A Long Week

I know, I know. I haven't posted in forever and a day. What can I say. I am feeling lazy and tired and my tired, slow brain can't come up with anything of interest to write about. We had a guest come and stay with us for a week, which is of course fun, but rather exhausting as well. Anally schedule-bound as I am, it kind of put me out of sorts. My bathroom didn't get cleaned on Tuesday! Oh no! Now I am in the dilemma of waiting until next Tuesday to clean it (horror of horrors!), cleaning it tomorrow and then on Tuesday (seems like a lot of work), or cleaning it on Friday and then waiting until the following Tuesday to clean it and get back on schedule (thereby making it two times in a row that the bathroom is extra dirty.)

Do you see why I have neglected to post? This is my material.

Lilli is, of course, being very interesting and active, but it's almost an overwhelming abundance of developments. Perhaps our most exciting landmark is that she is pretty much weaned. I feel strangely ambivalent about it. I thought I would rejoice, but I feel kind of sad about it, and when she longingly looks at my boob it kind of breaks my heart. Actually, now that she is weaned she has developed a new sort of boob love. If I am putting her to sleep she will only sleep with her head on my boob, and her favorite thing is to fall asleep with her hand in my cleavage. It's kind of cute at night but when we are at the mall, um, not so cute. I feel like I have to throw her a bone though. The least I can do is let her cop a feel.

Our long journey into snotville continues, and we are adding new citizens daily it seems. I have now been afflicted as well, and Lilli and I are a sorry looking mother-daughter pair. Hack hack here, drip drip there. . . . Very icky.

So. I was trying to think of something nice to blog about besides Lilli's neverending supply of cuteness, but well, all I came up with was more cuteness. Lilli has taken to making up words for things now. She's still chugging along at acquiring a massive vocabulary, and she wants to have a label for everything and everyone, but sometimes the word we tell her just doesn't satisfy her. For example, take chair. For some reason, she just doesn't care for that word. So instead, she calls all chairs dudes. She'll go around, doing her labeling (because that's her job): "mama's dude, daddy's dude, baby's dude!!" I'm just hoping that we're not out in public someday and strangers think we're weird when she starts talking about "daddy's dude." That would be uncomfortable. We'd probably try to explain all quickly, "no! no! it's not what you think! 'dude' means 'chair!' Really!" Of course, we don't always know what she means with her made up words, which is endlessly frustrating for all involved. We still haven't figured out what a wadi is.

And have I mentioned how much Lilli loves to match up people with their shoes. We have a shoe off policy in our house, and Lilli is constantly bringing people their shoes when they come to visit. I'd say she has about a 85% accuracy rate. Not bad. The best aspect of her shoe fetching ability though is that I'm able to ask her to get my shoes for me. She always brings me a matching pair. Someday maybe she'll be able to bring me the pair that goes best with my outfit.

Jinx!

I jinxed myself again. How you may ask? I bragged about my baby's sleeping habits on the internet. Everytime I do that, things start going in totally the opposite direction. In fact, we have not had a good night's sleep in this house since the last time I posted. How do you like that for a jinx? I should have knocked on wood! Darn my lack of superstition!

You see, we were so overconfident in our success that we decided to move the crib back into the nursery. We had planned on doing it for awhile, but hadn't seemed to get around to it. Now that she had actually asked to go in her crib, we thought this might be a good time. WRONG. She laid down by herself in our bed when I turned out the light, so I thought it was a good time to move her to the crib. Well, the crib was not how she had remembered it, and I forgot that babies are creatures of habit. She wanted that crib back next to our bed and she was going to cry cry cry until it magically returned to its proper place. I'd put her in her crib and she'd yell UP UP UP! and then I'd move her to our bed and she'd point to where her crib used to be and even more hysterically demand BABY'S NIGH NIGH! I was at a loss. Nothing would please her. After an hour and a half of this she finally wore herself out enough that I was able to cuddle her really tightly and shush in her ear until she FINALLY went to sleep. It was perhaps the most grateful I have ever been to finally get her to go to sleep. I thought it would never happen.

THEN, the next night she started to get a cold, and kept waking up every few hours because she couldn't breathe through her nose and her pillow was soaked in baby drool. So we brought her to bed with us but she tossed and turned (on the top of me) and kicked Bob and generally made a nuisance of herself. So not good sleep that night either.

And she's had that cold ever since. Her naps are even curtailed to about 45 minutes each. So we are tired. And she is cranky. Why have the sleep gods abandoned us? Why? Why?

Miracles DO Happen

Something amazing just happened. After another struggle last night getting Lilli to go to bed (Bob tried for 45 minutes and then I tried for 45 minutes, finally getting her to go to sleep around 10:30pm), tonight she finally succumbed to the pressure and fell asleep with relative ease. Even more amazing? She actually ASKED to get in her crib.

