flea

I have now been caffeinated and perhaps may not die today.

Down points of the last 24 hours include:
-Having to wake Dillo up from a nap to bring him home from school, which threw him all ferwonky for the night. He was all wound up and clingy and wouldn't eat much (except blueberries). Didn't get him to sleep until 9pm, despite ferocious trying.
-When Dillo started crying on the walk home, I took him out of the stroller and put him in the Baby Bjorn, and put my bag in the empty seat. Casper freaked ("I can't sit next to a BAG!!!") and wanted to walk, but it was too far, so I said she could get out and walk when we got to East Campus. At which point she ran away, wouldn't let me get within 20 feet of her, sucked her thumb, and screamed a lot. After 15 minutes of me being veeeery patient and consolatory I managed to get her home with minimal screaming (though I had to put Dillo in the stroller and CARRY her part of the way.)
-This morning we had another meltdown, which included screaming and kicking on the living room floor, and was prompted by apparent inability to decide what she wanted to wear. Nothing I suggested was right, but she also could not make a decision for herself. She finally picked a shirt, but refused to put on any bottoms. So we walked to school with her in panties, but I did persuade her to put a skirt on when we arrived. I left her holding her soft blankie and sucking her thumb. Note: until very recently, she has never sucked her thumb.

So, I think it's just the whole routine disruption. I mean, we have some screaming fights, but not of this intensity, length, or frequency. The thumb-sucking just suggests she is really overwhelmed. I am trying to be as patient as I can. I'm better able to be patient, actually, because I am the only one here. I have no choice.

Good things:
-Everyone, including me, slept very well. Yay.
-amych came for dinner and was an excellent guest and Casper-distractor as I attempted to wrangle the unhappy tired boy. Casper was mostly on her good and charming behavior, although she did cheat at Candyland.

Funny thing:
-I have thrown away the sippy cups because I am sick of them and their filth. Casper had a regular cup of milk at bedtime, but seems to have forgotten, and attempted to lie down in bed and drink from it. Of course, there was milk everywhere. I think I got most of it up with a towel; I was too beat to change the sheets. Maybe tonight. It was pretty funny, though - she was just so stunned by the way her cup betrayed her like that!

In other funny news, she shocked us last week by coming up with "My hump my hump my hump. My lovely lady lump!" I said, where did you learn that? And she said, when you showed silly Alan on the computer. We only watched it once! Even funnier, since she still has l/w confusion, it comes out, "My wove-wy wady wump!"

Also, pogoed along with great glee to Code Monkey. (Me: still earwormed.)