Sleep training part 1

I can't believe it's already July. The older I get, the faster time passes, that's for sure. No wonder they say youth is wasted on the young.
My cousin and her three boys, along with my aunt, headed up from Indy yesterday to join me and Norah for some time at the beach. My aunt has always found New Buffalo to be a cute place, so she requested that we go there. My boys stayed home in the A/C to avoid the heat. Levi has been really stuffy/sneezing snot everywhere, and rather cranky because of it, so he would have been no fun anyway. Norah had tons of fun with Mitchell and Logan, twins who happen to be 5 just like her. They showed each other tricks (Norah flipping her eyelids inside out equally grossed out and amazed them) and sang along to LMFAO and Gotye in the back seat. We ladies chatted in the water and enjoyed a beautiful beach day. We then headed to Oink's for some post-beach treats. The New Buffalo beach has $10 parking, which is a bit steep, but it's clean, there are bathrooms and a foot shower, and the break wall really cuts down on waves, so it was a perfect place to take the youngsters. I can't believe it took me until July to get in one of my at least three beach trips this summer, but it was a glorious day.
Tomorrow marks another exciting part of my summer--the fourth. I LOVE this holiday. I really enjoy the parade, for one thing. The flyover is exciting, I love watching the students march by, and it brings out the kid in me. Norah will be spending the parade atop the fire truck with her dad. I can't wait to wave as they pass by and snap a few great pictures. Levi will sadly miss it, but with the weather nearly reaching 100 degrees he wouldn't have had any fun anyway. Fingers crossed that next year, when he'll be toddling around, he can enjoy his first LP parade!
These days Levi is enjoying a few new things. First, he is very interested in everything we eat. He'd much rather have tiny bites of bread or fruit (today he tried plum and loved it!) than pureed baby food. I'm still trying to get him to have some Gerber's now and then for the calories, but at least he's eating. He loved yogurt for a while there, but this week he won't take more than a bite. I don't know if it's the heat, his cold, or the suspected teeth about to show, but something's off. He's also started pulling himself up to standing on everything. Any surface, including one's legs, is fair game. He just wants to move and see things. It's a whole new world for that kid. His crawling is almost "normal" now. Only every so often will he drop to his tummy and drag himself forward with his forearms. In fact, he's starting to stand up on his feet instead of his knees, a move someone recently dubbed the leapfrog. He hasn't taken off yet, but it's clear he wants the fastest method out there.
I've finally gotten over my fear of letting him cry it out in his crib. He's been sleeping in there for a while now, but we've been guilty of putting him to sleep in our arms first and then lying him in there. Being home all day every day has shown me that that's not always going to work. The crib method works just fine, though. The longest he's cried is 20 minutes. Last night I thought he was going to put up a good fight, but within 40 seconds he was out. He then proceeded to sleep for 12 hours. (During hours 10-12 I worried a little bit that he'd died in there, but I made myself leave him alone. Not dead. Phew.)
Naptimes are becoming more regular, as well. It used to be that we let him dictate his schedule, especially because we're on the go so much. He has always been a car sleeper, so we'd often just let our drive to Valpo be his nap. He's gotten to the point where he needs a 1-2 hour a.m. nap and a 2+ hour afternoon nap to be happy Levi. Today I let him take that morning doze in my arms because I was watching TV anyway, and he's sick. He's currently crying on Norah's bedroom floor, so it may be time to put him in his crib.
Sleep training Norah has been a much more involved and arduous process. I'll cover that in an upcoming post, but suffice it to say that we have had some aggravating nights as of late. Yet another struggle when parenting one child in two households.

Have a happy fourth of July, everybody! Enjoy some fireworks and act like a kid like this wild Mama intends to :)