Swimming, Sitting, & Sleeping

Last week we started "swimming" lessons with Noah. I forgot to bring a camera the first time, when Peter came with us, so all I have is a picture of Noah in his towel/robe/onesie in the parking lot. Noah seems to like the pool. After the initial entrance into the water, during which he cries because it's cold, he is pretty happy. He likes splashing around and doesn't seem to mind getting water on his face.

While it's fun to get in the pool with Noah, the class is kind of stressful for me because of all the preparation and changing. I need make sure that Noah is napping by at least 9:30 so that he can get a good hour of napping before waking up at 10:30 so that I can get him ready to leave the house. It usually takes about 15 min to get out the door. We leave home at 10:45, get to the pool at around 11, then we need to get changed and ready for class at 11:20. There's only one changing station in the locker room so I either need to wait or change him while holding him. Because there's no where to put him down, I also need to wheel the stroller around. Class ends at 11:50 and by this time, Noah has been awake for almost 1.5 hrs; he can only really be awake for about 2 hours without becoming overtired. By 11:50 he's also hungry because it's lunch time and also because everyone's hungry after swimming, even if it's "swimming"! So I have to feed him quickly, then get him home so that he can take his nap. As a result, Noah's swim trunks got left behind this week. =( I was sure that someone would turn it in to the lost and found, but as of yet, it's still missing. I suppose this seems naive, but I'm hoping that maybe one of the other moms picked it up and will bring it to class next week. For some reason I'm having a really hard time accepting the idea that maybe someone just took it home and kept it. Who takes swim trunks from a baby??? Anyway, now that I've gone through the whole process by myself, I think I will be better prepared for next time. No more lost swim trunks!

Noah has made progress in sitting! I helped him out by spreading out his legs a bit, but he's able to stay sitting like that for a little longer now.

While Noah has made progress in sitting, he is making negative progress in sleeping. It's 7:40 right now and Noah has been crying, crying, crying since about 7. I know that he's tired because he's been yawning, rubbing his eyes, and overall has been pretty cranky but he's been crying for about 40 minutes already and I just don't know what to do. In the past, I've gone in there after about 15 minutes of intense crying, calmed him down, then put him back in the crib (still awake). That usually did the trick and he would fall asleep soon after. Most of the time I didn't need to even go in there because it never got to that point. But this past week there has been intense crying at almost all nap times and bed times. My neighbors must think I'm torturing him. I'm starting to think that going in there to calm him down is counter-productive. It may have worked before, but now I may just be conditioning him to cry until I go in (I think he just fell asleep!). Perhaps it's time to really let him cry it out?