Kelly Olson Creative

We never sleep trained, and likely never will. It’s just not for us. So we fully expected Nora to take a bit longer in establishing her own sleep routines and skills. And recently, she’s been doing so well. She just about puts herself to sleep in the evening. Stirs a bit throughout the night, and barring any pacifier rescue missions, she sleeps until morning time.

I think the expectation that babies should be sleeping through the night by a certain time can be daunting to new parents. When in reality, all families function differently and there really isn’t a system by which we can compare each of our separate experiences. For us, we focused on her behavior and emotions throughout the day. And even when she had her most wakeful nights, would still be happy as ever during the day. That was a clue to me that we’d get there eventually. She was learning, and this was just a season.

So even though our nights are starting to level out, our summer days have remained full with loads of fun. It’s been a really wonderful season. We find time for play in each day, make room for little adventures, and soak up every inch of the summer light that creeps its way into our house.

My favorite is when the sun bathes the playroom in warm afternoon light. Sometimes I’m right on the floor with Nora stacking blocks or encouraging some crawls, and other times I’m peering around the corner from the kitchen while prepping dinner. But no matter what, I try to take note of it and remind myself that come the long dark days of winter, I’ll be missing this light something fierce.