Sep
14
Oh my doG. We didn’t know we could function on so little sleep. But starting the first day of this trip and until last night, we’ve had next to no sleep, and we’re doing quite well, actually. And last night we got about 6 hours all told, so we’re doing great today.
Well, not really. We’re still totally tired. But we’re pretty happy despite it all.
Part of it has to do with having The Perfect Baby. I know, people always say that about their own kids. But I tell you truly, I have never met a happier, less fussy kid. She’s just as happy as can be, all the damn time. Right now, she’s dead tired, and what is she doing? Lying in her crib, nomming on her blankie, and squealing and burbling and blowing raspberries.
I don’t get it. But I am NOT complaining. Not one tiny bit.
She’s absolutely been the easiest baby I have ever seen.
A lot of it has to do with the excellent care at the Transition Home. They have rooms full of about 8-10 babies, with 3 or 4 caregivers working the room, and so she has a great schedule and she’s very patient when her schedule gets thrown off by something. I would expect that she got used to it. And part of it is that it has made her very social. She only tends to squawk when she wants to have some company, or she wants to be picked up, or when she is just in need of a change of scenery, which means a walk in the Snugli which she absolutely loves. And because the staff there were so wonderful, she adores them all and is quick to smile and laugh whenever she gets attention.
But a lot of it has to do with the fact that she is just a happy, social sort. She coos and chatters all day long, and especially at strangers who pass by. She loves the man in the cafe where we have breakfast, and she adores Misrak who cleans our room each evening (we put out the Do Not Disturb sign all day, just to give Misrak the opportunity to visit with us in the evening while she cleans our room — walking around the bed to make it provides an excellent opportunity for peek-a-boo between the two of them). And she can just lie on her blanket and play and chatter to her toys for an hour at a time — but it’s much more fun if one of us is lying there too so she can giggle at us and blow raspberries.
Blowing raspberries and doing this happy squealing babble are her two favourite ways of showing her contentment.
She kills us. 2 am, and we’ll hear “ah-goooooooo” and 6 or 7 raspberries all in a row emanating from somewhere in the dark in our room, and we laugh ourselves silly.
She talks in her sleep, so the first night, at around 4, we heard a squeal. I blew a hamstring jumping out of bed to see what was the matter, only to see her sound asleep and grinning.
And she loveslovesloves to lay around in her diaper. She hates to be hot, so laying in her crib in a onesie where she can kick and wiggle and feel cool brings on an hour of babbling. And of course, more raspberries.
Right now, she’s doing just that. “Ah-gooooo” and a squeal, followed by a string of noisy raspberries, which make her laugh. And her Daddy is lying on the other side of the crib bars, so she has an audience.
She loves a bit of an audience.
So yeah, between the feeding and the dirty diapers and most of all the talking and goofing around, we’re getting little sleep.
Best week I’ve ever had, I’ll tell you that.
