Screamfest 2008

This last week was crazy-busy. Thursday we went to my parents' house for Thanksgiving. My sister and brother-in-law were in town. My sister sees The Monster often, but my brother-in-law hasn't seen her since her Christening in January. He was amazed at how much she has grown - as in holding up her head, crawling, walking, eating solids, and babbling up a storm. Her new favorite thing to do is to wave whenever anyone says hi or bye. She also loves to point at the cats and say "gittie." Even better is to wave and say, "eye gittie," whenever Big D or I say hello to one of our feline family members. But I digress.

Thursday night we took away the pacifier. Without incident. You read that right. We got her ready for bed, walked her upstairs, and put her in her crib. (She's gotten to the point now that when she's tired, she sees the crib and reaches for it. I put her down, and she goes to sleep without so much as a wimper. Far cry from the days of putting her in her straight jacket a.k.a. Miracle Blanket [picture here] and singing lullabies for what felt like three hours. Now, she knows it's time for bed, and she goes to sleep. I love this child.) So Thursday, she was so tired, she went to sleep immediately. Monster: 0, Parents: 1.

Friday, we took her to Big D's grandmother's house for Thanksgiving Number 2. Part of traveling with a kid entails carrying a lot of crap with you - a diaper bag, a bag of toys, favorite ride-on toy, food, and the playard. Big D's grandmother asked if we were staying the night. Uh, no. Anyway, we set up the playard and eventually tried to put The Monster down for a nap. No go. She was pissed. "Where is my paci!?!?!?!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I interpreted her screeching to mean. Half an hour later, we gave up. We didn't give her the paci (not that we had any in our two tons of luggage), and she didn't nap. Ahh, the power struggles. Monster: 0, Parents: 1, Tie: 1. That little turkey wouldn't even sleep in the car during our hour-long drive. That night, she was so exhausted, she went to bed easily sans paci. Monster: 0, Parents: 2: Tie: 1.

Then came Saturday. Oh my gosh. We had a birthday party to attend in another suburb in the afternoon. That morning, when The Monster was nice and tired, we put her in her crib. She immediately stood up and began cursing our existence. Half an hour later, we gave up. She didn't get the paci, and she didn't nap. Monster: 0, Parents: 2: Tie: 2.

We went to the birthday party, and again, the turkey would not sleep in the car. If I'm driving, Big D easily falls asleep on the way to the grocery store, so her lack of slumber in the vehicle made him temporarily question her paternity.

The party was great. Margaret always hosts great parties (and I'm not saying that because she reads my blog). Her family is so friendly and easy to talk to. And she always buys the greatest cake and cupcakes (because that's what important, after all!). The Monster was exhausted from not napping in what seemed like years, so we took her home rather early. That night, she went to bed easily. Monster: 0, Parents: 3: Tie: 2. I'm noticing a pattern here.

Sunday: rinse and repeat nap time. Another tie. She was FURIOUS that we would dare put her in her crib. We tried twice. Oh my gosh. I had to run up to the corner store for some milk, and I took her with me. She was awake the whole way there and on the way back, until about 2 minutes away from the house. I said, "I just KNEW you were tired!" I drove around a little bit so she could get a quick cat nap. I'm so nice. Monster: 0, Parents: 4: Tie: 4. That night, I put her in her crib, and the screamfest continued. Big D and I questioned our bedtime skills. Why was she all of a sudden screaming at us at bedtime? That's the easiest time in the world to put her down. We let her cry it out for about 15 minutes. She showed no signs of letting up, so I went in and checked her diaper. Maybe the large load of twosies had something to do with it. Well timed, Little Monster. Clean diaper on and off to bed without incident... and still with no paci. Monster: 0, Parents: 5: Tie: 4.

I took her to school on Monday where she napped with no problem. Lovely. But today, the note from her teacher said, "Nap time was a bit challenging." Hmm... I'll have to ask about that tomorrow. (Big D picked her up and didn't see the note in time to ask.)

Overall, the Screamfest has been limited to daytime. I think that's a good thing, but I'm not afraid to turn off the monitor at night, should she flip out.

What have I learned? This was a little harder than I expected. I can totally see why kids run around with pacis until they're four or even older. It's hard to listen to your child scream like a banshee. And it's a different scream than when they're newborn and really don't know what they want. She knows what she wants, and she knows you're holding out on her. I tell myself that listening to the screaming is much easier than taking her to speech therapy. I also know that the older she gets, the harder the struggle. Next kiddo, I may do this at nine months.

I've also learned to sweep the house looking for pacis before deciding to go cold turkey (a little Thanksgiving humor for ya). We were going to take away the paci on Wednesday night, but she found one on the kitchen counter on the way upstairs for bedtime. We let her have it. The next day, she found one in her car seat in Big D's car. I immediately took it away, but she did find it. I almost forgot about the paci wasteland - the space between her crib and the wall where they fall in the middle of the night. There were 5 there. I checked toy baskets and inside some toys but didn't find any more.

At this point, I wouldn't say The Monster is weaned from a paci, but I think she's getting close.

Some pictures Margaret took at her house. It's become a tradition that she takes our Christmas card picture in front of her tree at N's birthday party. After the last one was taken, I broke an ornament on the tree. I tried to blame The Monster, but everyone knows better. They don't call me "wrecking ball" for nuthin'!