This month's big news about me could be summed up with the headline: MATTHEW FLIPS. It happened late one night about two weeks ago. For some reason, I couldn't sleep, even though it was the time of night when I usually went down for good ("for good" meaning four or five hours at a time). Three times Mommy came back into my dark room, resoothed me, and laid me down in my crib. I would drop off to sleep, snooze for 10-20 minutes, and then wake up crying again. Letting me alone didn't seem to help. So after the third time, Mommy came in my room, flicked on the bright light, and told me she was just going to hang out with me for a while.
She put me on my tummy on a blanket in the middle of the floor so I could have some tummy time--and hopefully wear myself out. Prior to this evening, I almost always responded to tummy time by flailing feebly and wailing like the world was over. On this night, however, I just lay there contentedly. Mommy picked up a book, determined to wait me out. After a few minutes, she peeked at my face and noticed that my eyes were getting droopy. The next time she peeked, I was sound asleep. Mommy got up, turned off the light, and left me there, on the floor. I slept till 8:00 the next morning.
Ever since then, I am an all-the-time tummy sleeper. It has helped me go down much more easily--no rocking required--and sleep for longer stretches at night. Now for all of you shocked members of the American Academy of Pediatrics who are reeling about the audacity of a mommy who dares to flout your advice about back-sleeping and SIDS... well, we're very sorry. But my mommy says she knows several other mommies whose babies have slept much better on their tummies, and my big sister would hardly sleep at all until she flipped onto hers. (Even after that she was a hard sell.) So it's tummy-sleeping for the Wilcoxes... and regular prayers that God would protect me from SIDS. :)
In other news, I have a great new toy that my friend Jack loaned to me. (He's too big for it now.) It's an activity mat that I lie on, and it has two bars that stretch up over my head and have fun things dangling off of them. When I bat one of the dangling things with my hand, lights flash and pretty music plays. I love this toy and give it lots of grateful and delighted smiles for being so fun. I could hang out on it for hours... except that I am still only awake for about one hour (nursing time included) before I start to lose it and land back in my crib.
And now for a roundup of pictures from my third month. Here I am playing on the mat:
Here's one where Meg decided to join me and see what the smiles were all about:
Me asleep on my tummy:
Oh, hello, Mommy:
Self-portrait with Mommy:
Gettin' love from Daddy:
This is me being held by Cubby, my great-grandfather. Mommy loves seeing the dear, old hands next to the sweet, new ones.
Bumbo-ing:
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