(no subject)

Well, I seem to have been forced out of my own bed by a combination of sleepy baby and blanket-stealing hubby. I'm taking the opportunity to use the computer now, because with pyat home from work today, telecommuting, he'll be using it most of the day.

Elizabeth and I are getting out of the house. I find that if I stay around here, and she knows Daddy is upstairs, I can't get her settled to anything elsewhere in the house - she wants to go see Daddy. So in the morning, we're going to go swimming at my mom's house, and after her nap (during which I intend to nap myself) we'll go to Fortinos and get some good-for-us goodies for tonight's Ironclaw session.

I also need to call the Francophone daycare and arrange a day next week when I can go in to observe. It's better to do this while I'm still off, even if she won't be going there for another two months (she's not old enough until October.) Of course, since it's the only francophone daycare within a reasonable distance, if I don't like what I see then I'm screwed. I really hope it's okay. She's finally starting to use French words nearly as much as English, and I go back to work next week flexibly and the following week for real. I don't want her to lose the gains she's made, and I want to cement her right to go to a francophone school eventually. The only way to do that is to have her in this daycare one or two days a week.

Tomorrow I have an appointment at a spa for about six hours. I'm not paying for it (though I need to remember to take cash for a tip). Back in May, the three of us went out for dinner at Kelsey's for Mother's Day. While there, I entered a draw for mothers only, for this spa package, and won. Yippee!!! I never win stuff like this!!! Anyhow, it includes a full-body massage, facial, manicure, pedicure, and wash/cut/style. And lunch. The package is worth $185, which means it exceeds my annual budget for this type of thing (including haircuts) by a good $30.

So, when I've got my new hairdo, I'll dress up in some of my nice new clothes and get Pyat to take pictures for an lj fashion show. (I suppose that means I need to do laundry today, too. . . ) I need a new icon - I've never really liked that picture.

I wonder if I can get Piet to take the baby until 8:30 or so so I can go back to sleep now? Naptime is a very long way away. . .

Crying It Out - Reprise

Okay, enough is enough.

We had people over tonight (see riddocksdawn ). Isn't it nice that now she'll go to bed while we're still playing, we said. No more lengthy breaks from gaming while trying to get Elizabeth to go to sleep, we said. She's gone down several times this week with just a few token sobs, we said. Everyone smiled, made nice noises, and said goodnight on command. Actually, most of them said bonne nuit, because we have a very multilingual group. Elizabeth and went upstairs. We brushed her teeth, and she tried to brush mine. We said our little prayer, and she actually folded her hands and closed her eyes. I put her down, with Pooh on one side and Piglet on the other, covered with a blanket.

And she screamed.

Fifteen minutes later, after we'd both sat upstairs for a while trying to settler her, we made a big mistake. We got her out of her crib and brought her back downstairs.

She was fine with this, of course. Life was peachy. She'd gotten exactly what she wanted.

The problem came about ten minutes ago, when everyone had left and we put her down again. Talk about setbacks! SHe's still wailing, and I'm quite sure that if she'd had anything to eat recently, it would by now be all over her, Piglet, Pooh, the carpet, and her bedding. Possibly one or both of us, too.

Lesson of the day: follow routines. They are there for a reason. They are comfortable. She is much happier when the standard routine is followed.

I should have gone through the teeth-brushing, praying routine again, because she's getting used to it. I don't think it would have made a difference, though. She just thought she wouldn't have to go to sleep alone anymore.

I just went in and hummed her one of our favourite lullabies. It's my favourite because it has lots of repetition and yet lots of melodic movement, lovely sweeping intervals and soothing rhythms. I believe the melody is called Suo Gan, and it's an old Welsh tune. It's on the first Charlotte Church CD, and the kid in Empire of the Sun sings it early on in the movie and again near the end. It never fails to calm her somewhat. The only question is, will it calm her enough? However, she appears to have stopped screaming now. Maybe she's asleep. Since she's now two hours past her bedtime, she ought to be really tired. Oh, there she goes again - little sobs this time. There, even those have stopped. I think she's out.

I have to be up in eight hours to get ready for my lovely day at the spa. I've chosen one or two hairstyles out of the magazine which I think would suit me, though I want shorter bangs than any of the models had. I've even got a good romance novel, one that I've read before so I won't get too caught up in it to relax, ready to go. (Someone suggested a magazine, but I don't get caught up enough in magazines. Besides, I prefer the ones that require thought and opinion about the articles, and those are not conducive to total relaxation.)

She's definitely out. Let's hope she stays that way until 7:30 tomorrow.