Sleep Comparison

Elliott woke up at 8:11 this morning.   He started fussing so I picked him up and put him on our bed (he sleeps in our room) to unwrap his swaddle.  We made eye contact, smiled at each other and I told him good morning as I unwrapped him.  He stretched and I turned around to turn off the white noise on my cell phone.  When I turned back around he had totally fallen back asleep on our bed.  This has never happened before.  I didn't really know what to do.  So, I went and got the camera so I could document it.  I didn't care if I woke him up with the flash because it was time to get up.  I would have NEVER taken his picture if it was like 5 or 6 am.

Side note: we still use the miracle blanket to swaddle him, but he grew too long for it months ago, so I cut off the bottom and only his arms are swaddled.  It's going to be a real pain in the ass when I have to go to his dorm room every night when he's in college to swaddle him.

I wanted to get a picture of his face too, so I walked around to the other side of the bed.

As soon as I took this picture I knew I had seen it before.

It took me a while to go through a bunch of old photos, but I found it. 

 

 

Spencer at 16 months.

The side by side

Think these kids share the same DNA?

This photo comparison got me thinking about how different Spencer and Elliott are in their infant sleeping ability.  If I had to give them a grade Spencer would get an F- (and it would be lower if the grading scale went any lower) and Elliott would get a strong C+ or, occasionally, a B-.

Spencer started sleeping through the night (10 pm to 5 am, then he would nurse and go back to sleep until 9 am) at about 3 months.  Keep in mind that he was literally sleeping on top of me.  That picture above was one of the first times EVER (in his entire life....at 16 months) that he was asleep without physical contact with me- both naps and night. Elliott still wakes up every 3-4 hours during the night, but at least he is sleeping on his own, separate from my body- both naps and night.  Spencer sometimes took upwards of 3 hours to get to go to sleep.  I can count the times (maybe 10 total) that Elliott didn't conk out while nursing and it took some effort to get him to sleep. 

Before I had kids it never occured to me that sleep might be something to be taught, but that's exactly what Spencer needed.  He was not born knowing how to sleep.  It was a skill he had to learn, much like walking or self feeding with a spoon. Once he got it, which took a long time, he really got it. Spencer is an A++++++++++ sleeper now.  He has been since about 2 1/2.  He didn't move to his own room until he was 3, but even before that he would sleep like 10-11 hours straight on the twin bed next to our bed.  He definitely went from "the boy who would not sleep" to "the boy who loves to sleep".  I can only hope that Elliott keeps improving and doesn't lose any of his sleeping skills. 

I have this vision into the future of 3 year old Elliott and 7 year old Spencer sleeping until 9 am (with no one waking up during the night) on the weekends and Michael and I weeping with joy because of it.

Of course, the first time that happens the smoke detector battery will probably die at about 3 am and the beeping will send Ginger into a tizzy and we'll wake up with her on our faces breathing her hot, panicky breath into our eyes.