Here goes

This is our first posting and as I write I am doing so quickly because Cecelia Rose- aka Chickpea, aka Ceci (Italian for chickpea)- nicknames we haven't started using for her yet but anticipate using some time soon, is crying her little heart out up in her crib. We have been trying to get her to take naps and go to sleep at night on her own, and it is painful. We are making noticeable progress, but it is soooooo hard. I go up to comfort her and shush her every few minutes, but don't know if that is helpful or harmful. She seems to then remember all over again why she should be upset, and work up into a bigger lather than before I came in. Sigh. Our first big challenge of parenthood. Luckily, I have nothing at all to do today except mother. Too often I have been filling up my days with other things to do. Which is why, no doubt, I have not had the focus or time to help her fall asleep on her own. Or, is it just not right, not natural, not compassionate, to 'make' her go to sleep by herself at the age of 5 months? I am learning that no one has that answer, definitively.