"Not So Fast" and other anecdotes

Not So Fast

Gillian has always slept like a brick made of lead. She has always slept from bedtime till about 8 am (and the intermittent 8:30 or 9 am, even more heavenly). This was a greater luxury than we could ever have imagined...as was clear with the withering look of "WE ARE SO NOT SORRY FOR YOU" I got when bemoaning this to Sarah and Manda the other day. Their children, for the record, are very early risers, and appear to have always been early risers. So, when I was whining about waking up at 5:30 or 6 am, they didn't feel much compassion. And Sean and I, not even close to morning people (though I miraculously manage to leave my house at 6 am every day for work), never truly understood their early-rising pain. A couple of weeks before the Big Girl Bed, Gillian started waking up at 6 am. Not just waking up, but waking up crying/shrieking this horrible crying like she's had a terrible dream. The kind of crying that startles you awake like you're having a heart attack and you jump out of bed to go see what the matter is.

Then after a glorious week in the Big Girl Bed, waking still at 6 am, she decided to start waking up somewhere between 12 and 2 am and staying awake for a few hours (the first of these coincided with the night of our giant electrical storm that knocked our power out for 24 solid hours; Gillian slept through the ungodly amount of huge thunder crashes and lightening and driving rain, but woke up after it ended and couldn't go back to sleep (it was about 90 degrees and HUMID). This happened a few nights, and after tending to her, giving her a bottle, etc., etc., she would cry and it would be agonizing for all involved, and we had to sleep train again. Letting her cry it out only took two nights this time, but it was still pretty painful. She's a bit more stubborn than she was when she was 6 months old... Anyhoo, we decided it's back to the crib for now. And we are also experimenting with going to bed later (between 8:30 and 9pm instead of 7:30-8pm). With the early rising, she sometimes falls asleep while she's eating or naps way too early if she's going to bed at 8; generally she isn't getting enough sleep. Last night we put her to bed at 8:45 pm, and she slept until 8:30 this morning. Now, THAT's more like it! We'll see if it works tonight. If it keeps working, then her new bed time is 8:45ish. We'll give the other bed a go when we feel more confident that she is back into a good sleep routine.

Ta-da!

I am building a puppet theater. I have never worked wood before, and so far it's a blast! Gillian loves puppets, and thank God her puppets finally came a few days ago (we ordered them two weeks before that). She had been resorting to making puppets out of the shirt she was wearing (makes its mouth go "ra-ra-ra-ra!" and then laughing like she just heard the best joke all day). Anyway, she now has enough puppets for all four kids that are here three times a week to wear one on each hand. For My-Child-Who-Likes-To-Animate-Everything puppets are a perfect fit for her budding imagination.

Singing

Gillian likes to strum her green ukelele (which she loves to tune to aurally displeasing (for us, anyway) chords) and sing to Allison Krauss. If I ever get around to downloading her videos from the camera and edit this one to an uploadable size, I will show you. It is awesome.

Bums

Gillian LOVES bums. She loves my bum. She loves Papa's bum. She loves her own bum. A LOT. She spends quite a bit of time talking about bums. She likes to note everyone in the room (and those not even in the house) who has a bum. I heard her exclaim from my room (while watching Sean get dressed), "PAPA'S BUM! SILLY PAPA!". So, shoes are out and bums are in as far as topics of current fascination. Oh, and my breasts. Bums and Boobies (booo-ees). Which is fine, except in public. Being fondled in public by a toddler is a little weird. But there are weirder things.

Eating

Life is so good in this department. Gillian can tell us what she wants to eat! She can tell us when she's hungry! SHE'S EATING BLACK BEANS AND LOVING THEM!! This is a far cry from the way things once were. I sat there today, eyes welling with pride, while I watched her eat a plate of black beans and cheese, cherry tomatoes, and chicken. Everyone is so much happier when Gillian eats.

SUMMARY

I know I have said this before, but this age is my favorite so far. The playing is great, the communication is so much more interpretable, the endearing things seem so much sweeter now that I am 100% sure of what is intended... Not that it's always a walk in the park. Ahem, let's use a different cliche, since a walk in the park doesn't denote ease to me the way it once did. Not that it's a cake walk. There are moments (like today in Home Depot when Gillian was laying on the filthy floor screaming at the top of her lungs because I wouldn't let her play with various Sharp and Dangerous Things) where you would love to leave your child exactly where they are and sneak out the back door, Beastly Baby style. That said, Gillian is awesome, watching her become so clever and creative and kind is my favorite thing to do, and seeing her interact with other equally fabulous little kids is one of the most riveting courses in human sociology ever.