Gregory makes three categories of sounds: 1) his happy sounds, 2) his distressed sounds, and 3) his attention-getting sounds. His attention-getting sounds are like the equivalent of our "hey" and he uses them for things like, "Hey, my ball rolled away again. Can you get it for me?" and "Hey, come back! I prefer you to sit by me while I chew on this strap." and "Hey, I wasn't done with that juice yet!"
Nugget also has an attention-getting sound. He snorts.
So, over the past few months, I've noticed that if I go to Gregory right when he wakes up in the middle of the night, I can get to him back to sleep pretty quickly. But if I allow him to fuss for a few minutes first, it's nearly impossible to get him back to sleep for at least 2 hours. Naturally, I choose the first option. Of course, this comes with the rather predictable consequence that he now knows that I'll come to him whenever he calls. He didn't abuse the power until two nights ago. On that night, he woke up every hour or two to call for me. As soon as I would walk into his room, he'd get a massive grin on his face and start flapping his arms around all excited-like. It was cute as all get-out, but it was also at 2 a.m. After getting up and attending to his slightest whim all night, I was exhausted the next morning and resigned to the fact that we were going to have to change the policy. So last night, I decided to wait until his attention-getting sound turned into a distressed sound before going in to him. This is what it sounded like:
"Hey. Hey? Hey. Hey! Heee-eeey.... Hey hey! Hey? Um.... Hey! Heyyyy....Hey."
This went on for a few minutes. And then I heard Nugget right outside our door. He stuck his nose in our room and started snorting. This is what it sounded like to me:
"Hey! The kid's awake! Aren't you going to do anything?"
It was adorable. I caved.
Nugget also has an attention-getting sound. He snorts.
So, over the past few months, I've noticed that if I go to Gregory right when he wakes up in the middle of the night, I can get to him back to sleep pretty quickly. But if I allow him to fuss for a few minutes first, it's nearly impossible to get him back to sleep for at least 2 hours. Naturally, I choose the first option. Of course, this comes with the rather predictable consequence that he now knows that I'll come to him whenever he calls. He didn't abuse the power until two nights ago. On that night, he woke up every hour or two to call for me. As soon as I would walk into his room, he'd get a massive grin on his face and start flapping his arms around all excited-like. It was cute as all get-out, but it was also at 2 a.m. After getting up and attending to his slightest whim all night, I was exhausted the next morning and resigned to the fact that we were going to have to change the policy. So last night, I decided to wait until his attention-getting sound turned into a distressed sound before going in to him. This is what it sounded like:
"Hey. Hey? Hey. Hey! Heee-eeey.... Hey hey! Hey? Um.... Hey! Heyyyy....Hey."
This went on for a few minutes. And then I heard Nugget right outside our door. He stuck his nose in our room and started snorting. This is what it sounded like to me:
"Hey! The kid's awake! Aren't you going to do anything?"
It was adorable. I caved.