Poor baby

Poor Alex had such a hard time falling asleep last night. He was already starting to get tired during his dinner time at about 5:45; he tried to rub food into his eyes. Actually, it was one of those meal times where about as much food went into his eyes and hair as his mouth, so pretty much par for the course. He yawned and rubbed his eyes through his bath. We lied down on the bed for bedtime stories, prayers, and some yummy milk. He was fairly calm and relaxed as I sang him a lullaby.

Then I put him into his crib. He proceeded to cry for about 20 minutes. I kept waiting for him to calm down and fall asleep, as usual. But it only escalated. I went in to hold and comfort him, and he was quiet as soon as I picked him up. The second I put him down again, the screaming started again. After a while of waiting and hoping for him to calm down, I went to get him. We sat together on the couch for a while, and he was very content. I put him back in his crib, and he became frantic.

So finally I recognized that he was refusing to be separated from me, and we went to lie in my bed together. I hugged him, and he started talking to me. Very earnestly, he told me, "Boof, boof, boof, aboof. Boof, aboof, boof." Over and over again. After lots of rocking and singing, he finally fell asleep, about 3 hours after his normal bedtime.

When he woke up this morning, I told him, "Boof, boof, aboof." He thought it was hysterical. Since then he has been saying something like "Mphth. Bbpff. Ffffff."

I checked his temperature a few minutes ago, and it is slightly elevated. Also, the bottom teeth seem just that much closer to coming out. So perhaps his clinginess last night was due to teething?