Shake, Rattle and Roll Over and Go to Sleep

Baby B and Daddy had another morning at the lake, making sure the horses are taken care of while Grandma and Granddad are on their European vacation. Jack said the BB cried a lot in the car. But she was really saving it up again for Jenny. Poor Jenny, Brigid just won't cut her a break. She cried about 45 minutes and Jenny had to just put her in the crib for her own sanity. But a miraculous thing happened: Baby B fell asleep on her own in the crib. Jenny said she was afraid to open the door to peek in on her, but then worried maybe something happened and he had hurt herself. At one point, Jenny even entertained the idea of sneaking outside to peek in the window. So instead, she just timed the opening of the door to the crusing by of a car so it would coincide with the noise. Brigid lay sleeping in the crib. But when she woke up she wasn't in much better of a mood until Patricia came home from school.

Brigid's whole body shakes with excitement when one of her sisters or I come in in the afternoon. It's such a heart-warming thing to see -- she quakes, she squeals and laughs. Then she starts to cry as if I 've been withholding sustenance. When Daddy comes home form work at night, she has a similar reaction -- all smiles and shakes. She's so happy to see her family members. But poor Jenny! It makes Jenny feel like Brigid just doesn't like her. I'm not sure that's it. I think Brigid is just so used to her family that she misses them.

Sleep last night was a little better again, although Baby B is still between us in bed. She isn't waking quite so much. The fan really seems to be helping.

Margaret had a good day at school, with her team going on an all-day field trip to study environmental issues. She was all agogg over spending the day with a major crush named Logan who is in a couple of her classes. I understand he's a new kid to the district, too, and apparently is very cute. It's disconcerting to hear your 11-year-old talk about boys like this. It's new to us because in St. Peter's, there were only a couple boys in her class, and they were essentially the same boys she went to school with from kindergarten. Now there is a virtual smorgasbord of testosterone to choose from. And we don't like it. Not one little bit.

Even Patricia has gotten in on the act, speaking all gushy and mushy about a cute guy named Eric in her class, and how lucky a girl named Emma is because she gets to sit NEXT to him. It's enough to make us decide to homeschool until they're, oh, 25 or 26. Patricia is in hog heaven because unlike Margaret, who had 14, 16 kids in her class on average every year at St. Peter's, Patricia's class never went higher than 12, and that was in kindergarten. She had 9 kids in her class, including her, in 2nd grade; there were 10 of them in 3rd. Now she has 20 (including her). And there are two other 4th grades. We're in big trouble.