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What, me sleep?

It all started on Friday. The Bug had a good nap in the morning, lasting about 45 minutes. Then when I tried to put her down for a nap in the afternoon - she was already asleep - she started screaming when she touched the mattress. I got her back to sleep on my lap and tried again the transfer to the bed, and once again I got screams. C and I ended the day on Friday sans nap.

This morning I tried to look past Friday’s lack of naps. The Bug fell happily asleep in my lap around 10. I did what I always did; I picked her up and put her gently down in her bed.

Screams.

I tried getting her back to sleep, but she was now wide awake. A new tactic was required.

I gave up on sleep for the moment and took C for a nice, thirty minute walk around the neighborhood. When we got back, I gave her a bottle, and she drifted gently off to sleep. She was down for the count. I waited about ten minutes, and tried again to put her in bed.

Screams.

She’s now playing happily at my feet (perhaps she doesn’t need sleep so much right now?). She loves the board books.

Well, at least we’re making progress with “no.”

No means no

The Bug and I are working on the concept of “no” today, as in “no, you can’t play with the trashcan” and “no, you can’t play with the computer cords.” She’s begining to realize that this no has a lot in common with “no, you cannot stand up in the bath tub.”

Television moving … again

Katie and I have flip-flopped about television and cable since we bought this house nearly two years ago. First we had it, then we didn’t. Then we had it again, and soon it’ll be no more.

We got the full digital cable dealy this time because of the baby. There was no way, we figured, that either one of us should be up at three in the morning with a fussy, wide-awake baby and have nothing to do.

But the Bug will be eleven months old next week, and she’s no longer getting us up in the middle of the night (Katie won’t allow it). Now the television is a distraction.

For me, the problem is its location. The tv, and its million cable channels, is in the living room, where I’m currently watching - for the eighty millionth time - Silence of the Lambs. And our house has a fairly open floor plan, especially for a hundred-year-old house. When one person watches tv, everyone watches tv.

But because we have a huge room upstairs that’s being underused, we’re going to turn it into the tv-focused family room, and free up the downstairs. It’s all a part of our child-proofing weekend. I hate the thought of everyone having to watch Silence of the Lambs just because I am.

I’m excited and anxious. And I hope we can leave cable off for longer this time.

I wish I had my camera

The Bug today has enjoyed standing and babbling at my window. Very cute. She must’ve stood there for fifteen minutes this morning, just babbling at the window and the occasional passing car.

My daughter is loud

My daughter is loud. Even while playing happily, she’ll occasionally scream out at the top of her lungs for no apparent reason. She’s not necessarily happy or even excited. She just screams.

When can babies start learning about “inside voices?”

A whole new world, indeed

Now that the Bug has learned to crawl, the world has indeed changed. No longer can we put her down and expect her to be in the same place ten seconds later. No longer can we sit and watch her play at a spot on the floor.

And at the same time, my childcare at work has gone on a two week vacation. While I’m used to having the Bug here three days a week, she usually spends most of that time with my mother. On the average work day, I can usually hand her off when I need to, and I generally only have an hour or two a day (not including commutes and nap times) when it’s truly one-on-one.

But I wasn’t able to finish this post without getting up and moving C out of her pack n play and into another neglect-o-matic. It’s going to be an interesting two weeks.

Spoiled by Pandora

I’m spoiled by Pandora; whenever I hear a song I don’t like, I reach for the thumbs down button.

It turns out there is no thumbs down button on the radio.

An interesting take on a blogroll

Glancing at some blogs today (vs using my feed reader), I noticed a rather cool way to do blogrolls. I’ve never liked the traditional blogroll, such as I have in one of the columns on the right, because it doesn’t really reflect what I’m reading now. It took me months, for instance, to get rid of the Nashville Is Talking link after it went aggregator. Chez Beziat’s blogroll, instead of a list of links, is a running latest posts feed from his google feed reader.

It just makes more sense. I’ll have to figure out of it’s possible and worthwhile for me to switch to that method (esp since I don’t actually use the google feed reader or the google blogging platform).

Puppy update

Several weeks ago, I blogged about how much trouble I was having with Leo’s crate training. When put in his crate, the pup barked and whined and fussed and scratched. Basically, I dreaded anything to do with Leo and the crate.

So I did a little research. It turned out that I was part of the problem. Because the other dogs respond positively to being told to hush in the crate, I treated Leo the same way. When he fussed, I shushed. It turns out he didn’t notice that the attention he was getting was negative; he just knew I paid attention when he fussed.

After reading more about crate training, I completely changed my behavior. Whenever he was put in the crate, I ignored him for up to 45 minutes. Since I knew he’d just been put in the crate, I knew he didn’t need to go to the bathroom. He didn’t need out of the crate, he just wanted to be out. There were times that he fussed that entire 45 minutes, but he always stopped before I caved.

For weeks, Leo fussed in the crate. But several days ago, I realized that he wasn’t doing it any more. Now, while Leo still doesn’t relish getting in the crate, he goes in when he has to and he waits quietly for morning. Even on really bad nights, when we’re up with the Bug, he fusses a bit - hoping to be let out - but if I ignore it for a few minutes (I wouldn’t wait 45 in the middle of the night, not knowing if he might really need to be let out) he generally settles down.

I’m not saying this is the end of crate training, but it sure is good progress.

Next step: obedience training.

Tom Waits recommendations?

I just found out that I may be going to the Tom Waits show on Sunday (cross your fingers that the world’s awesomest sis-in-law really can watch the Bug in addition to her three kids).

I’ve always like Tom Waits when he comes on the radio, but I’ve never made the leap to buying any of his stuff. Maybe that means I don’t deserve to see him live, but my good excuse has always been that he’s just recorded too much and I don’t know where to start (I’m the same way with Elvis Costello).

So … can anybody tell me where to start? I’m thinking maybe “Real Gone?” Or maybe one of the albums for which he won a grammy?

This time last week