Independent Sleeping

Ethan now has a new habit for going to bed. After we've finished the whole toothbrush routine, and have put the trucks in their sleeping spot, and changed into night-time diapers and finally are ready for bed, he climbs into his crib and starts to arrange his teddy bears, blankets and pillows to his satisfaction. I'll ask him if he wants me to sing him a song, and he'll usually say "mm-HMMM" and lay his head down on his pelo-pelo (the red embroidered one). By the time I'm done singing that one song, he's already saying "bye bye mom" or "night-night." The first few times he did that, I was kind of shocked. My baby, asking me to leave? What the heck is going on here?! But then I realized what was going on: He wanted me to go so that he could get out of bed, wander around his room, and play a little bit before going to sleep. Sometimes he even laid his head on his pillow and faked a few snores before looking up at me with these wide-open eyes and saying "night night, mom." Yeah, sure, kid; you're so sleepy right now. Fine, I'll leave so you can get on with whatever you're planning.

It's sweet, that he wants to get himself to sleep on his own... but also a bit sad for me to think that this is just one small sign that he is growing up and becoming self-sufficient. Yes, we have a long way to go, but this is just the beginning of the long, slow, sometimes painful process of him pulling away from me and becoming Ethan. Oh, the joys and sorrows of motherhood. Wasn't it just a minute ago that things were like this?