Her Second Wind

It's nothing new that Vivian is a night owl. But lately, she's been getting a major boost of energy when she turns into this nocturnal creature.

Every night, we have the same routine. Eat some veggies and fruit, take a bath (maybe), get in pjs, play for a little bit, and go to sleep. Gavin rarely has a problem with this schedule. Unlike his early days which were plagued with Somniphobia, Gavin is really good about going down for the night whenever we want him to (as long as it's after 6pm). Vivian, on the other hand, will only go to sleep if SHE wants to go to sleep. She's a spitfire at night. Over the last few months, we've learned that there is a very small window of sleep opportunity with Miss V. If we try to put her down too early or too late, she will not have anything to do with it. She'll scream at the top of her lungs- forever. She doesn't give up. And, we're also not willing to let her get to the point where she would give up for two reasons. One, it's mean to let her cry for longer than 8 minutes. And two, if she cries for too long, Gavin will wake up. And then we'll have two awake babies instead of just one. So, Vivi usually wins. The interesting part is that when we bring her back downstairs for another hour or so, she gets a "second wind" of sorts. She has more energy during this time than she does at any other time of the day. She's happy, energetic, and really hilarious. For some reason, she takes this time alone with mom and dad to do all kinds of funny things. She'll walk up and down the coffee table (while holding onto it for support) laughing and giggling while looking at us. Or, she'll crawl all over the place while we pretend to chase her and eat her fat belly. She squeaks and slams her hands on the floor (because that makes you crawl faster) to get away. She'll also talk and talk and talk. She's just funny at night. Even though we wish that we could have some adult-time in the evening, Vivi's second wind is one of our favorite times of the day.