Fast Break

Okay, while I wait for some video files to render, here’s the quick rundown:

Aunt Steph just left on Wednesday morning after visiting since last Friday… Ah-Mah and Ah-Gong were also here over the weekend, so it was fun for the family to hang out together… Of course, they all got a big kick out of Danica, who was also eager to see them (see video).



Only eighteen (18!) more days until Kindra’s scheduled c-section on Monday, April 28, but the realization that she could go into labor at any time has put a little bit of a panic in me. Technically, her due date’s not until May 4, but she’s pretty sure she’s not going to make it to April 28. The doctor says that everything is fine (*knock wood*), but Kindra’s definitely ready to be done. Not really sure how we’re going to handle two, but we take solace in the fact that we’re not Jon and Kate from Jon & Kate Plus Eight (as I think many a couple do).

Our biggest issue right now is that, per my last post, Danica has decided that cribs are for babies. Unfortunately, mattresses on the floor do not seem for Danicas, either. She’s been crazy difficult to get to sleep (and keep asleep – more on that later). We do the whole bedtime routine thing – bath, books, kisses – but she knows that she has to go to sleep and is consequently pretty fussy when it comes time to turn out the lights and for us to leave the room.

We’ve gotten to taking turns putting her to sleep, following the “Weissbluth method,” which basically involves telling her what’s going on, putting her down and letting her cry. When she gets out of bed and opens her door, we just pick her up without a word, put her in her bed and walk out again. Repeat about a bajillion times on a bad night (record is in the 70’s – inside of thirty minutes), and on a good night, repeat less than ten times (record is six… but she woke up later). It’s hell on the nerves and on our backs.

If you think getting her to sleep sounds rough, you should see her actually sleeping: she rolls around like crazy. We expected this since toddlers aren’t really supposed to be in beds until after age three because they just don’t have the body awareness to stay in a bed. We might have given in a bit too easily with taking her out of the crib, but because she used to bang her head against the wall, we had to. Anyway, she tends to roll off the mattress and ends up sleeping on the floor, which she apparently doesn’t mind. She’s taken to opening her door and flopping down on the ground when we go to move her and then just falling asleep in her doorway. We’ve also found her out in the middle of the hallway, where she sleeps just fine (mostly), and she even came into our room one day and slept by the side of our bed. I’m not too thrilled with it, but she sleeps on top of her blanket and we keep the apartment pretty warm, so I have to live with it for now. Even if she stays on the bed, she mostly sleeps half-on, half-off the bed, which isn’t much better.

And if you think watching her sleep is rough, you should be there when she wakes up in the middle of the night. We hold our breath when she wakes up, hoping that she’ll turn around and flop down on top of her blanket. If she doesn’t, the next best hope is that when she comes out, she’ll go back to sleep quickly if we hold her for a little while and then gently lay her down. The worst-case scenario (which has happened quite a bit over the past couple of days) is that we have to go in there, calm her down, and then lay with her to get her to go to sleep. Of course, getting out of there once she’s asleep (without falling asleep yourself – a challenge for both of us) is a bit like the scene at the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark when Indiana Jones tries to take the golden idol… you’ve got to move gently, but quickly, lest you wake her up and she comes after you like that huge boulder in the movie. I would’ve put in a movie clip here, but I couldn’t find just that part on YouTube. Go figure.

Anyway, that’s what’s going on.

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