The post we've all been waiting for...

Odegaard baby sleeps through night, mostly.
(Mommy doesn't even come close.)
Seven months after her birth, Kalina Odegaard, baby, sleeps through the night.

This phenomenon is defined here as sleeping until morning without needing any parental intervention.

"If you consider 5:09 morning, then I made it!" exclaims the baby girl.

Her mommy, giddy but groggy, couldn't be more proud. "Everyone told me this would happen someday," Mommy slurred. "I stopped believing them long ago."

The baby alternated between happily cooing and hungrily fussing until her mommy came and got her at 5:27.

When asked how she felt after a full night's rest, Mommy responded: "What do you mean? I woke up every hour and a half and I hardly slept at all after 3:45. About half of those wakings, though, the baby was quiet." Her eyes glazed over before she added, "Kalina fussed at 3:00 and 3:45 before waking again at a little after 5:00. I decided that was just about good enough."

The young girl was caught up in the celebratory spirit this morning, her Uncle Tom's birthday, smiling at everything and even eating a few bites of the solid-meal breakfast of banana and oatmeal her mommy ordered to help make up for the skipped nighttime feeding.

"Mommy said she's making me a cake to celebrate, but I know it's really for the birthday party. That's okay, I don't know what cake is anyway," mentioned Kalina.

The girl easily went down for both morning and afternoon naps, and was generally cooperative throughout the day.

"I think she does better when she sleeps," commented a chipper-yet-also-drowsy Daddy. "I think we all do better when she sleeps."

Mommy is looking forward to a future of the occasional 8-hour night of sleep. However, she may not get there soon. "I've been suffering from insomnia, plus random wake-ups during the night, not to mention the fact that I wake with every noise the baby makes. I'm lucky if I get a 3-hour stretch," she complained for everyone to hear.

"Mommy said we're going to sleep-train her now!" giggled Kalina. "I hope we use the cry-it-out method" she muttered, becoming serious all of a sudden.

The Odegaard parents used a combination of cry-it-out training as well as lots of patience to achieve the desired result of a night of sleep.

"Well, we're not there yet," Daddy warned. "But it does seem like she's finally developmentally ready to sleep long periods of time. She's been waking later and later for her feeding the past week or two, and we can finally consider it morning," he said with a slight groan. "Mommy wanted to celebrate, but all I could think of was 'great, we're up extra early this morning!'"

The family will be turning over a new leaf with the onset of sleep-filled nights. Daddy has been filling in for Mommy during the early mornings with the baby, and will soon get a well-deserved chance to sleep in for a change. Kalina will use her extra sleep to process the millions of things she's learning each day.

Mommy has big plans as well: "With all the extra energy, I plan to write a book on sleep training that reaches out to other suffering parents. I may also start a foundation to fund hotel stays for tired, broken mommies and daddies who just need a break. And after that," she added, "I'll take on a full-time job or two, run for office, build a solar-powered house, tame lions and sew Kalina's entire summer wardrobe. That should keep me busy for a week or two."

She noted crankily that she actually hasn't had a good night of sleep since last April, pregnancy having interfered until the baby took over.

"The last night of sleep before I went into labor was particularly bad," Mommy remembers. "And labor started as I put my head on the pillow that evening. I felt cheated," she admitted.

And so the Odegaards are celebrating their good fortune, glad it's a Saturday so they can spend the day together.

"Maybe I'll even sleep through again tonight!" quipped the baby.

