Found a peanut

Both kids had their well-child check-ups last week. See? Another advantage (for me) to having birthdays one day apart. All is well. Both are firmly in the 10th percentile for height/weight. (Jo is a perfect square at 37 inches and 37 pounds; Opie is 28 inches and all of 19 lbs). I was a shrimp myself as a kid so it's no wonder. I enjoyed it since it helped me stand out a bit; I felt special. So I'm sure Jo will work it to her advantage (the ParentCenter Height Predictor says she'll be 5 feet even as an adult). As for Opie, I hope he gets a growth spurt somewhere along the way. It may not be fair or right, but short girls are cute, while short boys are wimps.

The appointment also confirmed that I love our doctor. He's a family practitioner so he treats all of us, and I really appreciate how much respect he has for parents' intuition and knowledge. We bump into him all over town and he actually knows who we are and remembers us (unlike our old pediatrician back in New Jersey; once when we saw her on a weekend because she happened to be on call, she said "...and you'll follow up with your regular doctor..." Uh, that's YOU, sweetheart). A few months ago when I discussed Opie's crappy sleep habits with Dr. B., he gave me some suggestions and handouts, but mostly his message was that there's no right answer, since every kid and parent is different; you have to do what feels right to you. That was really comforting.

...and a good segue to a report on Operation Opie Sleep. I don't know what snapped, but last week, with absolutely no forethought, discussion, or planning, we started sleep-training the boy. I don't have the stomach to let him cry it out. Call me a sucker, but I just don't think it's fair. So the new rule is that if he wakes up after he's been put into his crib (or when he's first put down for the night) he doesn't come out of the crib, but we don't leave him alone either. One of us stands next to him and gently lowers him back down every time he stands up and hurls a pacifier or three onto the floor.

The first few nights this took 2-3 hours (for a during-the-night waking), with Jeff and I alternating cribside duty every hour. The last two nights we've still had one wake-up, but it's been dispatched (by Jeff, no less!) in 30 minutes or less. So we have high hopes (please, PLEASE don't let me have just jinxed the whole deal). The nice side effect has been that Jeff has actually stepped up to help. Prior to this he handled very few wakings. At first this was because Opie wanted nothing to do with him, and refused a bottle; eventually it just became a habit, I think. So, wish us well. I'll report more in a few days.