I thought it might be fun to share our evening :).
We take the helmet off between 6 and 6:15, depending on when he woke up from his last nap. He woke up at 4:45, so we waited until 6:15.
Evan's helmet drying in front of the fan
While I clean the helmet, scrubbing the inside with rubbing alcohol and a toothbrush, Evan gets some more play time.
He's really into rolling from his front to back lately, and has been getting a kick rolling onto his play piano, so that it plays music whenever he wiggles.
I take this time to check his head for red spots from the helmet, and to check out his head progress. This picture makes me excited, because it's already looking so different!
Flashback to what it looked like when we started!
We have tummy time until Evan starts to lose it, usually until around 6:30pm.
Then, we do any more stretches that we need to get in before bedtime. We were slacking a bit, so we still had to do the last sets of all three stretches. Evan was a good sport and we got them done!
After stretches, it's time to head into the bathroom for bath time. We're supposed to carry him sideways like this to work on the neck strength on his weak right side. He's been making good improvement!
We always (well, almost anyways) have a fun bath, making sure to get his head scrubbed nice and clean, and then it's time to dry off on the changing pad.
Then, it's time for a clean diaper. No onesie, since the helmet keeps him toasty warm, so I get to enjoy cuddling with my almost naked baby.
Next, we head over to the nursing chair for story time. Usually, it's around 6:45pm. Every night, I read "Guess How Much I Love You." It was a good night, and we got through the whole book!
After the story, it's time to do the final readiness tasks - put on the sleep sack and turn on the fans, glow horse, humidifier, and dim the lights.
The view from the nursing chair
Our final 15-20 minutes of helmet free time is in almost darkness, as Evan has his last meal of the day. Lately, he's been a bit fidgety during this feeding, but tonight, all was calm. This is when I get to really "soak in" his little, uncovered head. I love running my hand over his little peach fuzz, and enjoy the feeling of his bare head in the crook of my arm. Tonight, after 15 minutes of eating, Evan pushed off and smiled at me. Lately, he doesn't always try to fall asleep while eating, which is definitely a good thing, even though it makes it feel like he's growing up :(.
After eating, we put back on his helmet, give him his pacifier, and say goodnight. The goal is to go into the crib awake, which we definitely did tonight. All told, his helmet free break was about 50 minutes, a little shy of the "goal" time, but since we had a little extra free time yesterday, due to swim lessons, it all works out.
After I place him in the crib (well, pack n play) a little after 7pm, I go back to the family room, turn on the monitor, and hope for the best.
Evan just after he goes down for the night.
Beginning his nightly "rotation." Tonight, Evan makes two full circles before he finally settles down.
After about 15 minutes, he starts rolling onto his side, a new thing that seems to help him sleep.
At one point, Evan starts "disappearing" from the camera. Luckily, he comes back :)
About 25 minutes later, he is finally out. After lots of tears the night before, tonight was amazing. A couple minutes of fussing about 5 minutes in, but otherwise, silence as he settled himself.
Fingers crossed that the good sleep magic works all night long!
So, that's our evening right now, one of my favorite times of the day.
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