Evelyn Stuff

Miss E is in this brand new phase where she throws a little fit when it's bedtime. We used to have a lovely little sleeping ritual. After her bath, the two of us would settle down on the couch and I would feed her for sixteen million hours until she was asleep, and then she would sleep all night long. She would eat for about half an hour, sometimes more like an hour, before she was completely asleep. Now, she still needs to do that but she Does Not Want To. Instead, she wants to cozy up, eat for fifteen minutes and then commence with the whining and crying and switching sides and being patted and eating for thirty more seconds and crying and whining. Mommy does not like this game nearly as much as Baby does. Thing is, she will usually settle herself back down and finish the routine, but the freaking out really reduces the pleasure I get out of it. Tonight, I gave up earlier rather than later, and passed her off to her father. Technically, M has first responsibility on bedtime--left over from the early days before the routine took. He would walk her for hours some nights. Gradually, I started getting her to sleep and he stopped needing to help at all--but on the nights when she doesn't go down as expected, he is in charge of her until one. What is even less appealing to me is how she has suddenly stopped sleeping all night long. I can't complain, really, because she still sleeps rather well, but I was hoping for continued improvement instead of the opposite.

As I was cooking dinner tonight, M came in to confide that he was getting worried about how little she talks these days. She used to babble constantly, but she does so rarely now. Evelyn, ever a considerate child, has decided to ease his mind, and she has barely shut up all evening. Little stinker. :)

What else is she doing? Yesterday, I had to take her shirt off of her and put another one on because she discovered a decorative button that she refused to stop trying to eat. She was utterly fascinated by it. She is enjoying her big girl bath again--we take turns bathing her every night by getting into the tub with her. For a little while, she seemed to be a bit afraid, so we're happy she likes that again.. especially since she is too big for her infant tub now. Also, she splashes like mad so it just makes a mess. She is almost sitting by herself--she can do it for a period of time, especially if she holds on to her feet (otherwise known as her favorite toys, ever--still.) The hair is coming back in and it's so so fuzzy and soft. It has been duly noted that it is actually duck-like. By the way, you'll be glad to know that we never call her Ducky anymore. ;)

She has started laughing at physical interactions more and more--M has incorporated her into a little free weight exercise routine, which makes her laugh. One of the funniest of those physical humor things is that she loves it when I push her leg over the other one--discovered that when I was checking out a little rash on her outer thigh. She hates having a wet diaper, but she doesn't particularly mind being extremely dirty.. which is strange, to me. In the last few days, she's having a tough time in the mornings because she thinks she has to roll over as soon as she begins to wake up. This is troublesome for her because she ends up with random limbs hanging out the back of her crib, through the rails. It doesn't hurt her but it sure makes her mad. Also this week, she rolled over and slept on her stomach for the first time. We're none too thrilled with this development. She seems like she really wants to be more independent right now, but she's having a lot of trouble with that concept because she isn't coordinated to DO much of anything if we lay her down. She's uninterested in crawling completely, but she's already pretty good at standing while holding on to something, and she tries to walk, though she is, of course, terrible at it. *grin* She loves her walker and has gotten pretty good at walking backwards in it... forward, not so much. She likes it when we whisper and when we sing.

I am perfectly aware that some of you could care less about my baby's ability to fascinate me every day. Do I care? Eh. Not really. ;)