hat trick from hell

You had to know our near-angelic baby had lulled us into complacency that was bound to bite us in the ass eventually. Eventually is here. We've got a triple-whammy going on...teething, growth spurt, and a skill explosion. It all adds up to a screaming-instead-of-sleeping baby, and parents with nerves beyond raw. And just to make things interesting, Oliver's school had an in-service day today.

All of this is theoretical, but one top tooth came through after a night of shrieking last week. It seems like that tooth's next door neighbor is trying to get through next. (Just like Oliver, she is getting teeth two at a time. The difference is teething didn't bother him nearly as much.) The skill explosion is mostly related to sitting without support but she's also making a huge mess of rice cakes and saliva (so she's getting them to her mouth very successfully) and babbling to the point where "da-da" and "ma-ma" are discernible (though we know they don't mean what we want them to mean yet). Infant growth spurts are typically 3 and 6 weeks, and 3 and 6 months, so she's due for one of those too.

Last night she screamed from 4 to 5:30. CD and I both tried to get her to sleep, with absolutely no success. As a last resort I gave her motrin and she crashed. I was close to doing the same thing tonight but she finally relented for CD. I will not wait as long if the shrieking begins again after midnight.