The Manipulating Has Begun

When Alex was first born, Henry started reading some child development books that said that at 5 1/2 months is when baby's start to figure out how to manipulate you and try to see what they can get away with. Well, at the time, Henry and I weren't too concerned about it as 5 1/2 months seemed like such a long time away, however... 5 1/2 months later to the date...the manipulation game has begun.

Last night we did our usual bed time routine...8 pm bath, then our usual nursing to sleep. All was going well. I swore the baby would go right down to bed as he usually does and he did not nap as much as he ususally does during the day. I thought he would be sooo tired that he would go down and that would be the end of it. Well, he nurses and he falls asleep in my arms, per the usual. I put him in his crib, kiss him goodnight and leave his room.

I go and start doing some other chores that need to get done and I start hearing Alex "talking" on the monitor. He talks for a while and then he starts to fuss. He doesn't scream, so I decide to wait a few mintes before going in to check on him to make sure he is OK. He continues to cry and finally I give in and go in and check. They boy is fake crying. The second he sees me he starts smiling and giggling and waving his arms and feet around...totally not upset at all. So I start patting his back and telling him that it is bed time and that it is sleepy time. He settles back down and starts to fall asleep again. This time I sit in his rocking chair (he can't see me from where his crib is, so he doesn't know I am in the room) and he is good and quiet for a few minutes and starts to fuss again. He isn't screaming..he is just fussing. So I wait a few minutes again. When he doesn't settle down, I again go over to his crib to check on him. And what does the little bugger do? He starts smiling, laughing, cooing, waving his arms around...he totally did it AGAIN for attention.

This time I call in reinforcements. AKA Daddy. I tell Henry that the manipulation has started....so Henry takes the third time. This time, either Alex is so tired he can't stay away or he can't smell me because he finally falls asleep....

I think we have our work cut out for us....