Gen Leung Piano Studio, Oakville Ontario

Can you tell I'm an Oscar Wilde fan?

Sleep has become my obsession for almost the past year. When I was pregnant, sleep was not always my friend and I spent many nights awake anticipating the arrival of Ellis (who at that point was always referred to as Baby) and staring at my very swollen ankles wondering if they would ever go back to their regular size! And once Ellis was born, I spent many nights awake feeding this amazing little being who had come into my life and turned my whole life upside down.

Now, that I'm sleeping and Ellis is sleeping, I'm still obsessed with sleep and the amount of sleep Ellis gets. Thanks to Andy's cousin, Angie who has four kids of her own, she told me about a wonderful book that teaches parents to teach their babies to sleep. I know there are opposing views on the book, but I think it's the best book written for parents about the way babies and children sleep. Healthy Sleep Habit, Happy Child is right now on the top of my list of recommended books for all parents and parents to be.

I'm so lucky to say that my little man sleeps through the night and has since he was four months old, and he takes three good solid naps a day. I miss him terribly while he's sleeping and I am proud to admit that I sneak into his room to watch him sleep constantly throughout the day. And my favourite thing to see is when I go into Ellis' room to get him from his naps, or in the morning, he greets me with a huge, gummy smile! (no teeth have come through yet!)

There was a time before we started sleep training Ellis that he started getting dark circles under his eyes! I was actually shocked to see an infant with dark circles and thought that they would fade once he slept through the night... and at that point, I thought he would be sleeping through the night at about 8-9 months. When I finally got my hands on a copy of Dr. Weissbluth's book, and started getting Ellis on a sleep schedule, the circles faded and I had such a happy baby on my hands.

We were out to dinner last night with my parents and my previous piano teacher and her husband and we saw a family there with a baby girl just slightly younger than Ellis. She seemed to be suffering from the dark circles under her eyes and was just so cranky (which I have learned from Ellis that she was clearly needing her bed.... Ellis was cranky too and wanted to get home to his bed). And having seen this little girl just wanting so much to be in bed, like Ellis, I just wanted so much to say something... but didn't want to be one of those people So I'm happy that even though it was a VERY HARD three weeks of sleep training, Ellis loves his schedule, he loves his bed, and he knows that once he is in his bed, he is there to sleep.