Weaver's Hollow
6–9 months
From the caldera you descend. The ground cools. The air softens. You come into a sheltered valley.
Ancient trees curve overhead, branches forming a canopy. Light falls through in threads.
And there, in the heart of the hollow, stands a loom.
Wooden. Ancient. It creaks in the breeze, and you realize it's always moving. The shuttle passes back and forth, weaving threads into patterns you can't quite read yet.
Threads of morning, midday and afternoon hang from the frame. Some are woven in tight. Others hang loose, waiting, not ready to join.
Some days the loom weaves three threads. Some days two. You never know until you arrive.
This is the quiet before stability. Not as dramatic as Vulcana. Not as chaotic as what's coming. Just slow, patient weaving.
The third nap, that small late-afternoon bridge, is unraveling. Some days it holds and some days it snaps. Slowly you learn to read the loom.
The fabric is weaving itself. You're here to tend it.
Most babies in Weaver's Hollow are 6 to 9 months old.
- Naps
- 2 to 3, with the three-to-two transition happening across the stage
- Wake windows
- 2.5 to 3.5 hours, growing
- Nights
- 10 to 12 hours with none to two wakings
Watch for the three-to-two transition.
When the third nap consistently takes forever or doesn't happen, the two-nap day is ready. Bring bedtime earlier when you switch.
Practice separations in daylight.
Brief, warm goodbye-and-return practice during the day builds tolerance faster than anything you try overnight.
Hold the routine through the disruption.
Motor development, separation anxiety and a cognitive leap often arrive together. Hold what you have. Anything added now gets removed later.
Separation anxiety at bedtime and overnight.
Your baby protests with a new intensity, and the waking involves real distress. Daytime practice is the most effective response, and it works faster than anything tried at night.
The third nap is a battle every day.
Moving to two and bringing bedtime earlier almost always helps immediately.
Waking at the same time every night.
It resolves the same way each time.
Always on the back to sleep. If your baby rolls on their own, no need to move them
Firm flat surface, fitted sheet only
No loose bedding, pillows, bumpers or soft toys in the sleep space before twelve months
Room-sharing can continue. A separate room is safe from six months, when you're ready
Something like a pattern is forming, and development keeps pulling it apart.