The Getting to Bed's Not So Hard, It's The Waking That Gives Us Trouble

Brigid decided at 4:45 a.m. to have a major meltdown scream fest. She was crying so I brought her in with us and she wouldn't settle down. She kept jumping up and down, and finally she started trying to climb over me to get off the bed. When I told her to settle down, she started screaming, shrieking and flailing all over the place. I tried to help her work through her meltdown. It's hard when you're half asleep yourself, but I know she was out of control and didn't like it, either. She finally settled down and fell alseep, but it didn't make it very easy for me to go back to sleep. She woke up in a fine mood, however, and was happy to eat breakfast and watch "Ba-bee." at nearly 21 months, she has discovered the almost toxic affects of Barbie. The other girls had Barbie videos and DVDs -- Barbie and the Nutcracker, Barbie as Rapunzel, Barbie in the Princess and the Pauper, etc. Brigid decided she likes Ba-bee, although again, nothing beats Buzsh and Wooooodieee. Shrek has even taken a backseat these days.

The last couple of evenings have been generally pleasant bedtime rituals. Last night, like the previous two, I suggested it was time for some Mah mah mah, and she said, "Chair?" and ran to her room to sit in the big chair. I sat down with her and she wanted Mah mah mah but didn't seem particularly sleepy. But after about 15 minutes, I said, "Time for night-night?" and she said, "A-tee (OK)" and pointed to her crib. Doubtful, I lowered her onto her blankie and she snuggled down. I didn't hear a peep out of her until her meltdown this morning. She's been very amenable to bedtime.

She was, however, put out when we had to turn off Blues Clues last night -- which we put in for her in the first place to keep her busy so Margaret could do part of a home and career skills project that required her to tape a "commercial" for a new food product she had to create. I didn't want Brigid running around screaming, so we put her in front of the tube to keep her occupied for 10 minutes or so. But then we needed to view the video on the television to make sure it worked, which meant pre-empting Brigid's Blues Clues viewing. She was very put out by this, and kept saying, louder each time, "Clues? Clues?" She got very huffy at one point. But by then, it was big-chair and Mah mah mah time so she forgave and forgot.

Margaret's "commercial" turned out to be very cute. Her product, "Snacklaces," were also a cute idea. She had to, as part of the project, create a new food that was healthy. She had to package it someway and include nutritional information. Then she had to advertise it somehow. The Snacklace is Cheerios and dried fruit strung on dental floss, kind of like the old candy necklaces. But instead of a stretchy elastic string, the dental floss then acts as a tool to clean up after your snack, "because you shouldn't neglect your gums," as she says in her commercial. She had to turn it in today, so I'll be interested in hearing how that went. She said her teacher showed them a product someone made before -- chocolate-covered eggs. Ugh. The teacher said she didn't care if the stuff tasted like glue so long as it was new and healthy. At least Margaret's snack tasted good. The girls ate some after filming the commercial. One of the problems with dried fruit is that many just look like raisins. Except dried strawberries. They look like animal droppings.

Patricia's choral concert with the Champlain Valley Oratorio Society (CVOS) and orchestra is Sunday. She has rehearsal smack dab in the middle of the day tomorrow, which isn't very convenient, but with the concert on Sunday that's one activity that will be over soon. Her school holiday concert is Wednesday night, but because they had a snow day Monday (for the HUGE three inches of snow we got) she has two rehearsals next week -- Monday and Tueday -- before Wednesday night's concert. Then that activity will be over until after the holidays. Another collective Whew! Christmas will be here before we know it, and I'm no where near ready for it. I am hoping to put the tree up in the next couple of days, but I dread the thought of Brigid using it as her personal plaything. Should be interesting. While neither Margaret nor Patricia were that interested in the trees as toddlers, I have the feeling Brigid is going to make up for it and be very, very interested in the tree and all it offers her inquisitive hands. I won't be surprised to find her climbing up the middle of the thing. She's a monkey, and she knows it. Forget partridge in a pear tree. She's monkey in a Christmas tree.