Lost in Place

She had been sleeping in her own little bed and only kind of waking up four or five times a night. I’d put her pacifier back in her mouth and she would fall right back to sleep. I was getting so excited – could she finally be catching on? I thought I’d been dreaming the other night when she went to sleep at 11:30 and didn’t wake up until 6 the next morning. Of course, I just had to go and acknowledge this. Because now? We’re right back to square one. She’s waking up wanting to eat four or five times a night, won’t sleep in her little bed – hell, won’t sleep period. She’s hardly napping during the day. She isn’t even grouchy most of the time she’s up - she’s just up. And wanting attention – lots and lots of attention. Right now she’s sitting here on my lap, wide-eyed, cooing up a storm and sucking on my arms when a week ago she would have been fast asleep and down for the long stretch of the night in about twenty minutes. Oh no. Not anymore. So making dinner, trying to get her bottles washed and getting things ready for the next day are next to impossible. Oh and going to sleep at a decent hour? Ha. She laughs in my face! Well, smiles really big anyway – she hasn’t quite mastered that laughing thing yet.