"What I should have said was Nothing"

The quote from my favorite comedian, Mike Birbiglia, really says it best. The Child was such a good sleeper, and I LOVED it. In bed, by 9:30, up around 8:30. I was always so happy to say how well she slept when the weary moms in my parenting group asked about it. And, what I should have said was nothing. Because karma is a *****. You can fill in that blank yourself.

The past month or so, The Child has started waking up around 3 am. Sometimes just to be rocked back to sleep, sometimes for a 2 hour fussy/feeding marathon. She isn't fully awake, but she is screaming, and crying, and most definitely NOT calming down by herself. However, last night we took it to a whole new level.

The bedtime routine started off fine. A little early, but the "load up on cereal, fruit and veggies," bath, book, nurse, and sleep" routine was in tact. And by about 9:00, she was in her crib. And then she woke up at 11. Another 3 HOURS went by before she was finally asleep. And those were not pleasant 3 hours. They were filled with her screaming, fighting, refusing to do anything but nurse or sit and play with her toys. Asleep by 2 AM, and at 3:30, she was up again for her "normal" midnight fussing. Oh, and she was up for the day at 9:30, as if nothing happened.

I thought babies needed lots of sleep. Apparently not the Sleepless Wonder that is my child. Thank goodness for home brewed Starbucks.

'Tis the Season

No, not Christmas. Halloween!

I stopped dressing up for Halloween years ago, but now I get to start having fun with it again, through The Child. However, this does pose a dilemma. What am I going to dress her up as for her first Halloween? It actually seems like a kind of weighty decision. It is her FIRST Halloween, and I only get one or 2 of these to decide for her, before she decides what she wants to be for all subsequent Halloweens.

Given that she is a girly-girl (or so I have decided), I think there are plenty of Princess, Ballerina, and Fairy years to come, so those options are out. And she has her Ohio State cheer-leading outfit (thank you again Ruth!), but that is for Game Days. Obviously, her costume needs to be cute. And it needs to be girly, but not obnoxiously girly. Cool girly. But still insanely adorable for a baby of 8 months for their first Halloween.

My thought was a ladybug, butterfly, or maybe a bee. Anyone who has seen her nursery will tell you I'm not very creative with these ideas, since they are also the theme of her nursery. So I'm opening the floor to suggestions. Actually, to be more accurate, I'm begging. If anyone actually reads this blog, please send a suggestion my way. If it is something I want to attempt to make on my sewing machine (which is still in the box, untouched), I need ample time to fail, call my mom, try again, and then go buy it at Target or Pottery Barn Kids.

Spider Trumps Baby

The other day, I was driving home from my parenting group (or, as Husband likes to call it, therapy). We were nearing the freeway entrance ramp, and The Child starts fussing. Now, I used to pull over all the time whenever she started to fuss, and what would have been a 10 minute drive would turn into a 30 minute drive. That lasted for about a week, and now I just sing show-tunes or silly songs, or she just has to fuss until we reach our destination.

Anyways, fussing ensues, followed my the best Julie Andrews I can muster. Unfortunately, the fussing continues, but I had every intention of just letting her fuss it out. 20 minutes wasn't going to kill her. I checked my passenger mirror to merge into the lane needed for the freeway on-ramp, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw it. A spider. On the passenger seat, IN MY CAR. And not just any spider...this thing was so hairy, it was borderline mammalian. It wasn't huge, probably the size of my pinky fingernail, but again...the hair. And it was on the move.

Now, a fussy baby is no reason for me to pull over, but a mobile spider-mammal on my front passenger seat most certainly is. Thank goodness for the "last minute" gas station right before the entrance ramp, because I probably would have wrecked the car trying to eliminate the threat on the freeway. I can't have some furry 8 legged creature crawling around, and potentially touching me. Or The Child (I'll admit it, she was the 2nd one I thought about the spider "getting.").

So the furry beast was sent to the Great Web in the Sky, and The Child continued to fuss most of the way home. Well, until I started to sing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," which, ironically, is her favorite song. I'm not joking.

Some people go to the zoo for the animals...

The Child seems to not care about the animals at the zoo. She prefers to look at the people walking by. Kangaroos hopping around? Who cares! There's a person with a red shirt next to her. Seals swimming up to the glass right in front of her? Only mildly entertaining, when compared with the baby in the stroller next to her.

She loves animals in books, and, much to their annoyance, loves our cats. But when given the choice, she prefers to people watch. If she thinks the people watching is good at the zoo, she's going to love the State Fair...

The Child Is All Knowing

The Child usually gets up between 8:30 and 9:30. I know....lucky me. So today, I thought I'd get up at 7 to get some things done that I really needed to get done, and was unable to efficiently accomplish with The Child awake. Husband woke me up, so there was no way the alarm would wake The Child. However, when my feet hit the ground, she started crying and was awake. I mean LITERALLY, the moment they touched the ground, at 7:03 this morning, she let me know she was up and wanted attention. She never gets up that early. Ever. Except today. Because, I'm now convinced, she knows not only when I want to eat (at which point, fussing also ensues), but also when I want to do anything not involving her. That's right, my 6 months old daughter is a psychic. Hooray.

Apparently, we have a Routine

They say kids need a routine, and in fact, do better with one. Now, I'm totally in favor of this, and had actually thought to myself, "Self, we really should put The Child on a routine sometime soon." Apparently, she's already on one, and does NOT like it when it is disrupted. As evidenced by the child that emerged this past Saturday night, and Sunday.

Saturday night, my parents came up. And while I'm thrilled that they were here, they arrived around 8-ish, which is when Bedtime Routine usually starts. It never occured to me that this might be a problem. Well, let me correct that statement. It didn't occur to me until around 2 am, and I kicked Husband out of bed to deal with The Child because I'd already been up 2 other times that night, that it might be a problem. I'm usually blessed by her sleeping around 10-12 hours (that's right, jealous?) at night. Such was not the case that night. She didn't go to bed until 10:30, and was up at 12:00, 1:15, and 2.

And one would think that everything would be "reset" in the morning when she woke up, right? Oh no, no, no. Not following our (as yet unrealized) routine = very unpleasant baby. All day. Or maybe she just didn't want me to unpack from our move 2 weeks ago. Regardless, I've learned my lesson, and have come to accept the fact that she is no longer a blob that lays on the floor (or wherever else you put her down). Although I'm not exactly sure what it is, The Routine is now a necessary part of life.