Let me give you the run down for those of you, who, like me, are wondering HOW IN THE HECK DID THIS HAPPEN (for those of you who don't want the "rundown" you may skip this paragraph). We started our routine around 8:45, and to be fair, she had a pretty short nap today earlier in the afternoon than she had yesterday. We nursed and we read books, all without fuss. When I turned the light off, she actually LAID DOWN BY HERSELF and snuggled up to me. I had high hopes. Then. After singing our three songs, she suddenly sat up. I thought to myself, here we go again. Instead of becoming a ball of fire, as she sometimes does at this stage of the game, she pointed toward her crib and said, "baby's nigh nigh" and motioned as though she wanted to get in there. I was doubtful, but I wasn't going to argue. I laid her down and put the blankets on her, and lo and behold, she acted as though that was actually what she had wanted and I had finally gotten it right for once.

I gave her her stuffed mouse, which she has a new bedtime affection for, and she started to talk to him and tell me about him. Oh oh, I thought. She just wanted a new venue for her theatrics. But then she said, "here you go mama" and she gave me the mouse and wanted me to give me her hand. She likes to hold my hand while she falls asleep (yes! I thought). Then, she very imperiously communicated to me that she wanted me to stroke her face. She communicated this to me by using my hand as a tool to stroke her own face. After awhile she got tired of stroking her own face with my hand and she let me give her back the mouse so I could stroke her hair (on my own, without her help.) Then she was asleep within two minutes. I am AMAZED. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I'm hoping this is one step closer towards being able to put her in her crib (in her own room) and not having to stand next to her crib for half hour while my legs cramp and she has a death grip on my hand. Please God, say it is one step closer.

Can Babies Have Insomnia? Apparently, Yes!

Our little family as been truckin' along in the sleep department. I wouldn't say Lilli is a champion sleeper, yet. She still wakes up occasionally in the night, but those occurences are getting fewer and fewer. The thing we've never had a problem with, however, is getting her to go to sleep. She's always seemed to enjoy the process more than not, and even if she protests at the moment of truth, she usually resigns herself to the inevitable pretty quickly, gives our her kisses, and falls asleep peacefully.

Last night? Not the case.

We followed our routine, she happily laid down and snuggled in, she talked to herself and us in perhaps slightly more animated tones than usual, but then she laid quietly. And laid quietly some more. And continued to lie there, eyes open, looking about as perplexed as frustrated as we were that sleep wouldn't come. Finally, I suggested that Bob take her in the car and drive around, as she had almost fallen asleep on the way home from his grandma's earlier in the evening. I was smug and confident that he would be back within ten minutes. Forty minutes later, he called me on the cell, desperate. "She just keeps staring at me and saying 'hi, daddy!' and commenting on the scenery. We've been around the city about three times!" By this time it was a quarter to eleven o'clock, and we had spent 45 minutes trying to get her to sleep in the bed and 40 minutes trying to get her to sleep in the car. Clearly, our baby is a superhuman baby whose covert mission it is to destroy our will when she has lulled us into a comfortable state and we are most unsuspecting. I could almost imagine her in the car seat, eyes glowing malevolently like one of the Children from Children of the Corn.

Bob decided to give in and come home but only a few blocks from our house she started to doze off and when he called me from our driveway he sounded quietly triumphant. I went out to get her and her eyes were definitely not glowing. She was all warm and sweet, chin to chest, snoozing away. I carefully worked her out of the seat and crept back in to the house. I was slowly lowering her in the crib when. . . I couldn't believe it. But it was unmistakable. The smell of poop. In her diaper. Oh the injustice of it! I couldn't just let her sit in it all night (even though she had probably done it on purpose!) so I carefully worked off her pants and quietly removed the diaper to reveal a giant nugget of poop. To make a long story short, try as I might to be as minimally disruptive as possible, she woke up. And was mad. And wouldn't go back to sleep. AGAIN.

After much nursing, and singing, and hand holding and soothing, AND another half an hour, she was finally asleep by midnight. It was the hardest fought bedtime that Bob and I had ever experienced. You would think that after that she would sleep in a little right? Nope. Up bright and early at 6am. How can six hours of sleep leave her bright eyed and bushy tailed and I'm a wreck? She's superhuman, I'm telling you.

My Shopping Trip by Mariko

This morning we had a grand event: we all went SHOPPING. Normally I'd have to be dragging Bob out the door to go shopping with me, but he was all excited this morning because we were going to the new outlets near our house and they have Adidas, Nike, AND Puma Outlets. Not to mention J.Crew, Banana Republic, Calvin Klein, etc., etc. Woohoo, we were pumped. Of course, the chief (and only legimate) reason for our going to the mall was we wanted to get some new shoes for Lilli, and we didn't want to pay retail. So off we went to Stride-Rite, where I had my eye on a pair of brown sandals. Originally? $35. We paid? $25. You would have think we'd made it to the moon or something for saving a frickin' $10. And you know what the sales girl said? "Well, she'll be able to wear them for a little while anyway." Yup. Truer words than you'll ever know. We paid $25 for a pair of high quality shoes Lilli will get to wear for about 3 months, if we're lucky. My only consolation is that they are unisex, so someday. . .

