Second Night Syndrome

Last weekend we visited the Campbell grandparents in Iowa for Christmas (more on that in a prettier, more picture-filled post), and as expected, Holden had some trouble sleeping on the second night there. This has been a trend for the Short Stranger for months now--going back at least to our summer vacation in TN. Only rarely do we stay anywhere for longer than 2 nights, but when we do, he seems okay on Night Three. So from now on I deem this phenomenon "second night syndrome"--and will mentally prepare myself for a rough second night.

It makes sense, right? After traveling, he's usually pretty exhausted on the first night, so even though he may have trouble going to sleep, once he's out, he's good until morning. But on night two he's not quite as exhausted, he's in a strange place, in the same room as his parents, AND he's been busy exploring it all day. Heck, it's not like I sleep much better.

Usually when he wakes up on these nights, it takes us a while but we can get him back to bed after about 30-60 minutes of singing, story-reading, or (before age 1) nursing. This time we were so fearful that the nearby aunt and uncle could hear him use his newly-minted angry-screaming-"no no"-voice that we ended up letting him fall asleep on us. Not the first time, and probably not the last. Looking forward to the age when we can "use our words," as the daycare teachers say, to get over the second night hump.

Oh, and in case your wondering--he had no trouble sleeping when we returned home. Never does. And that's why it's simply the "second night syndrome."

A Blockhead Already?

No, I'm not referring to our son as "a dolt," but rather desperately trying to make a reference to the 233-episode, 35-year-running American television classic Gumby. Don't you remember Gumby's arch nemeses the Blockheads, a pair of humanoid, red-colored figures with block-shaped heads who wreaked mischief and havoc at all times? Well, not only has Holden grown more mischievous and toddler-like in recent months, but he's also grown quite an affinity for his toy blocks. Holden is constantly dumping his Edushape blocks (which are great!) all over the floor, running around with them in his hands, trying to building with them, and sometimes even dropping them on the cats.

This past weekend (before Bryna and I got sick as dogs ... ugh -- another post coming soon about that), Holden and I had some time to chill at home and have fun with his blocks. He is now able to attach 2 pieces together, which I'm very impressed with -- go Holden! Soon he'll be building miniature Parthenons in the living room.

Anyway, here are some photos from Holden's recent fun with blocks. We've got a video to add soon, too, showing Holden carrying his blocks one by one to drop in his pack'n'play. What an imagination the boy has already!

(... and I've been waiting to include a Gumby reference for quite some time)

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Holden pining for a chance to play in the snow
(sorry buddy, it's just too freakin' cold!).

Take a look, It's in a book...

Even though the classic show "Reading Rainbow" has been off the air now for more than 4 years, Holden has found inspiration outside of LeVar Burton to begin a love of reading at an early age. Over the past few weeks, he's been gaining more of an independent interest in books and reading. In fact, a couple times this past week, after I get home from picking Holden up from daycare, he'd immediately head over to the cabinet where we keep his stash of books, grab a favorite book, and then walk up to me and want to be read to. This is an exciting development, since it confirms that Holden actually likes books (his current favorites are "Maisy Drives" and "Busy Bear Cubs").


To further support early reading with Holden, we added some reading time to his bedtime routine--and Holden seems to enjoy that, too. He gets to pick between "Goodnight Moon" and "The Going to Bed Book" each night (who wouldn't love that?). And even though this bedtime reading can get Holden slightly revved-up before he goes to sleep (esp. as he points at the two little kittens and a pair of mittens), he never has any trouble going to sleep after the book is done.

While it can sometimes be difficult or seemingly silly to read to Holden at age 1 (because sometimes he'll have no interest, or grab the book and throw it on the ground, or he'll start chewing on the pages), I know that it is so important to get him in the habit of reading and enjoying books. He's learning the basics of how to read a book, and doing a lot of "pretend reading" these days--when he'll sit down with a book and just flip through the pages in no particular order.

Not to go on a rant here, but I recently saw a government study which reported that less than 50% of parents read to their toddlers on a daily basis (and it starts to drop off after the age of 2, which is such a crucial time for a child's cognitive development). I would wager a bet that the main culprit is television, but I'm sure computers are not far behind. Anyway, I'm super excited that Holden's starting to choose reading as an activity ... and Bryna and I are anxious for the day when we can read Harry Potter to him ; )