Diary of a Third Time Dad

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WEEK TWENTY-EIGHT - AUGUST 2002

Keeping our ears peeled.

I don't know how people in the old days could live without baby monitors. Now that Joshua is rolling over and even squirming forward, waking up from a nap can be hazardous to his health. The second we hear him start to move, we race upstairs to get him before he manages to roll off the edge of the bed. And there are usually several false alarms before he truly wakes up, so we are getting more exercise than we bargained for with all that stair-stepping. Actually, I guess that's a good thing.

Cheryl's Jedi senses.

I think my wife is from "a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away" because she seems to have a sixth sense about when Joshua is actually awake. Every time I hear him rustling in the baby monitor, it sounds to me like he's awake. But Cheryl will say, "No, he's just moving around a bit." And sure enough, if I go to check on him (not because I don't believe her of course, but because I'm going upstairs for some reason anyway) he'll still be sound asleep.

But somehow Cheryl can tell by the sounds through the monitor when he is actually awake, and then off she goes to get him before he tries to fly off the bed. I don't know how she does it. It all sounds the same to me. And sometimes I don't even hear anything at all.

With her Jedi powers, I'm surprised she even needs the monitor at all. She probably just turns it on so I'll get more exercise.

Monitor for lunch.

I figured out one obvious way to tell when he's awake. Instead of crying when he wakes up, he will quietly roll over to the monitor and start chewing on it. It's really quite amusing to listen to, and even more fun to sneak upstairs and watch.

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