My american husband Tom once called this Ilonggo (of the Ilo-ilo region) lullaby "The Dang Song" until I corrected him. I started singing this song our baby when putting him to bed just about a month ago. Before that we did the 2 of the 5 s' (swinging and shushing) since he was a newborn. Once he became settled (after 8 weeks) getting Evan to bed was the least of our problems until he was almost five months old. He would usually be very sleepy after his last feeding or could be rocked to sleep in his swing/cradle on "difficult" nights. On those nights we were confident that no matter what he would be asleep by 11pm.


Morning naptime for Evan last Saturday. He napped for 30 minutes. Evan at 5 months and 4 weeks old.

Things changed when he became a more wakeful baby. Napping and going to sleep would have crying and screeching fits even if he was obviously very sleepy. Our only solution was to unearth the swaddle and resort to the 4 s' (swinging, sucking, swaddling, shushing). If it would take more than 5 minutes we would put him on the bouncer, turn the vibrator on and bounce it. But I knew that we couldn't do this indefinitely. What if he outgrows both the bouncer and swaddle? As it was he was already getting too heavy to swing with one arm while holding the pacifier in place using the other hand.

I knew that the sooner we addressed this problem the better. We had to do it before he was 6 months old when babies start having separation anxieties. My officemate told me that they wanted to get their then 10 month old to sleep in his room after co-sleeping with them since he was a day old, and as per the advice of a friend tried to wait out his crying for 2 hours but his *hispanic wife (mention of race to explain co-sleeping) couldn't stand it after an hour, she caved in and had him back in their bed. He is now 1 year old and still sleeps with them. I don't think I will have the stomach to endure 2 hours of my baby crying either.

I have always thought that we'd have Evan co-sleep with us until he was 3 months old. But once we brought him home I knew that both Tom and I, light sleepers that we are, wouldn't be able to sleep a wink if we had Evan in our bed - even with the co-sleeper that I put in the baby registry. Evan has slept in his room since he was 3 days old. As one officemate observed who has also co-slept with her baby, her little girl slept better when she was put in the crib. I think it's the same for Evan too.

So I warned Tom that we were going to do the Ferber/Checking method which could be short of traumatic. But Tom was supportive to me about it. The Ferber method is putting your baby to bed and leaving the room when he was still awake. If he cries, you go back to check on him but gradually lengthening the time interval, curbing the physical and eye contact each time. This is suppose to work between a week to 10 days. Consistency is key.

That night came, when my arms couldn't bear his weight anymore from swinging him to sleep, I put him down, did some shushing and left the room. When he cried, I went back right away, shushed him and walked away. Another cry, I waited out 3 minutes before going back. For the next I waited 5 minutes. By this time he was already screeching like mad and this lasted for another 15 minutes. The whole process took 30 minutes. It was terrible.

The next night it was more of the same, but 10 minutes shorter.

The third night he slept almost instantly.

Since that time getting Evan to sleep is not a stressful business any longer. That was was more than a month ago.

I made a few modifications to the Ferber/Checking Method though. I would first rock Evan in my arms and sing "Dandansoy" to relax him. Then put him in his crib while still singing to him. Stroke his legs then leave the room. If he cries I would go right away pick him up, and usually there'd be extra air bubbles that needs to be burped. If he cries for the second time, I would wait 3 minutes then go back, shush him while stroking his legs.

So far we never had to check on him for the 4th time. Nowadays he'd be alseep by 9:20 and would sleep (except for his weeklong growth spurt episode) for nine hours straight (until 6:30).

Here is how the lullaby goes. This has even become one of my favorite mother and son time of the day, when he is in my arms, his cheek against my chest and the top of his warm head under my chin. I enjoy it so much that I would even sing 3 to 4 more times to extend the sessions. More often than not Evan would babble everytime I pause in my singing:

"Dandansoy, baya-an ta icao... Evan: da-da-da
Pauli ako sa Payao... Evan: eee-yao
Ugaling kun icao hidlauon... Evan: yawn
Ang Payao imo lang lantauon..." Evan: gurgle

The official english translation of the song:

"Dandansoy, I must leave you today.
For Payao is far far away.
If you long for me soon you'll come
To Payao, you will find me at home"

The Best Restaurant In America

...is in Chicago. According to Gourmet Magazine in their bi-decade list of the Top 50 Best Restaurants In America, Alinea tops it.


Food as work of art. Simply labeled as Tomato. Photo courtesy of www.Alinea-Restaurant.com

Alinea is also just one of the 3 restaurants that gets the 5 star ratings by the Mobil Travel Guide. With this restaurant you have a choice between the 12 course meal ($125) and 24 course meal ($175 per person drinks excluded). They are booked until 2010.

I threatened my husband that I am going to make reservations with them too. Who knows by that time we can already afford to eat there.

Currently listening to: Kelly Clarkson's Walk Away
Currently reading: Our babies, Ourselves by Meredith Small
Currently watching: Somersault (foreign film)