Stressed

So, the Move is on... much like the heat. The Garage Sale is also on, which is stressing me out to no end. I would love to wave my magic wand (teak, eleven inches, nice and whippy) and have all of my worldly goods transported to the New Place. And arranged. And cleaned, too. Alas, I have to do all this shit myself, and I'm not so much enjoying it.

The Bear has developed several new quirks, some of which are decidedly cute, some of which need to get kicked to the curb, and I mean ASAP. She is pulling up and standing now, which is nice. I have twenty bucks that says she walks by her birthday in July. It's really quite cute, the standing. She makes the "I'm so proud of me" face. So. Cute.

She has also, however, decided that bedtime is for losers. Last night, she went down (as per her usual) at 7:00 on the nose. 8:00 comes, and she's wailing in the bed. I go, get her, fix her, pet her, and put her back. 8:30, she's up again. Down again. Up again at 9:00, at which point we decided to just let her have it out. You can lead a horse to water... no sleep for this kid. She was *wired*! I thought it was the teeth, so we dosed her with ibuprofen. Then I thought she might be hungry, so we had a snack. Then, we thought she might be bored, so we played and sang and romped. Eventually, at 11:30, I went to bed and left her with Husband. I have to idea how he got her to sleep (although the Benadryl bottle was out this morning...), but she was up at the usual time this morning, and didn't take any extra naps. What an odd aberration, I said to myself...

So tonight, 7:00 comes and the Bear is laid in her cave to hibernate for the evening. She dozes, then, at 7:30 - voila! like magic! - she's up again. I pulled no punches tonight. We went on a walk, and then we went to play outside where it's really effing hot and muggy. Then, when we came in to the blissful coolness of our recirculated air, she had more milk and went docilely off to the Land of Nod like a good Bear. She had better stay there, too, if she knows what's good for her. I'm so not a night person - I can handle all the crying babies in the Universe until about 9 or 10, at which point I turn into a pumpkin and am not pleasant when my sleep has been interrupted. I need like 10 hours a night just to function and be civil.

Speaking of teeth, these two new ones are very odd. The first four all broke through in like an hour. First there was nothing, and then, poof, the whole top of the tooth was through. The two she's cutting right now are only corners. The corners have been through for days now, but the rest of the tooth doesn't seem to be forthcoming. It seems to be causing her a great deal of irritation, judging from all the biting. Also, I think they're pushing her top two teeth together (she has the Gap between them) and that may also be hurting her. I don't know, but neither of us are really enjoying this dental adventure. I've been sorely tempted to heed my grandmother's advice - just a drop of whiskey on the gums... I would never give my child alcohol, but ye gods is it tempting some days!