I have never been the kind of mom to put a "shh...baby sleeping!" sign on my front door or take the phone off the hook during nap time. On the contrary, I napped my newborns in a pack-n-play right in the family room and went about my normal business around them. Newborns can sleep through just about anything and our boys quickly grew accustomed to sleeping through our regular household noises. As they got older and moved into their crib for naptime, I was still able to take phone calls, have visitors, vacuum and even practice the piano during naptime without any worry of waking them.
There is some accounting for personality, however. Though undoubtedly Liam has lived in a much noisier environment than Drew ever did, Liam is the lighter sleeper of the two. I've noticed recently that he'll wake up (especially if it's nearing the end of naptime) if Drew yells down the stairs at just the right pitch--or sings too loudly in his room across the hall. And while I did spend the better part of a naptime last weekend in Liam's room sorting clothes without waking him, I was pretty quiet. I've even found myself using the phrase, "Shhh..the baby's napping!" with Drew and his friends. I know, crazy!
Drew, on the other hand, can truly sleep through anything. Today, while he took a rare but much-needed nap, I decided to quietly dust his room. After accidentally dropping a whole bunch of legos very loudly into their bin--and not even causing a stir--I threw caution to the wind and noisily picked up everything off the floor so I could swiffer, too. Meanwhile Liam played and shouted exuberantly across the hall. Drew slept on. Remembering that when he was a baby, I'd often vacuum right under his crib as he slept (and knowing it was probably time for him to wake up anyway) I got even more brave and vacuumed the hall and stairs outside of Drew's room. He slept through it all.
Two other recent stories involving my deep sleeper:
#1 The other day we had to run several errands around town, the last being a quick stop at the local Christian bookstore. Drew loves to play with the Thomas the Tank Engine train set at this bookstore, so I told him if he was cooperative at Wal-mart, we'd spend some time playing at the "Thomas store" as he calls it. Well, by the time we finished our other errands and parked in front of the Thomas store, both boys were fast asleep. I tried for several minutes to wake Drew with no luck. Thinking maybe he really needed a nap, I headed home and attempted to carry him into the house asleep. As soon as I pulled him out of his seat, his eyes popped open and he asked, "Are we at the Thomas store? I really, really wanted to go to the Thomas store!" Since he had been exceptionally helpful at Wal-mart, we got back into the van and drove to the Thomas store. (I guess that's the beauty of living 6 blocks from downtown.)
#2 I mentioned in a previous post that we sometimes put the boys in their jammies and go for a bedtime stroll. One night a few weeks ago, we got them ready for bed and then decided to head for the Whippy Dip (our legendary local ice cream shop). I mentioned to Brad that Liam would probably fall asleep on the way there and Drew immediately piped up, "I'm not going to fall asleep! I'm having ice cream!" Alas, by the time we arrived, both boys were sacked out. After waiting in a rather long line, and fielding many humorous comments about our sons slumbering away in the double stroller, we decided we'd better order Drew a small cone in case he woke up on the way home. After getting our ice cream, Brad decided it really would be most kind to just wake him up. We tried everything we could think of, including practically sticking his nose right into the cone, before Daddy finally ate the extra cone (such sacrifices we make as parents!) and we walked home and put the boys to bed. Here's the best part: the next morning Brad was coming out of the shower just as Drew woke up. First words out of his mouth, I kid you not: "I wanted Whippy Dip!!"
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