On Her Mark, Get Set, Go!

Well, our Baby B had a slight fever last night and spent most of yesterday in an unusual state of crankiness alternating with the need to be on the floor to move around. She'd cry and jack knife herself out of your arms in order to get down; then, once down would crawl around to play, pull herself up and practice standing, cruising and occasionally letting go to take a tentative step unassisted. Then she'd break down and cry as if it wasn't her idea to be there. You'd pick her up and she'd start all over again. Last night, she took a late nap after the girls' jazz class, which may have affected her ability to go to sleep at her usual 8:45 p.m. bedtime. But even so, she was inconsolable most of the evening, crying and screaming out. She'd then want to nurse, but only briefly. She'd cry again, root around, nurse, rip her head away, cry and so on. I gave her some Advil and also gave her a few homeopathic teething tablets, thinking maybe it is her teeth afterall. She finally fell asleep about 9:30 p.m. and I got in her in the crib, only to wake up and want to get out of the crib. I spent the next half hour trying to get her to settle down. I didn't take her out of the crib, but rather stood there, then knelt there, rubbing her tummy, humming to her, vibrating her tummy. She would drift off, then jerk upright to a sit. Then she'd plunk back down again. Finally, about 10 p.m. she drifted off for the night, or at least most of the night. She had several occasions of wakefulness, but we didn't go to her because she only had a slight fever at bedtime. I finally brought her in with us about 5:30, which is really only an hour earlier than she's used to. She woke up in a good mood, or so it seemed, until she wasn't. She was happy then crying then happy when I was heading out the door. On the phone with Daddy this morning, I heard her crying in the backgroud. If this is teething, she must be working on the whole bottom row to have her acting so uncharacteristically. I hope we're heading for the other side of this. We'll see how she does tonight fever-wise.

On the plus side, Baby B is getting much stronger on her feet, moving about with much more strength and confidence. At jazz class, she managed the row of chairs like a pro, letting go momentarily here and there, which brough a chorus of "oh, she's SO ready" from most of the moms in the room. We're not so ready, though. Let the games begin.