Walk with me

Michele asks if I have any tricks for resetting nocturnal babies. The answer, as evidenced by the time at which this post was started, is no. I wish my high school had offered a course on one-handed typing. Now there's a skill that you really will use someday -- unlike trigonometry. Baby Laurel is in the crook of my arm. Despite our efforts to keep her up during the day to encourage her to sleep at night, she is maintaining her 2:30-4:30 a.m. wakefulness. Ah, she's stirring again. Time to continue our silent walk. I try not to talk to her during these hours, because, although I haven't solved this problem yet, it makes sense to me that the stimulus should be kept to a minimum during periods in which I'd like her to become accustomed to sleeping.

So, here we go, baby. Let's ease our way around the couch and big sister's blocks. Gotta watch out for those. OK, so we've reached the living room. Meggie calls this rug her "spinning rug." That should be fairly self-explanatory. So here's the kitchen. Let's do a couple of laps around the kitchen table. We'll do knee-highs this time. Just to keep it interesting. Next time lunges. Ew, there's a sticky spot. Big sister must have spilled some juice. Remind me to mop tomorrow. Now we'll pass the fridge and go around the table again. Let's stop to look at the stars out the kitchen window. Look at that sky, little baby. Remember this when you complain about how far the mall is from here. That up there ... that's why daddy and mommy picked the little house in the valley. So here we go around again. Let's bounce this time. I see your little eyelids fluttering. It's OK, you can doze off. It's 4:30 now. You're right on time. Don't worry, if you fall asleep we can walk again some other day. I'll probably see you in the same place, same time tomorrow.

_______________________

Picture time

Here's a picture of Laurel with her eyes open. I don't know why she looks so surprised.

This is not Laurel. It's Meggie around 2 months of age. I ran across this picture and was amazed at the similarity between the two of them.

Meggie gets to hold baby Laurel.

Fall has come to the little house in the valley.

Playing on the wheelbarrow on an autumn evening.

Another view of the side of the newly painted house.

Evening light.

The final flowers.

Still picking.

Meggie rushes to daddy returning from work.