Date night

6:45 p.m. Babysitter, my friend Anna, arrives.
6:50 p.m. I put a drowsy-but-awake baby down in her crib, turn out the lights, and close the door.
6:50 p.m. and 3 seconds. I'm free!!!
6:51 p.m. Matt and I try to describe to the babysitter what kind of cries she may hear from the monitor, and what she should do in each case (usually, sit tight). We instruct her to call us if necessary and note that our cell phones are both almost out of battery. Oh well.
6:52 p.m. Out the door and into the car.
6:53 p.m. As we pull out of the driveway, I repeat the sound advice of "Let's try not to talk about the baby." Matt sees this as an opportunity to talk about fishing, and I ban that topic as well, having heard more than enough recently.
6:54 p.m. Silence in our car.
6:55 p.m. Matt notes that we can't not talk about the baby because she's so cute. We discuss how she's about ready to crawl, and how cute she is.
6:57 p.m. With baby talk safely out of our system, we actually branch into other topics.
7:02 p.m. We arrive at the restaurant, an Italian place we've chosen partly because it's close and partly because we can get a nice, sit-down meal that makes us feel like real human beings without breaking the bank.
7:03 p.m. We're seated.
7:04 p.m. Kalina makes a peep back at home. I pull out my cell phone and put it on the table, expecting a phone call. Nothing happens.
7:15 p.m. I begin to--what do you call it? Relax? I find words flowing from my mouth that are neither describing poop color nor singing cheerful songs trying to quell crying. We discuss everything from higher education to kayaking.
7:27 p.m. We happily munch bread, salad and soup without little hands trying to pull them off the table and into our laps.
7:36 p.m. I'm a bit sad that we're not the center of attention due to our darling baby.
7:45 p.m. Kalina makes another peep. I check my cell phone again: nothing.
8:12 p.m. We boisterously laugh at some joke one of us made while the waitress comes with our check. I mentally note that we look like we could be in a commercial for the place.
8:14 p.m. We tip the waitress well because we can't believe this is working out and she seemed like a nice person. We decide it's far too early to call it a night, and head to REI to look around.
8:23 p.m. I ooh and ahh over cute, pricey trekking gear for babies who may or may not be able to walk yet.
8:31 p.m. We wonder how old Kalina will have to be before we'd feel safe taking her out in the canoe, and whether they make full-body life jackets.
8:45 p.m. It's getting late! Better be getting home.
8:50 p.m. We walk in the door and I fire questions at the babysitter. Essentially, how much did the baby scream? Did Matt make her agree not to tell me if the baby screamed? She assured me the baby had only made two peeps, which I pretty much already knew about (mommy intuition). We wonder if we even need a babysitter at all next time since Kalina was so good, and theorize we could just set a cell phone up in her nursery. Maybe???
12:59 a.m. I awaken to general fussiness, not screaming, from the nursery. It continues, off and on.
2:27 a.m. Still awake, I decide the baby can eat at 2:30--she's been waiting until after 3:00 lately but I can't take it anymore.
2:28 a.m. She falls asleep. I'm left wide awake wondering when she'll wake up.
3:07 a.m. I'm drifting off when "I'm-hungry" crying finally begins.
4: 11 a.m. Baby fed, I finally fall asleep again (thank you, insomnia).
5:15 a.m. Cat meows loudly
6:16 a.m. Baby is awake for the day, having gotten her revenge and guaranteed we won't be leaving the house on a date night again anytime soon.

Why I like 6-month-olds

Even before Kalina was born, our kind friends were telling us when "it" (meaning baby-raising) would get easier. We had estimates of 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 8 weeks, 3 months and 4 months.

I'm not saying it didn't get easier at each of these points (with the exception of 4 months, when everything went down the tubes entirely), it's just that saying that life with a baby gets easier is like saying you can get used to having a live yak attached to you at all times. Yes, it gets easier as you give in to the insurmountable major inconveniences, but that's not to be confused with "easy."

Unless you have a baby boy--my newest theory is that baby boys are easier in general than baby girls and that you can occasionally ignore them if need be (not the case with baby girls, who demand attention at all times).

So at 2 weeks, we ceased to worry whether the baby was eating enough, at 6 weeks she was giving us some longer stretches of sleep at night--often longer than she gives us now--at 8 weeks she started to entertain us and at 3 months she started to be entertained. All of these helped make it a tiny bit easier. (We won't even talk about 4 months.)

And yet, due to a combination of factors that you should know by heart by now if you follow the blog, the baby has only had about 2 total hours in her life in which I considered her "easy." She was sleeping at the time and looked like a little angel.

However, I'm feeling good about 6 months. Could this be the elusive "easier" I've been looking for? Let's consider the facts:

1. She's considerably less floppy than she used to be. I can hold her on my hip as long as my arm allows without her wilting out of my grasp. I also don't continually get the feeling that I could break her.

2. I've heard of 6-month, 9-month, 12-month and 18-month sleep regressions (as well as the horrid 4-month one), but I don't believe anything short of a half-dozen mice let loose in her crib could make her sleep any worse than she already has. It can really only get better or it won't be considered sleep.

3. She's eating more solid foods and within the next 6 months should be fed entirely with solids. In fact, someday she might eat what I cook for me and Matt. And then she'll turn 2 and won't eat anything but olives and sweet tarts, but that doesn't sound half bad to me right now.

