Look Ma, Almost No Hands!

Well, after weeks of gnawing on fingers, various days of fever and buckets of drool, Baby Brigid finally drove not one but two teeth through the bottom gums, one on each side of the two already there. It was a long time coming. This brings the total up to eight. And she's using them like a pro, gumming in the back what she can't bite into from the front.

And she is sooooooclose to walking. She wants to walk so badly. She's taken a step or two here and there going from one piece of furniture to another. She stands very well. And she never really wants to be held much any more. She wants to be down on the floor all the time, which presents a challenge because she's not walking. She's more prone to taking tumbles as she cruises the furniture and reaches or steps away.

Sleep has become fairly routine but the other night she woke up about 4 p.m. and cried her heart out. She fell asleep a half hour or so later only to wake up again about 5:30. I went in and picked her up. The poor sweetie had a full diaper. No wonder she was crying so early. Who'd want to be sleeping in a PJ full of poop? I had to change her, which only resulted in waking her more fully. It was hard getting her to settle back down, and she never really did fall soundly asleep, even in the big bed. It was a rough morning. And I'm afraid Daddy gets the brunt of it because he gets up early with the girls. But for the most part, her nights are sound and she wakes between 5:30 and 6:30 and then falls back asleep until about 8 in the big bed. She's going down to sleep abut 8:45 or 9 most nights. Her naps continue to be short (in the half-hour range) and she takes two most days. The true challenge is going to be Friday, Saturday and Sunday of this week when I'm away on my scrapbooking retreat and Daddy has to get her when she wakes in the morning. I have the advantage of being able to nurse her back to sleep. He doesn't have the big guns to work with.

I'll be enlisting the help of Margaret and Patricia, especially on the weekend I'm away, so Daddy may be able to get some sleep in the mornings. We'll see if it works.

And speaking of Margaret, her rotation for swim class started in gym this quarter and she's dreading it. She has a chronic fear of jumping in the pool, and she's going to have to get over it. I'm not sure how you address something like that, and I'm hoping the gym teacher (he's the same guy who bought our Toyota from us five years ago) will have some suggestions for her.