Keeping Me Guessing
I think I was wrong.
Not just wrong, but I had it completely backwards. I used to say that E was an extrovert and G was our introvert, but after a week of vacation, I’m rethinking that. We all have a bit of vacation hangover right now. It was a long week, a tiring week, and the most fun week ever. Totally worth it, but reentry is hard.
So as I’m watching how both of the small ones react to reentry and think about how their energy levels fluctuated over the week, I’m thinking that I’m changing my mind: E might be an introvert and G might be an extrovert!
I’ll call E an outgoing introvert. He still loves people, and will run up to them on the beach or wave to them as they walk by. But as the week went on, his naps got longer, and sometimes he’d start passing out wherever he was if we missed bedtime for a few minutes. His need for downtime was increasing, even as he was super excited to see all the people when he woke up. Also since we’ve gotten home, he’s having a hard time. He’s cranky and emotional and really having a hard time adjusting to post vacation life. It was quite apparent he’s had enough, and now he’s ready for some rest and structure.
Baby G on the other hand? I don’t even know what happened to him this week. At first we though he was teething (maybe he is?), and then he developed a fever and it was apparent he was fighting something off, and that might affect his schedule a bit. But really? I think it was the people. He showed us loud and clear that he wants to be a part of it. He stopped sleeping. Completely. No more naps. No more normal bedtime. Suddenly he was wide awake 3 hours past bedtime and there was no convincing him to go down.
We’d walk into the bedroom and turn on the sound machine, and G would SCREAM and cry as loud as he could. Just miserable. You’d pick him up and he’d crane his neck around to look towards the hall, and practically jump out of your arms trying to leave the room. And as soon as you left the room and walked to where the people were? Crying instantly stopped, happiest baby ever. He wanted to be around the people, and suddenly there was no sign he was tired. He was staying up hours longer than what’s normal for him.
We blamed it on the sickness, but the fact that he was so happy makes me think he’s just an extrovert who wanted to be with the family. It might have also been some combination, but it just shocked me how much a 7 month old could express to me that he didn’t want to sleep, he wanted to be awake please. Even now that we’re home, when he gets up from a nap he spins around and looks down the hall to see if anyone’s here, and when he realizes there isn’t, he calms down. His sleep, by the way? 100% back to normal as soon as we said goodbye to the last guests. Back to taking nice long naps, and bedtime before 6 without a fight.
Basically he super confused us all week, because we had no idea what was going on. But he was mostly happy, so we went with it. Except when he wasn’t, but a dose of Motrin usually fixed that pretty quickly, or some quality time with an aunt or grandparent. For his first trip out of state, first time sleeping away from home, first crazy vacation week, he did great!
They both did. E adjusted great, slept great, and thrived on all the outdoor time. So while it will be nice to get back to routines, we’re already looking forward to next year!