4. I get to start planning her very first birthday party, to which you're all invited. I've already found the perfect cake pan.

5. The other day she entertained herself for a good 20 minutes with a single plastic block. She did the same thing the next day, same block. Not that she's entirely self-entertained, but this type of progress does my heart good. (Of course, I had to be sitting next to her the entire time or else she would've freaked out--we're working on that.)

6. Milestones in the first 6 months were often variations of "she lost the tongue-thrust relfex!" and "she can track circles with her eyes!" What a snooze. However, today as a 6-and-a-half-month-old she pushed herself onto her knees all by herself and also stood for a split second without holding onto anything. Now those are milestones.

7. I've quit recognizing her "I'm bored and want Mommy to entertain me" cries as reason to run to her rescue. In fact, most child experts agree that after 6 months it's fine to let babies self-soothe as long as their basic needs are taken care of. Whew. (For extra credit, tell me about a time when you tried to keep so much as a houseplant happy for 6 months straight while experts breathed down your neck through the Internet.)

8. I can make anything into a fun game simply by smiling and laughing. "And now we're going to write Mommy's grocery list! Yay!" And she laughs back, sadly having no idea that the joke is kind of on her. My other super power is the ability to make anything into a toy (sometimes she gets one step ahead of me and makes, oh, say, the electrical socket into a toy before I can hand her an empty paper towel tube instead).

So yes, I suppose "it" is easier finally now at 6 months. So when does it get easy?

Going walkering

Usually sometime after 10 months of age, but before age 15 months, babies take their very first steps. These steps are months in the making, and parents with achy backs from stooping to help guide the little tykes safely along breathe a simultaneous sigh of relief and panic at their onset. Whew, she can walk! But now our entire house is one big safety hazard. You can see what a conflicting moment it would be.

But Kalina is only 6 months old! She certainly can't be walking yet! Or is she?

A long time ago, when babies were put to sleep on their stomachs and fed meat at 5 months, the world of child-rearing included a phenomenon called the walker. We've all heard of them, so why aren't there many around anymore? One theory is that they've been replaced by the Exersaucer, a toy with lots of flashy toys designed to keep the child happy for 5 minutes. Another theory is that, like the television (and Exersaucer), otherwise reasonable adults used them as dumb babysitters to the extent that kids were plopping down the stairs in them left and right. Seriously, people.

So they have a bad rap. Is it bad, then, that when we encountered one at a grandparent's house over Christmas we couldn't wait to put Kalina in it? She loved it, and promptly figured out she could use it to chase the dog.

The other day, it ended up at our house and we put her in it again. We soon noticed that with the advent of mobility comes the advent of an opinion.

For instance, Matt at one point sat a few feet ahead of her and tried to coax her to him. She stood and stared. But once he added the incentive of a crinkly plastic bag, she headed straight for him. Then I stepped into view behind her and she was soon zooming toward me. So now we have a ranking: Mommy and plastic bag are tied, with Daddy as a close second. The kitchen garbage can is another popular target.

Another time, "I want to go into this room," Kalina said. "No," I told her, "that's where the cats' litter boxes are kept." "What's a litter box?" she responded. The girl is desperate to learn.

The walker allows Kalina to have her hands free, which in turn enables drive-by touching. She walks along with her little arms stretching to touch anything in her path. Unfortunately for her, but fortunately for the cats, her arms just barely reach past the extent of the walker. It's quite cute.

Walkering isn't the only way Kalina travels, though. She's almost learned that rolling can get her at least rather close to where she wants to be. That's right, the girl who hated being on her tummy the first 6 months of her life now wants nothing more, at the expense of diaper changes and naps.

And of course, there's still the ever popular "cry loud enough and Mommy will give up and just carry me everywhere." Works like a charm.

So while we still have a little while before our tiny tornado truly hits, we're getting a glimpse of what to expect. We're looking forward to quite the ride.

Video: For about a week at around 4 1/2 months, this was the best way to get Kalina to tolerate tummy time. You can't see her face because she's chewing on her sleeve while laughing.

Pediatrician visit!

Kalina seemed genuinely happy to be at the pediatrician today. There were 2 mirrors in the office and a picture of some birds, so life was good. Temporarily, anyway.

It was a particularly good visit for me: I was told that she's perfectly ready to transition to more solid food and away from eating 9 times a day. She was given 4 sticks with a needle and one nasty oral vaccine. I did, however, manage to persuade the nurse to limit the Band-Aid count to 2 so that we don't have as many painful ripping-off incidents as we had shots.

