Type A: He Gets it Honest

Before Nathan was born, Mark and I took a lot of flak for the process we used to pick a name. We both had very specific criteria... Him: easy to spell, easy to pronounce, no nicknames (and therefore "nothing else to explain" on the first day of school when the teacher stops upon reading Goettsch on the class roster). Me: doesn't end in "k" sound (which is just too much with our last name), more than one syllable, not yuppie.

So we had it narrowed down to several choices, and then Mark plotted them on a graph, based on popularity over the last century. We didn't want our child to have a Grandpa name, after all, or one that is becoming a little too trendy and would make him one of four in his kindergarten class.
Know what? It turns out that most people don't use charts and graphs to choose baby names. Who knew? This realization is based on people's reactions when I tell them about our naming process, and the looks on my coworkers' faces when Mark's emailed graph came off the printer tray at work. Apparently most people just choose something they like. Is it really that simple for other people? I mean, I know it's dorky, but we found the information in our graph pretty valuable.

So after Nathan came late (SO not our child), I told myself that I would try to tone down the whole type-A thing, since it must not be his thing (is it type-A to assume that a baby's late delivery is related to his personality and potential type-A-ness?)... I promised myself I wouldn't force him into a schedule (eat every three hours, even if it means waking baby? HA!), let him be however he wants to be, eat how much he wants to eat, etc. No ounce-counting or clock-watching for us. And even though it goes against everything that is Mark-and-Erin, we have been surprisingly comfortable as non-scheduled parents. More than comfortable... it feels really good, actually. More like following my own instinct than I ever would have expected, pre-mommyhood.

And I am pleased that my relaxed attitude (well, as relaxed as I ever am... I mean, let's be real) with Nathan's sleep allowed him to prove to me that he indeed could put himself into a routine without my help. He slept "through the night" (7 hours) when he was about three weeks old, and consistently did at least 8 hours in one shot for the next month or more - now he's up to 11 hours, with no complaints. Best. Baby. Ever.

I will admit that as Mark and I were letting Nathan set his own schedule, I did get sort of anxious about what that schedule might be (all those books kept telling me I should be focusing on it, and it's taking me a long time to be truly confident in following my own instincts when they disagree with the books), so we did take some pretty detailed observations down. And put them in a chart. I mean, it's our way.

I guess some things die hard after all.