Crankiness, Independence and the Human Condition

Where do I begin? The last week and a half we’ve seen the bright side and quite dark side of our fair lady, Baby B. She has been a joy – singing, laughing, joking – and a tyrant – ordering us around, screaming at us at any given moment, telling us, “You don’t say ----,” (fill in the blank). Granted, for the last week she’s been battling a cold, so much so that she on Thursday last week I took her to the doctor’s, who pronounced her A-okay and able to go to school, a low-grade (99) fever was not a stay-home situation. But she’s been coughing and sneezing and blowing bloody boogers and generally miserable at other times.

The middle-of-the-night wakings have been particularly difficulty, though. A few late nights this week she’s gotten up about 4 a.m. crying, inconsolable, thrashing and irritated, angry at my attempts to soothe her yet equally angry when I’ve left her alone like she’s asked me to. Last night, she said her tongue hurt her. I dosed her with Advil and rocked her back to sleep. She woke up late, tired and grumpy but was fine when I dropped her off at Sibley. Yesterday, when I picked her up at school, she was all joyful and a bundle of boundless energy. She is a dichotomy wrapped in a puzzle surrounded by an enigma. But then again, she’s almost 3, so there you go.

Meanwhile, I had a great weekend away scrapping with my sister-in-law, Connie, in Syracuse while Jack maintained some sense of routine on the home front. I got nearly 20 pages done, had a lot of great conversation, OD’ed on cable TV and the TLC channel (because Connie and I both do not have cable), drank wine and enjoyed the company of a like-minded adult woman. We’ve vowed to make it a twice-a-year venture (if we can afford it and if our spouses allow it LOL). As expected, Daddy had difficult nights with Brigid lying awake in our “big bed” until well past midnight both nights, but she wasn’t upset. She was just awake. He must have told her the Goldilocks story a few hundred times by the end of the weekend.

Patricia’s all-county chorus concert went well. It was nice that they sang first, so the hoards of people could thin out. Jack said it was packed, so with the band concerts to follow, it’s just as well they didn’t have to stay for the whole thing. The photo included was taken by Jack from the audience. Patricia is on the riser second from the top, far left. Margaret was a trooper and watched the baby at home so Dad could enjoy his daughter’s performance.


Margaret has been writing a novel. That’s right, our 13-year-old may be the next Chris Paolina (you know, the teen who wrote the “Eragon” series). This is from the girl who not that long ago complained that she didn’t like to write. She’s been working furiously on it (with help from her buds, Maggie and Josh) and it’s actually very, very good. It’s not my cup of tea; it’s fantasy and science fiction, but it’s well-written and has very good dialog. Who knows? Maybe she’ll find a publisher before I do for my novel. Although I told her last night when she asked, “Do you think my novel will be published?” that she has to finish the thing first.

Tessa overcame her bout of intestinal distress only to succumb once again this past week. We don’t know what it is. We’ve tried different dog foods on her and have for the last couple of days been feeding her rice and boiled chicken mixed together. She loves it, and, quite frankly, it’s a heck of a lot cheaper to make rice and chicken than pay $20 a bag for expensive dog food. The vet said it’s a bland diet that will make her tummy feel better, so maybe that’s what we’ll be doing for a while. She is a good girl, though, and seems to feel bad when she’s feeling bad.


I’ve included a few photos today that were taken over the last couple of weeks. But I also found a long-lost Christmas photo – from Brigid’s first Christmas – that originally came up as a bad file on the camera. So, although it is from Christmas 2006, I share it with you today for your enjoyment.

The pajamas the two older girls are wearing are from Michelle. Brigid found Patricia's goggles in her swim bag and wanted them on. I call it, "Scuba Girl." The couple photos of Brigid in outer gear show what I call “Gaiter Girl.” I fashioned gaiters, I may have explained before, for her arms from anklet socks so the snow doesn’t go down her wrists. She insists on having real gaiters on her feet to keep snow out of her boots, although her new snow pants do a fine job. She looks ready for the tundra. The other photo of her sitting on the floor was to demonstrate her independent nature of late. She insists on doing as many things by herself that she can, including putting on her shoes. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but isn’t that just human nature? Enjoy.