August 20, 2000 - Sunday
Last night we took Harry to see some fireworks. They started about 9:00pm, so he was getting rather tired and watched the first half from his mother's arms. We were holding his ears to protect them a little, so perhaps the sound wasn't quite as gripping as it might have been, and he eventually fell asleep. He slept through the finale, the long wait in the parking lot, and the ride back to his uncle's house and perhaps would have stayed asleep if we had gone right home from there. Unfortunately, we went inside briefly to use the facilities and to say good-bye before heading home.

It was after 11:00pm, so we didn't think too much of it. If Harry woke up, it would be just a short period before he would have some milk and go back to sleep. Sure enough, Harry did wake up from the chatter in the foyer as our large group disbanded. However, he did not quickly return to sleep. Even the 45 minute car ride home oddly did not rest him with it's usual gentle rocking. He protested most of the way.

Surely, a last snack in the quiet of our house would send him to the blissful state of nod and we would all wake up well rested. Harry did not see it that way. He was apparently rested and ready to go already, his internal clock turned upside down or reset by the odd evening of activities. For a solid hour, Harry rebelled with a vigor we have not seen before, virtually making himself hoarse as his mother and I tried in vain to encourage restfulness. Finally at about 1:30, I took him downstairs in the dark. He was protesting loudly and squirming, so I held on to him fairly tightly, thinking of his earliest days of comforting swaddling. He didn't like being restrained, but it seemed like I didn't have much choice if I was to continue to hold him through his contortions. After several false starts and 10 minutes of trouble, I got him to listen to a song. He sobbed and sighed for another 10 minutes, but the screaming had stopped and that was enough. He was finally letting go and falling asleep.

I didn't change a thing, keeping the soft singing and pacing about the house going until the twitching started. That's the learned signal that he's really asleep and can be laid down without waking up. It was just before 2:00am and Harry was again asleep. He slept until 9:00 in the morning but his mother and I were up before that out of habit, regardless of the sleep lost. We'll pay for that tomorrow.


Comments, opinions?