I distinctly remember people telling me to make sure not to tiptoe around your sleeping baby when I first had my daughter. The advice was given with the hopes that by letting normal noises occur, you will help your child become a sounder sleeper.
Life on Walnut Street (one of Center City's busiest streets) made this experiment really intense. Born in June, the city of Philadelphia decided its most retail heavy thoroughfare's should enjoy a makeover, which led to all-day jackhammering through the remainder of the summer. That, coupled with the constant song of sirens and horns, brought "normal" noises to a whole new level. Interestingly enough, the only thing that would consistently wake her was the crinkling of paper.
So I canceled our Inquirer subscription for a few months.
The result? My daughter can sleep through anything. In a post I did months ago, I talked about the problem with smoke detectors not being able to effectively rouse children from their sleep, including my daughter. So sound a sleeper, she did not even budge when our security system tripped in the middle of the night a few months back, and the scream of the alarm was heard by our neighbors. She really can sleep through anything.
My son, not so much.
He sleeps well enough, but without fail, the one thing that always wakes him up is the phone. No matter how long he's been sleeping, or how quickly I grab the receiver, he is up with the most pitiful little whimper you've ever heard.
I've tried lowering the ringer, or even turning it off all together, but our phone does not have that option! This fancy phone system we purchased just for this house will not be silenced!
I've actually considered just pulling all the jacks out of the wall for the nap time cycle, but that is maddening in its own right.
Any sympathizers? No one else seems to complain about this.
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1 comment:
I think this is a second child thing. Brendan Mahoney, age 2-1/2, sleeps 12 hours a night with a guaranteed three-hour nap from 1pm-4pm. Still. He has slept through our cleaning woman accidentally vacuuming in his room at 8am one morning; she almost had a heart-attack when she saw him in there. Patrick, now 17 months, wakes up from the slightest sound including a waffle popping out of the toaster. At first I thought it was his love of breakfast, however the dropping of medicine-bottle caps and the emptying of the dishwasher also rouse him, as does every noise above a whisper. Our phone remains 'off the hook' every day from around 12:30-3pm.
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