My Specialty is Curve Balls

Well, things have been a little different for me this last week. Mommy says that I just haven't been myself. I'm not sure if I know why I feel different. I suppose if I knew, I'd try to tell Mommy so she could understand me more, but I haven't pointed to any clues for her. Mommy says that the only thing she knows is that I'd be a good baseball player, because I throw great curve balls.

What I mean, is for the most part, I've been pretty easy on my parents when it comes to bedtime. We have a pretty good routine. Mommy gives me a bath, gets my jammies on and sits for some quiet time while listening and watching Baby Einstein. I think my favorite right now is Baby Monet. I giggle when the zebras laugh. After about 15 minutes (this allows brother to go upstairs, get his jammies on and brush his teeth), mommy makes me a yummy bottle of warm milk, takes me upstairs to my room and we rock in the rocking chair while finishing my milk. When I'm done, mommy gives me my pacifier, lays me in my crib, covers me up and leaves the room, blowing me a kiss while shutting the door. Sometimes I sit up for a while and talk to my koala bear, but most of the time I just turn on my tummy and fall asleep. Now, there have been a handful of nights where I just didn't want to sleep yet, so I cried for mommy. Mommy says that bed time in bed time...so she comes in, lays me back down, tells me to go to sleep and leaves again. I'm pretty good at getting the point (mommy isn't much of a pushover when it comes to bedtime) and I don't call her back in.

Well, Wednesday night, I pitched mommy a curve ball. It was a very warm day and I was having a good time downstairs with mommy and Geneva. I realy didn't want to go to bed. Mommy recognized my 'wind-up' when I refused my milk bottle at rocking time. She raised her eyebrow and even predicted that I might be giving her a hard time pretty soon. Yep, she was right. As soon as she put me in the crib, I started crying as loud as I could. Mommy said she was sorry, but it was time to sleep; turned and walked out my room. Well, then that door closed, I launched my curve ball. I let out the loudest screams I possibly could. Mommy stayed away for 5 minutes (she uses a timer....I just know it). She came back in, laid me back down and told me she loved me and left again. Well, I took it up a few more decibles. I honestly don't think I'm capable of yelling any louder. I yelled my meanest yells for about 8 minutes (mommy usually stays away 10 minutes the second time around), and then I got sick. Okay, I had planned on that. That was no fun. Mommy says she thinks I got myself all worked up, and my room was hot, so that's why I got sick. Well, mommy must have had her mommy antennas tuned in (or maybe she heard me on the baby monitor), but she came in right away. My, oh, my...I was a mess. And so was my bed. Mommy picked me up and loved on me (it amazes me how mommies can hold you and love you...even if it means they get themselves all messy) and rocked me for a minute. Then she took me down stairs to clean me up. After cleaning up and settling down, Geneva held me while mommy went upstairs to clean my room.

I finally went to bed an hour later and was more than ready. I sure missed my soft blankie though. Mommy said I get it back the next night.

Well, I don't know if I thought that I won that battle, because I got to get out of bed afterall...so I thought I'd try it again the next night. Once again, mommy saw my wind up early...she put me down and screamed instantly. She left for 5 minutes. My room was not as warm this time, so I was not as uncomfortable. Mommy came back after five minutes and asked me about my actions. She wasn't very happy. Mommy said it was good to go to bed in a battle. "Battle"....I know that word. She always tells Daddy that if he enters a battle with either one of us kids, to never lose. Then we'll find all of their soft spots. Hmmm, well, I guess the battle was on. Mommy sat in the rocking chair. I think she was afraid I was going to get sick again from screaming so much and didn't want me to choke while she was away. She's never sat in my room before. She just sat there staring at the ground with her head in her hands. Oh, this made me so mad. She was just ignoring me (but I was kind of glad she was in my room, I didn't feel alone). So we battled for one whole hour. I screamed and cried and threw my pacifier and bear out of my crib. I never stopped screaming. NEVEr. Someone who lived behind us said something about my screaming. I guess they could hear me. Mommy never looked at me one time. After an hour, I don't know what happened. I just remember waking up the next morning. Mommy said I just fell to my knees (I was standing and screaming the whole time), fell forward on my face and was asleep. Then mommy covered me up and left the room.

I thought about throwing another tantrum last night, but I just couldn't muster up the energy. Mommy just doesn't give in very easily. I played with the idea for about 2 minutes by whining after she laid me down. But that's all the effort I could give. Then I just turned over and fell asleep.

Mommy said that babies are good at pushing buttons. The hard part is trying to figure out why they're pusing them. Maybe I know why I didn't want to go to bed on those particular nights, but mommy has no idea. But we both learned where our limits were. We also learned that I pitch a good curve ball, but Mommy says, 'keep 'em coming'...she's always up for a good challenge.