Kalina weighed 14 lbs, 10.5 ounces and continues to be solidly in the 25th percentile for weight. At 26 inches long, she's in the 65th for height. The doctor had no concerns, nor did I. He even said she has a healthy amount of stranger anxiety: she was okay with the exam to a point, but let us know when she was ready to be done. After all, this stranger wasn't handing her shiny new presents to unwrap as were many of the strangers back in the midwest.

The last part of the visit had me arguing with the slightly crazy receptionist about insurance. I understand our insurance situation only slightly better than Kalina does, who understands it slightly better than the receptionist. Everything is fine: it's just become clear to me that our woes and Matt's weekly talks with 2 insurance companies might be due more to the pediatrician's office than scandalous customer service as previously thought. But we'll see.

Kalina calmed down well after the shots and we washed the Band-Aids and the remnants of the sticky oral Rotavirus vaccine off in a bath once we got home.

Mush = joy

I'm now the proud owner of half a dozen little bowls with lids. I'm not sure it'll be enough. They make their way from the dishwasher to the cupboard to the fridge and back to the dishwasher at a maddening rate, hosting little piles of colored-yet-brownish mush.

No, it's not another one of Matt's weird pet food systems, it's Kalina's food. We water down the mush and plop it into her mouth twice a day now. Then we mush up more things to make more mush. Mush mush mush.

And yet...

I love the mush. I love making it, and I love feeding it to her. I love planning what flavors of mush she'll have next. I love it when she seems to like it, even after questioning it with her famous furrowed brow. I love discussing the mush with others. "What kinds of mush do you feed your baby?" "The tan kind." "Me too!!!"

I'm making all the baby's solid food nowadays and am fascinated by it. Who would've thought you can use an ordinary blender, pot and stove to make food for the baby? Crazy!! Then you can freeze it in ice-cube trays and you have mush ready-made for weeks to come! Is there anything better? Yes, I'm quite the nerd.

But the fun doesn't end once the mush is made. I then get to watch as in some fantastic way, perhaps by swallowing and perhaps through absorption, Kalina makes the mush disappear. She's becoming quite the little couch potato, too, watching some entertaining show the cats put on for her while absentmindedly opening her mouth for more mush. I shovel it in like m&ms during a chick flick.

I'm not sure what Kalina's favorite is (orange-colored mush, perhaps), but mine is brown rice mush. Get this: you can grind rice in a blender! Simply add the powder to some boiling water and voila! Mush for the baby! Mix a little banana mush into the rice mush and Kalina will eat it right up.

Heck, I'll eat it right up. I licked the spoon and it's not half bad. I will admit that I briefly planned to make it for dinner. After all, wouldn't it be fun if we all three ate the same thing? We could then have green mush for dessert.

Like probably every mom in the history of the world, I feed Kalina better than I myself eat. And I will do so as long as I can keep up the charade. I will bake wholesome bran muffins for Kalina, all the while sneaking a couple double-chocolate, chocolate-chip "muffins" (read: cake) into the pan for myself. With any luck, they'll blend in. And if you see a new painting hanging conveniently in the kitchen, it's only because there's a safe behind it hiding a stash of cookies or chocolate for me. It's really the only way.

Kalina is eating two mush meals per day, and will continue to eat true mush for at least another month or so, at which time she will graduate to squishy food. Does life get any better?

Photo: A rare smile during a marathon picture-taking session at Grandpa and Grandma's house.

Kalina's resolutions for the new year

Kalina is one determined little girl. Let's see what she has to say about 2009:

1. I will balance on my own two feet. I will stand proud and tall, and I will walk. Soon after, I will run. Soon after that, I will dominate the household.
2. I will roll with gusto: tummy time is so 2008.
3. I will conquer my fears. Peekaboo will no longer make me cry.
4. I will grow enough hair so that I look like a girl even in green. I will wear "boy" colors with confidence on occasion.
5. I will eat my first cupcake.
6. I will finally get the bad cat's tail.
7. I will use consonants on a regular basis.
8. I will quite drooling so much and learn how to blow my own nose, maybe.
9. I will catch my first fish, if Daddy can convince me to stand still long enough.
10 I will sleep through the night like an easy baby. Yes, I will. Or at least Mommy will, even if she has to check into a hotel to do it. Hey, whose resolution is this, anyway?

Photo: 4 generations on Christmas Day!