It's Just a Phase...

We parents have this special way of justifying our children's undesirable behaviour - we say they are going through 'a phase'. Fifi is going through a phase.

She used to be really good at going to sleep at bedtime. No matter how awake she was prior to 10, she always shut down at 10 o'clock on the dot.

A couple of days ago she had a day where she slept the entire day. From the moment I took her out to drop her daddy off at work until her lunch time (which was my lunch time too) and then after her lunch until we picked up her dad, she slept. I kept commenting to anyone who would listen about how I couldn't believe she was still asleep but that I recognised this to be 'the calm before the storm'.

That storm has officially blown in.

Since that day, she's been a cranky, kicking, non-sleeper to the extreme. No one but Mummy will do. And even Mummy will only barely do. And she won't go to sleep at night anymore. And once she has finally drifted off, she kicks and tosses and turns all night long.

I read in a baby book that when children reach certain milestones, like crawling or sitting up, they practice these new skills in their sleep. So I wasn't surprised by this new restlessness (she'd been trying to roll over for a while now). But I was surprised by the crankiness that has ensued. And the crankiness the lack of sleep has ensued in me. Nothing keeps you awake like tiny, powerful legs kicking you in the gut (and the groin) all night long - except maybe a baby staring you in the face at 4am, who then laughs hysterically when you awaken to that ominous and disconcerting feeling of being watched (at 4am).

The good news in all of this is that these late night practice sessions have at least paid off to some extent -

-because today, for the first time ever, FIFI. ROLLED. OVER!

FIFI, OUR LITTLE FOUR MONTH OLD BABY, ROLLED OVER! AND WE SAW IT!

Yes, folks, our baby did what nearly each and every baby in the history of mankind does at some point in their lives, and HOLY COW, WE CAN'T STOP TALKING ABOUT IT.

This doesn't, however, totally make up for the fact that it's really late, and Fifi is upstairs in bed with a blue giraffe, laughing and chattering away, like she has been doing for the past hour and a half. Regardless, of course, of the fact that only seconds before putting her in bed, she was whining, crying and arching her back with all the rage one can muster in about 17 pounds of human body, with those tell-tale red sleepy-circles around her eyes... No, Fifi's got 'bedtime' totally confused with 'funtime' these days, and seriously, it's killing me.