Oh, Right. I Remember This.

E.J. first rolled over from back to belly a little over a week ago (on November 9th, if you all want to record that on your calendars at home). Since then, he has really perfected his craft with nonstop practice. If you lay the kid on his back, within minutes, he's rolling. And he's quick about it!

VIDEO: E.J. rolling over! Don't blink; you might miss it!

You might even say he's so good at rolling, he can do it in his sleep.

Actually, you WOULD say just that, because he does. He does roll over in his sleep. Sometimes as regularly as every hour.

Despite having rolled belly to back first, well over a month ago, he somehow seems to have forgotten that that's an option. He also does not care for the idea of sleeping on his belly. So, he rolls in his sleep (especially easy to do by accident considering he prefers to sleep on his side), realizes he's stuck and doesn't like it, wakes up, cries, and requires nursing and cuddling before being put back to bed to do it all over again very soon.

I am one tired mama.

It's funny, isn't it, how easy it is to forget these things from one child to the next. Now that we're in this phase with E.J., I remember clearly going through the same thing with Ellie. In my mind I can go right back to the middle of the night in Hoboken, sitting on the glider ottoman next to her crib, essentially pinning her down on her back until she fell asleep because she, too, was blessed with the "OMG someone just put me on my back, now I must roll" reflex. I had forgotten all about it, but now I can't believe I didn't remember.

I suppose that's sort of the advantage of going through it all again with a second kid, though: the knowledge that this will pass, and in just a matter of months (or at most, a year or two), you will have to be reminded of whatever stressful phase you may currently be in the midst of. In the moment, it feels like it may never end. I remember feeling like Ellie would go to college not knowing how to roll back onto her back in her sleep. Clearly, that is not the case, and in retrospect, the "pin her down so she'll sleep" phase passed so quickly that I didn't even anticipate it the second time around. That doesn't make it any less frustrating (or exhausting) to be back in the thick of it, but the knowledge that it will be short-lived and soon forgotten is reassuring (and also a little sad, if you want to get sappy about it).

In the meantime, though, I could really use a nap.