I Blame My Looks on Sleep Deprivation...

It's been a crazy couple of weeks here...more than I ever anticipated!

First off, the Friday before last, something freaked out H. I don't know what happened, but it did...Morning nap? Actually took one. It was fine, it was great. Visitor to house came over lunch. Put H down for nap afterwards, and she clawed me to the point that I had blood drawn. Nothing bad happened to her, I don't know why or if this was the catalyst...I don't know if it's the multi-molars coming in at once, or just baby's perogative. All I know is that since that point in time, sleep has been a scary time for H and a pain in the ass one for us. It has taken up to two hours to get her down...if at all. Our anniversary (ahhhh, now that we have a child, I see how far romance can fall!)? She woke at 4:10a and WOULD NOT go back to sleep. I cancelled my grandma daycare service, cause if we sat anywhere, we'd fall asleep. We still counted ourselves luckier than the 3:14a call she gave us a few days before.

She wakes and sobs hysterically, at the corner of her crib nearest the door. That's what she does if you try to take her in and sing a few of Baby's Top Ten and lay her down like we have done for the past 4 months, rub the tummy for a few seconds, kiss kiss and leave. The lip quivers, the tears flow...and the wail is a wail of abject fear. The only progress we've been able to make is that now we (P) can sit in the room, instead of touching her constantly until she sleeps.

This of course (it always does) happened the day before we left for vacation. We went to the ILs down South. All in all, not too bad...they were on their best behavior, though they think they can force a kid to play in the kiddie pool even if she's tired and doesn't want anything to do with it.

The classic IL story of the trip though was this one: we went to the beach club, and we were on the deck area and P and I were digging thru all the sherpa-up-Everest crap you have to bring with when you take a kid somewhere. My SIL (world's best aunt, as she sees herself, and she's right, don't you know?) picks H up, and whisks her down the stairs, across the sand, and shows MY daughter the ocean for the first time. Hello?!? Ummmm...lady that hasn't ever once emailed us to see how her niece is doing? You don't get to show my daughter her firsts....bitch. At least H rewarded her with an ear-splitting wail when she tried to dip her in the water!

The other thing they did was they insisted that we go with the ILs to a fancy schmantzy bar that has opened there for a drink while the SIL watched her for an hour. They did not get why I told them that even though H was ok with Auntie with us there, she had only known her for a day and a half. I was literally dragged out the door. I told Auntie that if she got upset for more than the few minutes seperation stuff to call us. The answer? There will be no reason to call you, I can handle whatever she dishes out....clueless witch. H did ok, but she clung to Auntie the whole time, which Auntie thought was cute. I pointed out this is what she did in China when she was handed to us and terrified. Sobered her up about this whole thing about 4%.

On to the good stuff...H is sooooo close to talking, it's scary. She walks around the house doing a Helen Keller baby impersonation...she knows now that everything has a name, so she goes around the house pointing or touching, and looking at us. She's enamored with flowers now, and balls. She's expanded her baby vocabulary by bounds in the last 3 days. And when she looks you in the eye, she's not a baby anymore. You can see the little girl she is too quickly becoming. We've got 3 molars in various stages of eruption, and the 4th about to pop. She even throws her diaper out for us now. Then gives us a high five.

It's the little triumphs in life, huh?

So, we've crossed another year milestone in putting up with each other thru whatever life hands us, and however it changes. We've seen the worst of some issues that H has handed us yet, and we've seen the amazing capacities of this child. I know we'll see worse yet, and I love the promise of the wonderful that we'll see too.