Stars Align, Thora Falls Asleep in Mother's Arms

There are few things quite as narcotic for me, as a mom, than watching Thora's heavy eyelids droop, her head nod, her eyes falling back into her head. When it comes to a crib nap (as opposed to the effortless, languishing, 2-hour(!!!) naps she takes in her stroller) Thora fights sleep with everything she's got. Everything. She does what I would imagine most babies do to resist taking a nap. She rubs her eyes. She cries. She sits up or or stands, holding on to the bars of her crib. It's all very effective. I'm mean, clearly she can't fall asleep standing up, and therefore she won't miss all the excitement that might be going on during the mid-morning, like Mommy unloading the dishwasher or checking email or crawling into her own bed for a quick nap. Exciting!
But here are some of the things that I was surprised to see her work into her No Sleep repertoire. She tugs her hair. She does "mattress angels," which are like snow angels without the snow. She sings or talks her jibberish baby words. She pats the mattress like she's burping it. Her most recent technique is the tugging of her eyelashes. Really?!? And these are all things she does while she's visibly sleepy. For example, I'll be standing over the crib, jiggling her butt, giving her this nice little jostling very much like the jostle she might get while in the stroller, and she's relaxed, laying there eyes fluttering. Her eyes close. And then a second later, her eyes pop open and she begins to do furious mattress angels. It's like watching someone who is falling asleep at the wheel. You can almost imagine her thinking, "Oh my god, I just almost fell asleep. Wake Up, Thora. Wake up! Mattress Angel Mattress Angel mattress angelll..... Oh my god, I just almost fell asleep again! Tug on Eyelids, Eyelids, Eyelids..."
Of course in addition to these cute little tactics, there is the blur of the tantrum, the writhing out of my reach, the body-flopping, the inconsolable crying. Ugghh. So today, after already trying once for the nap and giving up after a couple short intervals of crying, we tried again after Georgia's walk. And it worked. Thora was exhausted, having been up since 5 am (yeah), but wasn't so tired that she wanted to swirl her fatigue into a windstorm of frustrated crying and all-around losing-it. Instead, she just went with it. She just let go of everything, all her little baby woes, worries, thoughts, curiousities, and gave in to sleep. And Oh My God, is that not the most satisfying feeling a mom of a one year old can have. Yeah, the first step will be nice, and the first real words, and the reading, and all of it. But in the context of our life now, Thora effortlessly falling asleep in my arms is about as good as it can get. Now... on to the dishes.

p.s. the above photo was taken when she was just over two months old, back when she would fall asleep all day long. At night, however...