Get a grip!

So we've been working on falling asleep unswaddled (at least during the day)-- and sometimes he goes down like an angel, sucking away on his binky, and caressing his cloudy blanket while burying his face in it (i know, i know, not supposed to let him sleep with a potential tool of suffocation... but he adores it). Other times, he puts up a fight, screaming like i'm torturing him, and looking up at me with the saddest eyes in the world. Most of the time though, he flaps his arms and kicks his legs to get all the energy out, talks to the animals on his bumper, coos at the window, fusses a little and eventually drifts off, face usually covered with Cloudy (i know, bad). When he gets quiet I go to check and make sure he's breathing... Just now when I went to check his peaceful quiet little self, thinking he was sound asleep-- this is what I found:



He'd discovered some very interesting appendages, which up until this point have been random things that pop into view once in a while. Apparently now they are a self-calming technique. . . except that every time he starts to fall asleep, the losing of his grasp on them startles him awake again... At this point he's been in bed for about 45 minutes, and is getting past the point of exhaustion. Between sobs I go in to check on him, and he's still holding his toes. Poor little guy. Back to the swaddle for you...