The Agony of De-sleep

Or, alternatively "No sleep 'til 18." but I figured 18 wasn't close enough to "Brooklyn" to be a decent title...

The baby does not nap. Doesn't need to, doesn't want to. She got that from her daddy. Once I'm up for the day, I'm up. Naps? Pfffttttt....

I took the day off yesterday and stayed home with the family. We did a number of short trips in the car. Invariably the car causes naps, so the baby had probably three naps, two of an hour and one of three hours. And then we went walking and eventually the sway and bump of the stroller won and her little eyes stopped snapping open to see what she was missing.

So? The sleep clock was reset, she had some sleep hours banked. So we get home from the walk and start to prepare the nightly routine. But, see, she knows what's going on. The minute I step into the shower with her and water hits her, she lets out this shriek louder than any I've heard from her before. I step out of the water and recheck. Ok, it's on the chilly side, but it's reasonable. I warm it a little but to no avail. She's not having any of it. The shower is step two in the going to bed routine and she napped today, so it's not fair that it's time to go to bed.

Meanwhile, I've got visions of neighbors frantically dialing 911, police cruisers and suburbans screeching to a stop on my lawn, a full complement of fire engines and paramedics clogging the street out front and helicopters with night suns illuminating all the windows while the SWAT rips the security door off of our house and swarm the house -- Elian Gonzales-style -- looking for the baby being tortured.

So we knock on the wall, the signal to mom that the shower is complete. She comes in with the towel, takes the baby and goes for step three, the pajamas and step four, the last feeding. Nope, the screaming continues. By feeding time, it's a wimper and fussiness and no desire to eat.

So we do the checks...diaper was just changed, chilled teether is unwanted, pacifier is spit across the room, little hands won't grasp the crinkley bee... lying in the crib is torture, being held and swayed is unwanted. The bouncer is unwelcome, the car seat is not the place to be either. Only the living room sitting with mom on the couch is ok.

So she keeps up until after 2 am. And then she wants to eat at 6 am and she wants to make a "mmmm" sound with each drink.

So despite having given up coffee a few weeks ago, I'm on cup two for the day. It tastes so good and I'm all jumpy.

Hey, entry #100. Woo hoo.