SOL19 Slice #31 Falling asleep

I am participating in the
 Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOL19)
All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day, every day for the month of March 2019.

A BIG, BIG THANK YOU!! to Two Writing Teachers for providing this unique opportunity
for teacher-writers to share and reflect!!

I did it, we did it - 31 days of SOLSC! Yay, us! 

What should be the topic of my final blogpost of the month? I decided it has to be my granddaughter, Frog.* She gives me such joy and inspiration, why not end the month with a little more sharing about her?

Today, I had the precious joy of watching Frog fall asleep in her bassinet, through the baby monitor. (Oh my, how technology has changed since I had babies...having a camera in the room, to see with your own eyes what is going on...this is amazing.) I had prepped the room for her nap, drawing the blinds so that the bright sunny day wouldn't peek in too much, and turning on the noise machine so that she could listen to the soft sound of waves rather than our voices in the next room. Then I laid her down in her bassinet, slipping her into her sleep suit, and popping her pacifier in her mouth. I tapped the pacifier a few times with my index finger, while stroking her hair with my other hand, and whispering sweet wishes, "Have a good nap, my sleepy one." 

Then I slipped out of the room, and over to the monitor. I was curious - how does she settle in? I watched her touch the pacifier, pull it out of her mouth, put it back into her mouth a couple times. So sweet. At five months, she is just figuring out all the possibilities that hands can do. Then she seemed to get a bit bored with this and took the pacifier out of her mouth, and held it straight out at the side of her body, up in the air, studying it pensively, and singing a sweet song...oooooh, oooooh, eeeeoooooh. Her sweet coos lasted only a minute or so, when she simply let it go, dropping the pacifier into the bassinet, and immediately closing her eyes. Frog was asleep. Yes, really. Just like that!

What's funny is - I was purposefully watching through the monitor, with my notebook out, thinking, oh, this will be a good slice. I thought I'd have all these baby antics to describe. I thought she might fret and that I'd have to go in and check on her. I definitely thought there'd be more to it than two minutes of pacifier adoration followed by sleep. Ha! 

I told my son that I have no memory of him or his brothers being that easy about taking a nap. May it always be so!

I also think, wow - this little one instinctively takes good care of herself. I have a lot to learn from her.




Again, thank you, Two Writing Teachers, for this amazing month of writing and sharing. It has been very special to read and get to know other teacher-writers. It has definitely been a way for me to take care of myself. I have loved participating!!

*FYI - I've decided to write fictitious names for my loved ones - however clunky that may seem - in the interest of preserving whatever shreds of anonymity one really has in this world. I'm going to call my grandchild 'Frog' - I love frogs...as a spirit animal, they exemplify renewal, transformation, metamorphosis, and so much more.