This post is being written quickly on a short break I’m getting. Husband is playing with and feeding Bean, after which she’ll be ready for her late afternoon nap. So I’ve tossed the thoughts into a post without much refinement. <\/p>\n
On Friday I played hooky from my expectations of perfect mothering. I also decided to forgo the crying-nap battle with Bean by simply holding her for her three naps. She slept wonderfully and was completely cheerful. I did the same Saturday and Sunday, and I’m doing this today. We’ve had lovely days. <\/p>\n
It occurred to me on Friday that perhaps Bean just isn’t ready to let go of me yet. She cries so hysterically when I put her in the crib. The timed intervals of waiting before “checking and consoling” do nothing<\/em> constructive. She simply cries more and more, and it would continue for more than an hour if I persevered with this technique long enough. On the other hand, she nestles in so closely when I hold her. Her eyes close and she’s asleep within 5-10 minutes in my arms. She is the embodiment of contentment and trust. This is part of her childhood. This is important and necessary.<\/p>\n How many opportunities in life exist to be<\/em> such a source for another? I’m not quite ready to let go of her either. As I hold her, I look at her sweet face in repose and bask in it. The weather is cold and rainy; I am warm and cuddly and soft. Soon enough it will be warm outside, and she will be bigger and more restless. A voice within says to relax and stop second-guessing myself.<\/p>\n Up until recently I was seeing the naps as something I “should” do a certain way. Must train child! Must use crib! Must get chores done! Well, she sleeps at night in her crib just fine, so it’s not that she can’t be “sleep trained” to her crib. There’s something else going on here. Rather than view the situation as a hindrance, what if I tilted my head a little to view it differently?<\/p>\n Holding Bean for her naps means I get to rest several times a day. I can sit and doze, or read, or think, or not think. Holding Bean means we bond and cuddle. Holding Bean means taking the moments and savoring them. Okay, so the laundry doesn’t get done while I hold her. So I can’t chop vegetables for a meal while I hold her. Well, then she can be with me while I do those tasks when she’s awake (along with all the playing we do). She can “help” Mommy. <\/p>\n What if I simply trusted myself and Bean? What if I cherished the way things are rather than trying to get us to do something the way others think it should be done? This is my child. She won’t be a child forever. <\/p>\n Yes, it can be tiring to hold her. My butt gets a little sore. At the same time, before she was born I did a lot of sitting anyway, only I was holding a laptop computer instead. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This post is being written quickly on a short break I’m getting. Husband is playing with and feeding Bean, after which she’ll be ready for her late afternoon nap. So I’ve tossed the thoughts into a post without much refinement. On Friday I played hooky from my expectations of perfect mothering. I also decided to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-motherhood","category-nature"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2230"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13819,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2230\/revisions\/13819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}