And that has made all the difference.

No, this is not a post paying homage to Robert Frost.

It's about sleep. 

Hank has never been a great napper. For the first eight months, he slept in a sling on my chest because he just couldn't settle himself at the 45-minute mark (which is the length of an infant's REM cycle). Then for awhile, I nursed him to sleep and placed him in his crib for naps, but he just could not sleep past 45 minutes. Sometimes I'd get an hour, but that was pretty rare. I figured out pretty quickly that if I went in there, nursed him back down, and then held him for the rest of his nap, he would sleep soundly and thus, sleep better at night. So I would hold him for about 1.5 hours on the weekends and a couple days during the week when Johnny was occupied with something else. But the guilt! Oh, the guilt. I'd be sitting in there holding Hank, knowing I couldn't put him down or he'd wake, listening to Johnny talk to himself down the hall, sometimes coming to Hank's door and saying, "Mommy? Can you come play with me, Mommy?"And the fact that he wanted to play with me and I couldn't (or wouldn't, depending on how you look at it) come out really wrought havoc on Johnny's and my relationship.

FINALLY, as in, for the last nine days or so, he has started sleeping for a full two hours. Sometimes longer, depending on how long our morning was. And I don't have to do anything at the 45 minute mark. I guess he finally got to the age where one nap is enough and is no longer overtired by the time I put him down.

Napping like a boss.

Now Johnny and I have some one-on-one time together and it's great. I'll tell Johnny, "I'm going to go put Hank down for his nap. I'll be right back, okay?" And he'll say, "Okay. Then we'll have some Johnny and Mommy time?" It's really nice that my independent, will-not-hesitate-to-leave-me-behind-in-a-public-place little boy wants to spend time with me. Hank's napping really HAS made all the difference.

Product of Johnny and Mommy time.