Week in Review

Thanks for all of your great suggestions about Disney World. Duly noted.

I also appreciate your tips and tricks for the plugged duct. I think it was the lecithin that did it, because I was unaware of the problem resolving. It must have just dissolved. Anyway, yay, and my boobs are back to normal. That officially makes them the ONLY normal part of me!

I'm fighting with MG right now over nap. I've had her asleep 3 times in the past hour and 45 minutes, and each time when I've put her down (time 1) or left the room (time 2 and 3) she's come down the stairs screaming at me. She never did sleep before I finally just gave up. I do not know what to do with this child. She is getting about 2/3 of the recommended amount of sleep for her age group, and NOTHING we do seems to have any effect. It makes me insane, because I store up my list of the 10,000 things I want to do while she's asleep (hello, our Christmas tree is still up). So I'll get Claire to sleep (usually a 10 minute process) and start the process with MG, and it's a 2 hour fight, and Claire wakes up and there goes my time to get stuff done, and MG's still effing awake and I just can't take it anymore. We've tried skipping nap altogether, to see if it makes her easier to put to bed at night, but then she just ends up being a little asshole for about 50% of the day, AND going to sleep at 10:30 AND getting up at 6:30 am. Letting her cry for hours and hours doesn't do any good. She doesn't ever give up. Removing privileges (today it was "If you take your nap we'll go to the library when you wake up, but if you don't we can't go,") doesn't help. That's way above her comprehension level. Now she's all, "You can be happy," and I'm saying, "You know what? If you want me to be happy you can march your little butt upstairs and take your nap!" and I do not like being that kind of person/mother.

She wants me to rock her in the rocking chair for the entire 90 minute duration of her nap. Failing that, she wants me to sit there and hold her hand (actually, she holds my index finger) until she wakes up. She uses the finger thing as a trip wire - if I let go, she feels it and rouses herself enough to scream at me, "YOU NEED TO HOLD MY HAND, MOMMY!" and then usually she'll demand a few rounds of "Twinkle Star" as punishment for trying to leave the room.

I probably am to blame for all this. In fact, I know I am. When I was pregnant I'd lay down with her and nurse her to sleep, then nap myself, so she got used to taking her naps with me. Bad Mommy. Bad habit. Co-sleeping is EVIL! (Of course, the only people who think that are the ones who don't have a vested interest in whether or not I ever sleep again, because if it were up to MG I would remain awake, holding and rocking her in the chair, for the rest of her life). But for God's sake, she's 2 and a half. Isn't it about time that she learned to sleep alone?

She just came over with a bunch of silk flowers and said, "Here Mama, flowers to make you feel better. Take a deep sniff. Thanks, Mama." It's so hard not to give in to that. I want to just take them both upstairs and lay down in the bed with them so we all can feel better. In fact, that's probably what I'm going to do, since I can't think of anything else. So, if the tree's still up in June, you will know why.

Sock it to me, Gentle Reader, what do I do?