Waking up sleepy Soren......

There is nothing cuter than a sleeping baby.......  I freely admit I'm a little weird, I like to take photos of my babies (and toddlers and preschooler!) sleeping.  From the tiny sleeping newborn, through to the big girl cuddled up with her million toys and pillows - I love to see them all peaceful and asleep.  Oh, and the silence is pretty nice too!

I wrote this post over a year ago about all the little things I love about sleeping babies and toddlers.  At the time, I knew it wouldn't be long until Soren was no longer that little sleepy baby.  Now he is two, he is all toddler. Bossy, chatty, cute, demanding and tantrumy!  I still love his little cute sleepy faces though and the crazy bed hair and sleepy eyes.  I love that he still has a nice long day sleep -most days, except the ones when I really need him to sleep longer so I can get stuff done!

He is still in his cot and his sleeping bag, and I'm very happy for him to stay in both.  There is no way I want him roaming the house or kicking his doona off a million times a night. Now the baby days are gone his cot is now adorned with pillows and many toys. His grey cat 'Mr Cat' and his blue dinosaur 'Dine'  are the favourite bedmates.

I love the sleepy look through the bars of the cot, followed by the big stretch, as I go in to get him up from a nap, then I usually get handed a dinosaur or cat!

There is usually a sleepy face, and some bleary eyes, before big grins when he realises that it's time to get up and play (or eat!)........

Soren loves to sleep on his toddler pillows. they get moved around his cot, and he is always snuggled up on them. When a pillow isn't quite enough though, why not use a stuffed cat for a pillow? We often watch him on his monitor giving Mr Cat sleepy hugs and then find him using Mr Cat as an extra pillow!

Before his recent hair cut, the bed hair was epic! It was oh so cute though....... Hey Mum, I'm only half awake, but gosh I'm cute!

Post-haircut the bed hair isn't quite the same standard, but the cute grin and sparkling eyes are the same. Here he is waking up the morning he turned 2. Cute as a button, but definitely not a baby any more!

All the little sleepy things.......

Babies, they grow up too quick (although some days not quick enough!)..... Still, before you know it you have a toddler. One that bounces, runs, jumps (talks incessantly) and gets in and out of bed a million times a night.  Oh for the days where they snuggled up in their sleeping bags in the cot, all cute and baby-like.

Yes Søren is sleeping on his front, we do always put him down on his back, he just turns himself over as he loves to sleep on his tummy. It's a futile exercise trying to prevent it. His sister did the exact same thing from the time she could roll.

It seems like just yesterday that Astrid was this small and still in a cot and in her sleeping bags. She only moved out of the cot (at her insistence) just after she turned 2, so a little over a year ago......
Here she is waking up on her second birthday, bleary-eyed but happy to be 2!

She looked so little back then. Now she seems so grown up in her bed, with her doona (and million toys in the bed).

She is still so peaceful when she sleeps but very definitely not a baby any more.

Once they move out of a cot and are able to escape, it's a whole different world.  A world where there is the pitter patter of tiny feet padding up to your bedroom at 3am. A world where you find your toddler in the fridge helping herself to grapes at 6am.  I also didn't realise how much I'd miss sleeping bags.... knowing they are warm and it doesn't matter if the doona gets kicked off.  Astrid loved her sleeping bags and could walk around in them quite well. Unfortunately she tried to climb the stairs in them a few too many times and it was time for them to be put away. Luckily she is pretty good at keeping her doona on!  Every time I get a new size of sleeping bag out for Søren, I marvel at how quickly he is growing up.
It was just the other day his newborn sized wraps were enormous on him.......

Now many different sizes have come out, been worn and been packed away. I remember Astrid wearing all of them too.

The speed at which they grow up does make me appreciate the cute baby sleeping in his cot, because he won't be a baby for much longer.

The tiny little baby hand, sometimes resting in the funniest poses......

The peaceful, sleepy face and the dark, long eyelashes...

The funny half-asleep faces I get when he is just waking up.......

Once he has woken up enough to move, the first thing to do is to pull yourself up on the railings, give it a good chew and give Mum a big grin....

Waking up after a nice long, peaceful nap, can't be beaten (even if Mum insisted on putting you to bed before you were ready, just because you were acting tired)........

 

They are babies for such a short time. They spend so much time sleeping and even more time fighting sleep. It's nice to remember all the little cute baby things before they aren't babies any more........