Psycho Baby

Babies can be unpredictable, but with Ava, there are a few things you can count on:

1.) If you take something away from her that she should not have (a lamp, power cords, cat food) she screams like she's just been set on fire.
2.) She LOVES to eat her veggies, especially the green ones. A handful of peas or green beans and she's a happy camper.
3.) If you hide behind something and then peek out at her and say, "Rarrrr!" she will giggle uncontrollably and crawl toward you at top speed, only stopping when she bashes her skull into yours. (Assuming you are crouched down.)
4.) If you give her Duckie, she'll immediately stop whatever she's doing and cuddle him while sucking her fingers.
5.) She may be a loud sleeper (crying out, whimpering, moving around, etc.) but other than when she's congested or has an ear infection, she takes two naps per day at least an hour each nap, and sleeps for roughly 10 1/2-11 hours a night.

Well. #5 was completely blown out of the water yesterday when Ava launched a full-on sleep boycott. It started off fine: she took a good nap in the morning, we went to the mall, and at 2:00 I put her down for her P.M. nap. She would not go. I went back into her room after 15 minutes to check for poop or a lost Duckie (the only two things that prevent her from going right to sleep are a dirty diaper or losing Duckie over the side of the crib), she had a clean diaper and she had Duckie. For nearly two hours we let her fuss and talk to herself until fianlly it was pointless and we brought her downstairs. Predictably, she got tired around dinner time and dozed off for about 15 minutes, so I woke her up, fed her, bathed her, and had her down at 6:30. I figured she'd go down easy because during the entire getting-ready-for-bed process, she was fussy; rubbing her eyes and sucking her fingers.

She would not go down. We checked for Duckie, checked her diaper, repeatedly. We tried rocking her. We tried cuddling. We tried letting her cry. At one point she started screaming and crying so hard she threw up all over the crib. So, we cleaned her up, brought her downstairs, and let her play. I don't want her to think she can "win" like that--I'm a firm believer in not letting the kid run the show--but what can you do when the kid cries so much they throw up? And we only left her for 5-10 minutes, it's not like I'm some evil, coldhearted jerk who let her kid scream for five hours or something. Anyhow, as soon as she rubbed her eyes I gave her a bottle and some cuddle time on the couch, and at 10:15--TEN FIFTEEN!!!!!!--she finally went down. Did some screaming in her sleep about an hour later (no idea what that was about so I just rubbed her back for a few minutes until it stopped). Craig was certain she'd sleep in this morning (I highly doubted she would) but sure enough, she was up at 5:45. I'm actually grateful because it means we have a chance of getting back on schedule: she took a normal--but short--morning nap, and has been down for nearly an hour this afternoon.

I almost went completely crazy--Craig kept telling me that if I was tired just to go to bed and he'd handle it, but that wasn't it, I was freaking out because of HER lack of sleep. I was sure she'd never go down and just die of exhaustion or something. I know, totally irrational, but that's exactly how it felt. I seriously hope we have a better night tonight! Oh, and that she doesn't pull that business when I'm back at work. That would NOT be cool.