My husband commented last night that my last post may have been a bit melodramatic and misleading. Miss T hasn’t been screaming continuously all night or anything, my main concern has been with getting her to sleep in the first place. She wasn’t sleeping through the night anyway, but that doesn’t bother me so much as long as there isn’t crying involved (and usually there isn’t. The past several days have been out of the norm for sure). But to be fair, I did say yesterday that it always seems worse when you are in the thick of it and besides, melodrama is just how I roll.
And now for the update! It appears that the Rainforest Soother was well-received. I didn’t put her down awake because I don’t think she’s ready for that (and this may involve hard-core cry it out, which I am not ready for), but she stayed down the first time I put her in the crib and turned the soother on. That only lasted 30ish minutes, at which point she had had just enough sleep to think she was ready to get up. Mommy knew better, so I re-swaddled her and held her on the couch for a while, patting and singing until she was good and asleep before I laid her down again. I only had to go in once after that to put her pacifier back in her mouth and re-start the music on the soother (I’m counting this as initial put-down. She still woke up at her usual intervals during the wee hours). I consider it a huge success as far as my frazzled nerves are concerned, and plan to repeat the process as necessary tonight. Of course, we’re going out of town for Saturday night so all bets are off.
*****
I forgot to mention it earlier, but Food Stealing Lady is back! Someone brought up leftover cake on Tuesday (from a party over the long weekend, this is how people at my office get rid of unwanted food) and left it out for our department to enjoy. Sure enough, sometime in the late afternoon FSL shuffled over and helped herself to a sizeable hunk of the small amount that remained. It’s not enough that you are taking food that isn’t intended for you, do you really have to take most of what’s left? Oh, and today is Food Friday so maybe she’ll be making an appearance later…
*****
Is it possible to ward off illness through sheer force of will? I feel like total ass today (and did yesterday too), but DO NOT HAVE TIME to be sick. In case my psychic vibes don’t work, I have a backup appointment at the doctor this afternoon. I’m hoping he can give me drugs but fully expect to hear my favorite words: “It’s just viral. Nothing we can do.”
*****
We’re headed down to the coast to visit our families this weekend. We’ll be leaving AE with his grandmas for two whole weeks! It will be weird to be down to one child again, and I always miss my little guy when he’s gone (he usually spends some extended time with them during the summer). But overall it will be a nice break from the balancing act of two children.
There’s definitely something to be said for spacing children as far apart as ours are. AE was 5 years and 3 months when Miss T entered the scene, and it has been great because AE is essentially self-sufficient when it comes to most things. He’s long since potty-trained, he can get himself a glass of water or a snack, I can leave him alone in the bathtub without fear of drowning, he can feed the pets, and clean up his room, and put on his own shoes.
On the other hand, there are times when having such a big age difference is a bit of a handicap if you are trying to use your older child as a frame of reference. For instance, I can’t remember how AE reacted when he was teething. I don’t have a clue when we decided to try cry it out (but I DO remember that it caused such friction between N and me that I had packed my bag for a night in a hotel. Ah, memories). Or when we starting introducing foods beyond rice cereal. I don’t accurately recall when he reliably slept through the night. Of course all children are different, even siblings, so it probably wouldn’t do me much good to remember those things anyway. But it would have been nice to not be blindsided by the Angry Teething Monster.
There are things I do vividly recall about AE’s infancy: the fact that his little stomach of steel could handle whatever formula we threw at it, even multiple different kinds in a short period. Unlike his sister, whose delicate constitution can only handle “gentle” formula. Name brand, of course. I remember that we made the mistake of letting him sleep in our arms so much in those early weeks that he refused to sleep anywhere else. This is probably why I’m so insane about Miss T’s sleep habits. I remember that he really didn’t like rice cereal, so we switched to barley and he loved it.
*****
ABRUPT SUBJECT CHANGE: Miss T’s daycare just called, so N is on his way to pick her up. She’s running a fever of 102. Poor baby. I think this may explain a few of our issues this week, no? Now the big question is, did I make her sick, or did she make me sick?
