Shake Rattle and Roll

first published 8/12/08

On my recent trip to Green Bay, my 5 1/2 year old cousin Brayden was investigating the "little cottage" with Katie (my cousin Justin's fiancee). He was very curious about where one would go if there were a tornado (no basement). Hmmm...good question. Katie's response was to "stop, drop and roll". This same response was used a couple weeks ago on a TV talk show following an earthquake we had out here. So clearly this rolling business has many purposes, real or otherwise.

However, I propose that rolling is not so fun and exciting when performed by a 4month old (William). Ok, it's cute when he rolls over when we're all playing on the floor. It's even a little cute when he's frustrated at the end of his nap and flips over. When it is NOT cute, though, is at the beginning of the nap OR at 2:30am!

For a few weeks now, William has been accidentally rolling from tummy to back now and then. He had been so good at the sleeping through the night up to when he started this new experiment. Now, if he flips over, he freaks out and screams until one of us puts him back where he belongs. This is the "mommy, if you don't come in here right now, I'm pretty sure my head is going to blow up" scream, not his cute little "waaa, waaa, if you come to see me, I'll probably be pretty happy but if you don't, I'll probably just go to sleep, waaa, waaa" fuss.

For today's afternoon nap, he was definitely ready to sleep...he fell asleep with all of 20 seconds of fuss. But about 45 minutes into the nap, the screams started. So I hurried upstairs and flipped him back onto his tummy, returning downstairs to get a little email time in.

Not 2 minutes later, it started again. This time, though, he wasn't all the way on his back, but curled up on his side, with his thumb securely in mouth, sucking away. Ok, I'm a little lost here - don't most people LIKE sleeping on their sides? And imagine you are a little baby...what better way to sleep than on your side with your thumb securely in your mouth, sucking away. What is all the fuss about, William!?!

I guess the silver lining is that at least they're not BOTH doing this on a regular basis (Michael has flipped a few times, but not with the daily consistency of William). And sooner or later, he'll be flipping in both directions and pulling himself up on the rails of the crib...then I'll have a whole new freak-out on my hands...