fell asleep in the car (of course) but it's only a five minute drive. I imagined him being tired enough to nap at their place. He slept another 10 minutes after I brought him inside, but that doesn't even count. We got a call from Mommy and found out she had finished her bike ride (48 miles) at a high school just a few minutes away. Soon the whole family was there. It was really nice to visit Marc and Lisa, and to experience their panini-maker, and Dylan put on a little show of his crawling skills for them but he did not sleep.

By the time we left, we had essentially spoiled even his afternoon nap as well. Sheesh.

When I finally put him down for the night he actually sneezed himself to sleep. One sneeze. Out like a light. He woke up a few times through the night, but we mostly left him to cry and he'd fall back asleep.

Sunday morning we went to the Creek Trail for a run. Mommy went farther than Daddy is capable of, so he and Dylan turned back early. Dylan got his first experience on a playground swingset while we waited.

We stopped at the nearby Farmer's Market for pastries, stone fruit, and smoothies.

We got home, showered, fed The Boy, and packed up for a trip to the coast. We had low clouds at our house so we figured the beach would be cold, but the fog had all burned off and the Capitola beach was sunny and beautiful when we arrived. There was a lot of walking involved, but it was a fun trip. Dylan was introduced to the Pacific. It occurs to me now that I'm glad he met my ocean first. It somehow affirms our common roots.

We got him to bed at a decent time, slightly on the early side of usual. He strained against my grasp one instant, and fell asleep the next. We brought the baby monitor next door and watched the neighbors light off little fireworks in their backyard for their 2- and 4-year olds, then we sat in their living room and talked for a while.

Dylan started screaming around 10:30. I went home, calmed him down and put him back to sleep. He woke up again a couple hours later, screaming like he was in pain. Nothing I tried helped. Time for Mommy. Another couple hours, more hard crying. After twenty or so minutes of reaching deep into my bag of tricks, Cheryl came out (I was in the living room now) in relief. And I was relieved. He did a lot more crying as the night wore on, and we did a lot of listening. Cheryl did very little sleeping. It may have been gas pains, it may have been his new (2nd) tooth, but after a day when his naps consisted of a stroller ride and two car trips I knew we were due for some suffering.

Tired Dad