Like Mother, Like Son

I complain about Jack’s sleep (or lack thereof) often. I watch Brady (his identical cousin) sit in a swing for hours without a peep and think, “Why can’t Jack be less needy like Brady?” I think it’s silly that Jack MUST be held or touched at all times. But you know what I’m realizing? I only have myself to blame.

You see, Jack may get his big blue eyes from his daddy. But there is one very BIG thing he gets from his mom: his clinginess.

Last week, we were talking to my mom about Jack’s nonexistent sleep schedule. I told her that I was looking through my baby book and that I saw that I started sleeping through the night at six weeks (you’re welcome, mom and dad!) and why couldn’t Jack take after me in that regard? She said that yes, all her kids slept through the night pretty early on. And she was lucky because most of the time, they could just lay in the crib for an hour or so after waking up and entertain themselves. There was only one that couldn’t. And do you want to take a guess who that one child was? If you guessed my brother, you’re wrong. She said that the moment I woke up, I’d start crying out for mom to come be with me. I thought, “Sheesh! That’s too bad! Thank goodness I grew out of that!” and went along my merry way conversing about how I just can’t wait for Jack to sleep more like Brady Mr-I’m-Asleep-For-12-Hours-At-A-Time-And-Have-Been-Since-Day-One. That night, John and I got Jack in bed. We stopped turning on Jack’s mobile because when it stops, it wakes him up and he starts crying for us. So we bought this little light show thing that stays on all night.  After getting gently patting Jack until he fell asleep (because he goes ballistic if you aren’t touching him), I snuggled in for a little King of Queens action while John rubbed my feet. A half an hour later, the DVR’d show stopped and I was startled awake. “John!?!?! JOHN!?!?!?” I yelled when I realized I was alone. John came running in the room and I said, “Where did you go?? The TV turned off and I was alone!” And he started laughing. Wildly. “You are exactly like Jack, Molly! TV is your mobile and you freak out if you wake up and I’m not right next to you.” Whatever. I laid back down to try and fall asleep. But I couldn’t. I was just awake enough to make it tough to fall back asleep. So I flailed. And flung my arms. And make “umph!” noises.

Right as I was about to fall asleep, I heard a noise coming from the monitor. I looked over and Jack must have somehow woken up. He started crying the moment he realized we weren’t there. John went in and comforted him but Jack couldn’t quite fall back asleep. So he flailed. And flung his arms. And made “umph!” noises.

Yeah, this is a good thing to pass down. I can only blame myself.