The one where Charlotte is too cool for school

And by "school", I mean "being rocked to sleep".

Yes, that's right. My tiny little baby who isn't even four months old yet has decided that she doesn't want to be rocked to sleep anymore. She just wants to be put in her crib and she'll fall asleep on her own, thank you very much.

This makes Mommy very sad ... and very thankful at the same time.

I hear of a lot of parents having a ridiculously difficult time getting their babies to sleep at all, so I really should not be complaining that my baby is sleeping, sleeping for long stretches, sleeping for long stretches after falling asleep on her own...

(Can I track down all those people who, during my pregnancy, told me that I would never sleep again once the baby came? Remember those people? Ha! I have a magic sleeping baby, y'all!)

But it does bum me out that she's becoming so independent so quickly. I mean, not only will she not sleep on us at all, but there's no way we can rock her to sleep anymore. She'll doze in our arms, but she won't get into a good deep sleep until we put her down in her bed. It's almost like rocking with us is just too much stimulation and she needs to relax comfortably in her own bed to sleep. She wiggles and squirms and makes noises until we put her down in her crib and then she relaxes like "ahhhhh, it's bedtime!"

It also bums me out because I feel like I missed out on all that prime snuggly time when she was a newborn. Because of our horrible breastfeeding issues, I had a really hard time dealing with her when she was young and liked being held and snuggled all the time. Now, she's older and more curious - she doesn't want to sit on our laps or cuddle for very long. She just wants to go and explore. I'm a bit angry that I couldn't enjoy her as much as I deserved to when she was little. I want those two and a half weeks back. I want to lay on the couch with her all snuggled up on my chest, fast asleep ... but she won't have any of that now.

But, in the long run, I know this is a good thing. She obviously has a secure attachment and feels safe and happy falling asleep on her own. She knows that she'll be well-rested and that when she wakes up, our smiling faces will peer over the side of her crib and she'll come out and play with us. I like the fact that (thus far) she's not crying in her bed because she has to go to sleep. I like that (knock on wood) we won't have to do any sleep training with her. Sleep is something that we don't have to worry about and that's really a wonderful thing in the Land O' Parenting.

At least I can live vicariously through pictures...