Picking up daddy's shoes

The last three days have been challenging. Saturday night (technically Sunday morning) Cayden woke up mad at 2:30am and would not let me lay her back down, even after her bottle. She would fall asleep, exhausted in my arms and then be wide awake and screaming when I quietly laid her down in her crib. I tried laying down with her on the couch, but she wouldn't have it. Nothing made her happy. Finally, after an hour of this, Bryan came downstairs. The crying/screaming was keeping him awake anyway, and so after we collectively changed her diaper and tried to cheer her up a little, she conceded to let Bryan lay her down in her crib. I was beat. Sunday morning, Cayden woke up and was cheerful enough, and when she went down for her morning nap, so did I. We didn't have to be at church until noon, and I definitely needed the sleep. So I crashed until 11:15am, woke to my cell phone alarm, and jumped in the shower, hoping Cayden would stay asleep until I got my hair done.


Nope.

I could hear her babbling as soon as the mirror started to fog up. Finishing my shower, I could hear Cayden on the monitor, getting louder by the second. I raked through my hair with the brush, threw on my bathrobe and went to her room.

No baby.

Strange, I thought. Walking down the hall, I pushed open Lauren's room to find her, Youngi and Cayden hanging out. I asked if they could watch Cayden while I did my hair. Thankfully, they did, and we got out the door only 15 minutes late.

At church, Cayden was not her normal, cheerful self. She seemed really tired and, therefore, grumpy. We managed to get through, even when one of the 4-year-olds busted out a bag of suckers to share with everyone in the nursery (which I didn't let Cayden have). Luckily, she has no idea what a sucker is. Being tired and uncoordinated, Cayden biffed it a few times at church, even garnishing her first chin burn when she was walking in her pink tights and lost control on the slick wood floor in the nursery.
Needless to say, I was anxious to get her home and in bed.

Cayden and Joe fell asleep on the way home. I was giddy in anticipation of my upcoming naptime as well when I pulled into the driveway and unbuckled a sleepy Cayden. She snuggled up to me and I took her to her room to lay her down.

But, alas, the 10 minute nap en route was my downfall.
Cayden decided to be wide awake.

Once Cayden's bedtime came (7:30pm), I was pretty much done. I think I was in bed by 9:00pm.
Thankfully, she slept through the night and woke up this morning around 9, happy and ready for a bath.
She loves baths and I've been working on her letters using the foam alphabet she plays with in the bath. She loves to swim in the water and stick her face in to blow bubbles and get a bubble beard. Every time I scrub her hair with shampoo, she stands up. Not sure why. She panics when I pour water over her head to get the bubbles off. I don't think she knows how to hold her breath when I do that. She loves to Splash! Splash! Splash! all over herself and mommy.

That morning, I discovered the root of my baby's sleeplessness...a molar coming in. Boo.

The rest of yesterday (and today) consisted of Cayden throwing all her food on the ground and needing to be constantly held. Testing produces endurance, testing produces endurance....

Cayden's new favorite toy is Winnie the Pooh nesting dolls. She is fascinated with opening and closing the little dolls. She also has taken to pulling the shoes off the shoe rack in the laundry room (not cool), and Splash! Splash! splashing in Macie's water bowl (even less cool). What is cool is that she knows how to "put it back" when she pulls the shoes off. She also knows how to "put Daddy's shoes away." Bryan came home on Sunday and kicked off his shoes in the living room (as is his habit). I asked Cayden, "Can you put daddy's shoes away?" and she took both of his shoes by the laces, one in each little fist, and carried them to the laundry room and put them on the shoe rack! Bryan was thoroughly impressed!

So the moral of the story is...

My kid drives me crazy and makes me want sleep more than a million dollars but she also amazes me every day because every day has a "first" when you are a 1-year-old.