Skooliosis

There's so much I want to be doing, but I can only pick one thing to do at a time. I mean, in one single instance. This is not to say I'm not multitasking.

Currently Lucy is watching Yellow Submarine, I'm telling her to keep her feet off the vcr, and BB is in her crib, crying. Oh lovely life.

Yeah so let me make this quick.

School has been awesome. I'm totally enjoying myself. Busy as shit, but it's mad real yo.

Florangela is a cool Writing for Mass Comm teacher. She emphasizes writing skills (grammar, sentence structure, style, storytelling, blogging, developing an online writing presence) that I sort of already am a dork about. It's like the class was secretly tailored to my interests. She even made fun of me for having long hair, a prerequisite for me liking a teacher.

Ciara is a sweet Spanish 101 teacher. She's got two MA's in women's studies and literature, and she's sweet and sassy.

Spanish class always lasts the whole two hours and 20 minutes allotted, and we cover lots of textbook territory each time. She must have her flow down, or we as a class like her, because the classes don't seem particularly lengthy. Participation--speaking in Spanish--is a large part of the class experience. This is not easy for my classmates or I, and the time flies underneath all the rapt attention required just to keep up.

Spanish is the more difficult class for me, obviously. Tonight we have our third quiz. Flashcards don't malfunction on me now!

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In the interest of wildly switching topics, yet still retaining the theme of the blog, My strategy worked! It's not a new one, mind you. It's been tested before on a previous test subject.

I let BB hang out in the crib with her toys for a bit, allowing her to become frustrated with her inability to do most anything she desires, thereby crying. After ten minutes or so I went back in, put her blankets on, plugged her pacifier in, let her squeeze my finger with one hand, and sorta rubbed her head and let my arm rest medium-heavy on her chest. She was out in a few minutes, and I got the satisfaction of both watching her fall asleep, a cute baby aspect no matter how cold your heart is, and of the relief that I didn't have to make her fall asleep alone.

Recently I read in a brochure from the doctor's office or hospital or Seattle childcare people in some capacity that one ought to put one's baby down at the same time every day, be they tired or not. This seemed like great advice to me, until I began to consider putting it into practice.

What got me through the tough times of Lucy napping was rolling with the punches. Some days she'd want to nap at noon--some days 2 pm. It went in waves of several months at a time. I'd get good and used to having her fall asleep at noon, and after a while she just wouldn't be tired enough to put down until a few hours later. We would always fight when I'd put her down before she was ready. It frustrated me to no end, partially because of my mindset that THE CLOCK WAS TELLING ME IT WAS TIME. Such a rigid system of having a child nap, I realized, may work for some, but not I. Eventually I learned to just wait until she was tired before initiating nap protocols, and to stay flexible.

Now that Lucy's 2 and 7.7 months old, +/-0.5, her naps are easy. She's even started to sometimes tell me ... now get ready for this ... that she needs a nap. And she'll lay down in bed all by herself. Unbelievable. She's getting SO OLD! It's time to put her in a home.

Seriously, she's getting so old. She talks well and learns new words and sentences every day. And her face and body are visibly developing before my eyes, albeit at glacial speed. Always wants The Beatles. Her faves: Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (I'm not kidding), Yellow Submarine, Hello Goodbye,  and Nowhere Man.

Now she wants the tv off. I assume she'll want something else after that. Later.

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Well, I haven't published this yet, so I'll write more. My days are a constant process of doing many 

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And since I wrote those words I was once again interrupted. It's useless. If I want to type something and not pay attention to the girls for any amount of time, I just... can't.

My days are a constant process of doing many small jobs, with moments of sanity and quiet and still peppered in.

Anyway, with the sleeping thing--

   A Case For

   I could see my way of being flexible with nap times messing with bedtimes. Lucy wanted to take a nap an hour earlier than usual today. She also woke up an hour earlier this morning, when Megan was getting ready for work. See a connection?

   This seems to be the crux of the reasoning behind the sleep-on-a-strict-schedule rule: to keep your kid's sleeping consistent, so they stay healthy and well-adjusted. I don't put the girls to bed very often anymore, cause my classes run thru bedtime, but Megan puts them to bed at 8 p.m. like clockwork. Which helps me keep them on a tighter than loose nap schedule.

   A Case Against

   BB's naps and sleeping times are inconsistent, and there's not much I can do about it. It's easier to run with it, for now. Sometimes she sleeps until 7am, when Lucy and I get up; sometimes she's up at 5, in which case she takes a nap between 7 and 8:30 or so. So right at the start of the day, she might or might not nap. 

And I'm not fucking dealing with her crying in the crib any more than I absolutely have to. That shit is maddening.

Okay I feel better.