This Was The Year That Was

Holy crap, what a ride 2009 has been. I find that when I look back each New Year's Eve, there tends to be a theme to the year that may or may not have been apparent while it was happening. This year's theme? 2009: The Quest For Sleep.

When it began, I was sleeping for none and Rob was sleeping for 3. Two weeks later we were both sleeping on eggshells. In the subsequent months, we came to realize that at some point we would need to sleep more than 3 hours at a time (or total) in the night. So we consulted our team of experts and learned how to Train Our Child How To Sleep. It involved a really awful week of being awakened around 1AM, checking to make sure there was Nothing Actually Wrong, and letting her learn how to get herself back to sleep, all the while checking on her in 2 minutes, then 5 minutes, then 10, then 20, then 40, then (one awful, exhausting night) another 40. The theory is that the baby will figure out that it's OK to go back to sleep. And after a few days, it worked.

So now we gauge how we're all doing by whether or not Ava sleeps through the night. Whenever something is up, she evidently needs our undivided attention, which is most easily accessible between the hours of 1 and 4:30AM. This is when we learn about teeth, fevers, rashes, and various other potential unpleasantries. We find that the helplessness we feel at not knowing what to do about whatever is going on is compounded nicely by not being able to call anyone for help because it's the middle of the night.

Sleep begets sleep, we've found. When she has a good nap during the day, there's better sleep at night for all of us. And that's our year.

Happy New Year from Las Vegas. We won't make it to midnight--Ava's down by 9:00, and we'll wear out long before the tape-delayed ball drops on the west coast. But that's OK. Because a good night's sleep beats the crap out of Ryan Seacrest and the Black-Eyed Peas.

Whoever invents these toys is my hero.

Watch, as Ava amuses herself for six entire minutes.




Awesome.

Earlier tonight, we watched Cinderella together. She danced to the Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo song and clapped when it was over.

Oh hey look, on Christmas Eve at my dad's house? She climbed the steps.




Such a big girl!

Christmas Wrap-up (Get it? Christmas? Wrap? That's a joke, son)

So it wasn't too crazy.  I think she's still too young to really lose her mind over Christmas.  We're still at the point where everything is still so we can get pictures of her doing stuff rather than her being aware of what's happening.  But it was awesome.  There was no wistful wishing for what comes next, no drama, nothing that took the focus away from Ava's First Christmas.  It was magical.

We had Christmas Eve with Grams&Gramps, and Ava got her first baby doll (awww...).

And then Christmas Day we were at home.  And we had the perfect Christmas morning.  Seriously.  I was sitting there, watching her surrounded by her new toys...

...in her monkey pajamas, thinking that this? is perfect.

We did learn a few things for next year:

1. Take the stupid presents out of the stupid packaging before you wrap them.  This was OK for her this year, but next year when she KNOWS that it's HER PRESENT, I doubt she'll be very patient about waiting for Mama and Daddy to untwist 17 twisties so as to release each component of a 43 piece set.
2. There is no drive too long to go see a cool Christmas Lights display.  Sometimes the search for a house we've heard about that has amazing lights and music is part of the fun, and it's always worth it.  
   
3. Grams's loaner Christmas tree is pre-lit, and fits perfectly on the table.  Festive?  Check.  Lovely?  Check.  Entirely out of reach from small grabby hands?  CHECK.

So it was wonderful.  And our friends had wonderful Christmases too.  There's a lot of joy in this world right now, and we're very thankful to be a part of it.

Baby's First Christmas

Merry Christmas from Rob, Kristie and Ava!

She had quite a haul, pictures and film will be up shortly.  We're watching Christmas movies and dinner is already in the oven (ribs YUM).  Best. Christmas. Ever.

We have words!

There is much rejoicing, as Ava's first words were not related in any way to the 90 minutes a day we spend in the car together and the morons with whom we share the roads!

Ball.  She said ball.  Actually, she said "baw", but she was pointing at a ball when she said it, so it counts.  Because it's close enough, and she meant what she said.  She was talking about that ball, right there.  So, as you can plainly and unmistakeably see (because you just said "baw" out loud to test weather it qualifies as "ball"), a word was spoken.

We also hear Mama and Dada a lot.  And they're not just random sounds anymore.  When she says them, she looks for us.  When she hears Rob talk from the other room, she says "Dada" and squeals. And it's adorable.

Smartest. baby. ever.

We? Are in trouble.

So today about 10:30, Daycare Lady calls me at work.  It seems Ava got a bit tangled up in a toy bin while she was reaching for The Toy That Was Furthest From Her.  When they attempted to extricate her she kind of, well, lost her mind.  We hadn't seen Hulk Baby for a while.   Things have been pretty uneventful.  We're back on a fairly regular sleep schedule that actually involves everybody getting some sleep.  We were lulled into a false sense of security.  We got cocky.

So today, when the batphone rang, it kind of caught me off guard.

She's OK.  Daycare lady called just to let me know that Something had happened, but there didn't seem to be any lingering effects.  She calmed down after maybe 10 minutes (with the help of a bottle and some Cheerios).  She had her normal nap and lunch and snack.  She was a little edgy for the rest of the day, though.  At pick-up, I picked my first battle: Ava doesn't want the coat? Ava does not have to wear the coat.  All righty then.

In the past 11 months (precisely 11 months, in fact...) I have worried about many things where Ava is concerned.  Today, I worry that my kid is going to handle anger and frustration in much the same way as I do.  That is, she's going to explode like a grenade as her first reaction, and when that passes, and it will pass quickly, she'll be over it, she'll be fine, and everyone around her will be like "what the hell was that?!".  I want to make sure she learns how to handle stuff like that in a way that doesn't alienate everyone and perhaps trigger a semi-negative component to a performance review at her job (don't ask.). 

Or, maybe, she's just a toddler and we just have to suck it up for a few years.  It could also be that.

So 11 months ago, to the minute, I had a contraction.  I didn't know it was a contraction.  I thought it was my dinner settling.  Dinner on January 11, 2009, was In & Out Burger, which I am convinced is what put me into labor.  So at 9:30 PM that night, I stood up and stretched and felt something ODD.  Like I was being stabbed by my burger (double-double with onions).  And then nothing happened for probably an hour.  And then everything happened all at once.

It's been 11 months of astonishment.  We know Ava pretty well now.  But she's changing so quickly that sometimes we don't keep up like we should.  I looked at her the other day, and she's not a chubby little baby anymore.  She's a (still somewhat chubby but less so) little girl.  She's about to take off walking (OMG we are doomed) and one day soon the babbling is going to pause and she's going to say a word and mean what that word means (hopefully it's not something she picked up whilst riding with me...).