My mother's curse

Last night, my mother's curse from my childhood hit me last night, about 11 p.m.

I guess when I was a baby/child, I never slept through the night. It wasn't until I was about 2 1/2 that my mom could be assured a good night's sleep. She always told me she hoped I had a kid just like me. :)

I thought I'd escaped the curse when Anne Marie started sleeping through the night at about 6 months old. But these last few weeks, the curse has come to haunt me.

Last night was horrible. At about 11 p.m., Anne Marie woke up. I let her fuss for a bit, but it was clear she wasn't going back to sleep on her own, so I tried rocking her for awhile. She just kept pointing at her stuffed animals and screaming to get down and play. I gave up for awhile, and decided to lay with her on the couch and listen to soothing music. Didn't work. So at 12:30 a.m., I decided to take a drive. She falls asleep EVERY time she is in the car.

In the car, she spent about 30 minutes waving her arms and giggling, so we went home. I stuck her on the floor with her baby doll, then closed my eyes and laid on the couch. She was happy to hang out and play. At about 2 or so, I said, "It's time for bed." Total scream meltdown. I stuck her in the crib, and I'm assuming she fell asleep at some point. I was out to the world.

I'm sure that the childhood experts would have a hey-day with all of the things I did wrong, but sometimes you're just too tired to read the parenting books. :) So I just let her party on.

This is the face you love during the day. At night, it makes you cry.