"Is this going to be forever?"

A year or so ago, a video floated around the internet, of a little boy coming out of anesthesia after a dentist appointment.  The poor little guy had no life experience to help him out with the aftereffects of the anesthesia -- he had no idea what was happening to him, or if it was going to last forever.


This week, David and I have been quoting that particular line from the video ("Is this going to be forever??") to each other, because it's so apt for what's been going on with Joshua...

Our little guy has learned how to roll over from his back to his belly!  Which is a great developmental milestone to reach (our boy is so strong!), but I'm afraid it's been a very disconcerting one to poor Joshua... He's been rolling over in his crib, waking himself up as he's drifting off to sleep, and it's clear that he doesn't like it.  :(

His comfort move for a while now has been to roll over onto his side while drifting off to sleep, clutching at either the extra fabric of his sleep sack or a little stuffed animal.  A few days ago, that comforting side roll developed into a full-fledged roll onto his belly -- and I'm pretty sure the very first time that happened, he fell onto his belly, which startled him awake.  He thought he was going into his nice, comfy side roll, and all of a sudden his belly is whomped and he found himself in his playtime position on his belly.  He started screaming then -- as though he were asking the world WHY this terrible thing was happening to him, and why he couldn't just be left alone to fall asleep.

Since then, almost every nap has started out with a long cycle of him rolling onto his belly and not liking it one bit.  We've been trying to leave him on his belly for a little bit, to help him get used to being face down in his crib (either to learn how to sleep on his belly, or to remember how to roll back over onto his back), but it hasn't really worked so far.  While he no longer screams in fear immediately upon finding himself on his tummy, he certainly isn't happy, and his whimpers of frustration quickly escalate into full-out crying if we don't come back in and flip him over.  We're really hoping he'll turn the corner and grow out of this soon.

In the meantime, though, we're trying to find the humor in this situation.  The poor little guy just doesn't know what's happening to him, you know?  He's on his back in his crib, rolling to his side for comfort as he always has, and then all of a sudden his world is flipped upside down.  He hasn't yet realized that he's the one doing it to himself, and that he can control the situation.  He's stuck on his belly, and really doesn't know whether it's going to be forever or not!  Poor wee guy!