Sleep, or whatever you call it

Finn, our baby cheetah who ate every two hours, round-the-clock, never-miss-a-meal, thank-you-Holt-family-genes until he was 16 months old (no joke, this kid went through 24 ozs of milk in the middle of the night until very, very recently), was his mother's definition of normal.

Until Poppie was born.

She is so utterly civilized in her daily routine, it makes me want wrap my poor new-mother self of two years ago up in a big soft blanket and say 'there, there, this too will pass' and know that it is true. I used to listen to the mothers from our baby class talk about their 4,5,6 month olds giving them a night or two or seven per week of complete sleep-through-the-night rest and it would make me cry with envy.

And once the tears started, Nick would take pity on me and send me downstairs with the fan on loud and take Finn and three four bottles of pumped milk for the night while I slept like a madwoman.

But those days are over. For now at least. Sort of.

Poppie wakes up in the morning and goes to sleep at night. She eats during the day and only occasionally snacks at night, typically allowing me 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night. She plays when she is awake and goes to sleep easily when it is bedtime. She is pretty much a new mother's dream of a 3 month old.

Unfortunately, the cheetah still hasn't mastered the art of sleeping through the night and makes frequent forays into mother's den at all wee hours to see what mother and the new kitten are up to.

We're sleeping Finn, go to bed, I will say. To which he will turn on the light to see if our eyes are closed.

And this will continue a couple of times before I lose my gentle cat mother touch and slam the cheetah's bedroom door shut for the night. Which leads to him wailing and me feeling like a terrible mother who knows she will be much, much more terrible with no sleep so it must be.

Last night Nana spent the night and witnessed firsthand the cheetah's nighttime ritual. When she asked what he was doing up, he explained to her that he was hungry. Which led to feeding him and the conclusion that the door must not only be shut, but a bowl of food placed in there so he can settle his night hunger.

Hopefully tonight we will have a happily sleeping Daddy-Mama-little kitten while the wild cheetah is in his lair with all the things he needs to sooth his wild night ways!