Sleep.

After weeks of having too little of it (both Baby and Mama), I checked out a dozen or so library books on getting the wee one to sleep for longer stretches at night. (All gentle, no-cry, very loving, of course.) Strangely, I haven't had to implement a single strategy, as Ben, for the last five nights, has fallen out fairly early for him, though still in his charmingly unscheduled way--between 8:30 and 10:00 p.m.--and awoken only once--around 2 a.m. or maybe 3:22 a.m. or perhaps 5:14 a.m.--before crashing again until 8:00ish a.m. At other times, he has napped IN HIS CRIB. My mother and her friend claim it's because of the solids, but he's had solids for the past four weeks or so and only just started this week with the whole sleeping-for-more-than-three-hours-at-a-time business. But babies can go through sleeping/night-waking phases. And breastfed babies need to awaken more frequently anyhow. It's true--Dr. Sears and his many publications tell me so! Why would a book like to a person?

Whatever the cause, it's bliss. But also like waiting for the inevitable storm. And, yes, he's still in the itty-bitty bassinet each night. We did, however, retire the swaddler this week in favor of a sleep sack. In recent weeks, Speck had been wearing the much-adored, much-too-small swaddler in the manner of a toga, then of a tube dress (sassy!), then of a bellydancing skirt.

The next great concern and debate: where to drop Boy at night now that he's beefy (tofu-y?) enough to drag his bassinet around on a string like a pull-toy? His crib, you say? Ha.

Big fish in a little sea.