Anyway, after shelling out for Lilli's three month long shoes, we decided it was totally unfair that Lilli got all the goods. Actually, up to that point, she was the only one to get anything, as I had made a few stops at the Carter's, Children's Place, and Osh Kosh outlets too. (Don't worry, Bob was checking out sporting goods stores). I got a bunch of basics for Lilli at Carter's ($5 each and one for $3) but my biggest coup of the day was the 99 cent rack at The Children's Place. Oh my god. 99 cents! 99 cents! My little heart was beating so fast. I got Lilli two pairs of shorts off that rack and paid the cashier my $2 and change and got out of there.

Wow, I got totally side-tracked there, getting all excited about my baby clothing finds. I was GOING to say that Bob and I felt it was unfair that Lilli had got all the stuff so far, so we went to the Puma Outlet next, as we'd both had our eyes on Pumas. I've been watching them very closely in a couple of catalogs, and the prices have hovered over a hundred bucks for the pair I want. There's no way I could justify $100 to myself for a pair of shoes, even if I won't grow out of them in three months. However, let's just say that Bob and I both found what we wanted, for prices that we COULD justify, and we are pleased. Then we headed over to J.Crew (no baby clothes there!) and pleasured ourselves some more. Shopping is fun.

The end.

Ups and Downs

I've mentioned how Lilli can repeat most everything we say if we repeat it enough times (speaking of which, she just learned "enough!") but I don't think I'm described how she manages to pick up new words unbeknowst to me. She'll surprise me occasionally by declaring something like "mama's candle!" and I'm all befuddled because I can't figure out where in the world she learned "candle." I think she studies on things on long time so she can spring those on me. You should she how pleased she looks with herself.

Another random thought: I posted a while back about how much Lilli loves to look at herself naked in the mirror. At what point, I wonder, does that childlike delight in one's own body get usurped by embarrassment? Puberty? Seems like before. Hmmm. . . I hate to think of Lilli losing that ability to smile at herself and pat her own round belly, all the while declaring, "belly!" At the same time, I don't want one of those kids who runs naked all around the neighborhood. You are just inviting trouble then.

My mind's kind of all over the place because we had one of those nights last night that we haven't had in a long time. She's been sleeping really well this past week, not waking up until around 5:30 or 6, nursing, and then sleeping again until sometimes as late as 9am. Bob and I were both kind of restless last night though, and she ended up waking up around 4am. I didn't want to nurse her because I'm trying to get her in the habit of only nursing when it's light out and so Bob took her in the other room to try to get her to go to sleep. Well, she cried BLOODY MURDER like she has not cried since we first tried to get her to sleep in the crib. Finally Bob brought her back in and put me in charge (yay.) and I tried to get her to snuggle with me and go to sleep without the boob. I was not successful. After two hours. But that is actually not the point of my story. Even when I was SO FRUSTRATED I couldn't help but think it was funny how when Lilli snuggled with me, she just HAD to have her hand in my cleavage. If I tried to move it she would just cry some more so finally I gave up and let her lie there with her hand between my boobs. That girl is boob OBSESSED. She didn't go to sleep though. She just stared at me for those two hours, hand on boob, occasionally declaring "mama's boob!" Oh, the fun nights with a babe.

Stunning!

Lilli is so animated these days. She makes the funniest scowls and expressions of surprise and frustration. I have to try not to laugh and make her feel bad when she trips and makes the FACE OF HORROR. I'll have to try and have my camera ready the next time. . .

And I can't BELIEVE how fast she is learning how to talk. She pretty much just repeats everything we say (like yesterday she learned "Oprah") and she's getting pretty good at stringing words together. For example, she loves to look at herself in the mirror when she's got all her clothes off and pat her belly and poke at her own bellybutton. Today before her bath she was standing there and then she said, "go show Daddy!" and marched off to show Bob her naked belly. I was stunned.

Speaking of stunned, but on a totally unrelated note, you will never guess who actually won a sports related award last night. . . .ME!!!! Bob and I are playing in a kickball league with some friends and Bob's coworkers. You read right. Kickball! It's totally for fun and is only semi-competitive. However, in our game last night we were going for the last playoff spot, and beating this team was key to our getting that spot. I was nervous, because I knew how much Bob wanted to win and how I would NEVER HEAR THE END OF IT if we lost. So I geared up and my heart was racing over at second base. Bob's been drilling me during the week, making me practice catches and throws. (The first few games I played I dropped the ball on numerous occasions.) Last night I got lucky, and even though I PRAYED for the ball not to come my way, it came many times, and I very satisfyingly caught it in the clutch and even made a few throws. Who would have thought? However, I was kind of sheepish about winning the award, because they tend to award it to girls who look pretty unlikely to be athletic. I heard someone say they thought I'd caught my weight in kickballs that night. Then, Bob makes me feel a whole lot better because he asked me in front of everyone, "Aren't you proud? This is the first time you've won an athletic award EVER." Thanks Bob.