Rapid advances in mobility, retreats in sleeping

3 weeks ago, the little spud began to turn over on his face at night, and, because he was asleep, forgot how to turn back.. I would be awoken by a piteous mewl, quickly escalating to a scream, and have to go turn him over, and then watch as he slowly turned over onto his side, stopped, and then, just as I crept away, kept turning, back onto his face, and then began to cry again. REPEAT.. REPEAT. After a few days, he learned how to sleep on his face. Just in time for..

2 weeks ago, the little spud began to turn over onto his face, and then up to his hands and knees, then essentially he was stuck and would cry.. I would go in, calm him, nurse him (or not if possible, but sometimes it is simply easier to feed him than go through long minutes - and nighttime minutes are very long - of rocking, soothing etc), and calm him down, put him down, and then watch as he slowly turned onto his side, stopped, turned onto his face, stopped, appeared to sleep, and then, just as I crept away, kept going, struggling up to his hands and knees, at which point he would begin to cry, with a 'what the hell am I doing here?' look on his face. REPEAT.. REPEAT.. Things did not improve much, until..

1 week ago, the little spud began to turn over onto his face, and then up to his hands and knees, and then flip over to a seated position, then essentially he was stuck and would cry.. I would go in, calm him, nurse him.. okay okay, you get it..

the point being that I am TIRED, that the poor little spud is seemingly always confused by how he got into this new position, and never sure how to lie down again. The other night I had to get him into bed with me and hold him in a full body-lock in order for him to get back to sleep. Every time I let him just lie beside me, I would be almost asleep and then hear the inevitable progression from back to side to face to hands and knees to sitting to whimpering confusion.

I have been trying to figure out why this irresistible urge to sit up- is it simply just the need to practice a new skill? Is it an attempt to test my parental patience? (how many times will she come in to rescue me?) Is it simple exhausted confusion? Obstinance? Should I admire this as dogged determination or fear it as a harbinger of future resistance to my authority?

The freaking books say to 'teach him, whilst awake, how to lie down again'.. Well I never taught him how to sit up, and her won't even imitate me by sticking out his tongue, so why would he imitate me going from a crawling position to a seated one? I don't think he even realizes that we are the same species yet! And I don't have to contend with the care and balancing of a Massive Head..

HMM.. We are off to England for the next month, I fear that he will end up sleeping with us every night, increasing his boobie fixation, decreasing my total amount of sleep, patience and sanity, and setting us all up for some major 'crying it out' when we get back. I can't let him cry it out now when he is clearly unable to figure out how to get back down, and I don't see the point of instituting a crying it out approach when he will be sleeping in several different houses over the next month, where my main objective as a guest will be to keep Jack from crying.. so much for my resistance to co-sleeping..

p.s. he seems to be getting his first tooth, bringing a ridiculous surge of pride to Martin and me, for an accomplishment that neither of us brought about, nor really can we attribute this to Jack, but still, We are Proud Parents of One-Tooth Jack.