Sleep and Blankets

Ellie is a fairly good sleeper. Somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 of the time she sleeps till 7:00 or later through the night. She likes to nap and hardly fights it. Lately, we could complain some about naps, but we attribute that to the joys of teething. Really, we know a number of jealous people when it comes to Ellie and sleep compared to their babies, so we won't complain.

The funny thing about Ellie is HOW she sleeps: usually covered in blankets. And what she does when she wakes up....

So, Ellie no longer sleeps like a baby with her arms up or fencing. Steve was kind enough to point this out to me last night. But, I didn't notice it so much, so I'm ok. She does like to lay on her hands still. And sometimes she ends up on a side, occasionally almost to the point of sleeping on her stomach.

But she ALWAYS has to cuddle with a blanket as she goes to sleep. This means that sometimes she sleeps like this.
Or like this.

Oftentimes you have to look to find a baby under the covers because she is has pulled all the blankets over her head to some degree. At Dad and Kerry's one time while she napped she pulled all the blankets on her and we could just see a single foot sticking out from a pile of blankets.
This always makes us smile when we go in and check on Ellie during naps and before we go to bed each night.

But, not as much as her wake-up positions. Admittedly, I don't know what position Ellie is in when she first wakes up. The same one as when she is sleeping would be my assumption. I am a firm believer in letting Ellie be when she wakes up from naps and in the morning until she needs something. I want her to be able to entertain herself and play on her own. And, I am selfish and like my sleep in the mornings.

This girl has become so active when she is awake in the crib that we even had to put a bumper in. I know, SIDS risk, but she's fallen asleep right against it once with no problem, and it beats resetting her every couple of hours and calming her down when she gets mad because her head is jammed against a hard wood slat. Or, getting woken up by angry screaming because while she was happy turning 90 degrees and kicking the crib toy or slats, she didn't want her foot stuck through the slats...

Anyway, these are just a few of the funny positions we have found her in as of late. To truly appreciate these, you have to know that when we put Ellie to bed now she gets put at the far left end of the crib feet first - so that it takes her a little longer to end up with her head jammed against the far right side...

This one is from going in to reset her one night when she didn't think she should go to bed just yet.

These are the waking up pictures.

I know, those parents who are jealous of how well Ellie sleeps are even more jealous now. This girl cracks. me. up.