Wild Flour, Powerful Owls, and Sleep Style

Our little experiment of me going back to work for a day was a success! Work went well for me, and Michael and Penelope had a great day together. 

We had a quiet first half of the weekend, since Michael had a lot of work to do and the weather wasn't great. The only thing worth mentioning was that the new cafe nearby, Wild Flour, opened (where the Town Bike Pitstop used to be). I got to try some of their goodies for free - cinnamon soft pretzels, nutella scrolls, and sandwiches, yum! 

Sunday, when the weather was gorgeous, we had a picnic at Centennial Park and went for a long walk. The highlight was finding the powerful owls. Some time ago, maybe a year or two, one of the two resident powerful owls was, sadly, hit by a car. Since then, the surviving one has found a new mate and they've had a baby. We were lucky enough to see all three hanging out up high in a tree together. The baby is gigantic, but has different plumage to tell it apart. 

We finished off the weekend with a game night with some friends and Indian food. Penelope loves when we have friends over, and likes to try to stay up socializing until she just can't anymore. 

Since Penelope hit the six month mark, she has been going to sleep much easier. She still takes a few minutes to settle, and she still wakes up some at night, but her naps and wake up times are a lot more consistent. It saves a lot of my energy and time and it's also really nice to see that she has already grown enough emotionally to trust her surroundings and us. There's this big question in parenting these days as to whether or not you should let your baby "cry it out" to get to sleep more soundly through the night. Lots of professionals warn against it, and yet it is very common practice and there are different common methods. I'm very happy that we never had to do it for Penelope to get to where she is. It's not to say she doesn't fuss some when going down to sleep; she does mildly protest, rolling around or whinging a little. We just roll her back over, pat her on the back a little bit, and usually gets sleepy. Sometimes we have to do that three times, but it eventually works. I honestly don't know how some parents can listen to their kid cry and scream for a half hour or an hour. I have no judgment for the parents who teach their children to self-settle in whatever ways they need to in order to function as a family, since every kid and every parent have different needs. I just couldn't listen to my kid cry that long. Literally, our apartment is so small, I'd have a splitting headache and my nerves would be frayed in no time and it wouldn't be worth it. Maybe those parents just have bigger homes. 

Having said all that and making it sound like we are so great, for the first six months I did what a lot of people said not to do also - getting Penelope to sleep by feeding, rocking, or holding her. They say not to do all that stuff because you'll regret it that they won't self-settle. And you know what? I don't regret it, and most of the time I really loved it. The trade off is that there are nights that she is suddenly wide awake at 3AM, and you just have to take those moments in shifts, and then they pass. You find a way to make up the sleep later, or have a tea and do without it. Luckily, it seems like those nights will be less from now on (but time will tell). I'm sure someone will read what I said and judge us for our parenting decisions, but I don't care. People are going to do that anyway, so at least I'm happy about mine, and my kid seems pretty happy too. 

It's a warm and sunny start to the new week, and we already have a swim lesson under our belts. 

Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can't lose.