shhhhhhhhhh

It is 12:03 am.

It is quiet.

(Well, except for the breast pump, which... we'll save the topic of hearing voices in your breast pump for another time, okay? I know I'm not the only one who does this, since everyone in the lactation room at work has admitted to it. But I have more important matters to blog about tonight. We might even say... momentous.)

Tonight I went to Target with a friend. (Fun, but not momentous. Just wait for it, please.) It was a quick run, so I left Iyyar at home with MHH, with instructions to do whatever made his life easy and not to try to get Iyyar to sleep. I came home 45 minutes later, a little before 9, armed with a new puchase: a small CD player with a white-noise function. I set that up in the bedroom, and also put the little plush doggie in Iyyar's crib--Ada, otherwise known as Our Amazing Babysitter, had suggested that maybe he needed something more substantial than his blanket to grab for comfort. I took the bouncy seat, which used to be good for getting him to sleep but is now not age-appropriate, and put it on my bed such that the vibrating mechanism sat on the side of his crib. I picked him up and nursed him. Fifteen minutes later, he was asleep. I put him down, and walked away.

Fifteen minutes later was the normal time to hear the first howl. Nothing. I went in and checked. He was snoring. 9:30 pm.

9:45--still breathing, not howling.

10:00--we have howls.

I tried to get him to hold the doggie, which worked for a few minutes. Howls. I tried the pacifier. Howls. He got more and more worked up, as per usual, and so I picked him up and cuddled him till he calmed down. Then I swaddled him (which I've tried a million times before with no success) and put him down. He woke up howling. Multiple tries to put baby down, such as usually occupy my entire evening--but then he went back to sleep.

Let's synchronize our watches, shall we? The time then was 10:30.

Ten minutes ago now, at midnight, he woke. And nursed, halfheartedly, for five minutes.

And went back to sleep. Without howling.

He's still asleep.

This. Is. Huge.

I didn't do anything that different from usual. The noise machine is the only thing that's new, and I don't think it's making much difference over the sound of the bouncy seat. And I'm not going to be foolish enough to set myself up for disappointment by thinking aha, he's learned how to sleep! But still. Just one evening of not fielding screams--one evening to clean the kitchen, fold laundry, tidy up the guest room for an impending guest--

I'll take it.