Ellie Bellie!

Wow! Our little Ellie is going through some phase! Jae and I worry about her sometimes. Last night she wailed and screamed and cried in the middle of her bath...I don't think she wanted her hair rinsed or she just wanted to get out of the tub. She started sweating...I started sweating...she was so tired, but didn't want her diaper on, but we can't compromise there! Jae and I wrestled to fasten the diaper well and just when we thought her screams couldn't get worse, they did. Oh! What to do! I decided to bring her downstairs...maybe to distract her from the lack of control she was feeling. We turned on Elmo's "Kids Favorite Songs, 2!". Her crying eased a tiny bit, but she was still upset. I tried rocking her, bouncing her. I finally got tired and plopped on the couch with Ellie on my belly. She snuggled her head into my arms for a minute, whined a bit, then raised her head to watch Baby Bear do his version of "The Bear Went Over the Mountain". Oh...what's this?...a smile was forming on her face! Was she just tired of crying or did Baby Bear do something magical? I was finally able to put on her house pants and Jae took her upstairs for bed. She went down without a peep.

Tonight, Ellie decided she wanted a heavy blanket over her head. When the blanket would not stay on just the way she wanted, she would scream and fuss. Oh no! She's at it again. The level of frustruation she felt was nominal. We had to take the blanket away from her for fear that she might suffocate herself...and she was sweating like crazy under it! We gave her a nice think blankie she sleeps with sometimes, but it was not the same. She cried and screamed more. I quickly distracted her with a book and with the help of our excercise ball, we bounced. She got calm and I put her to sleep in her room. She went down without a peep and without house pants this time.

There's nothing more scary to a parent than not knowing why your child is crying or worse, not being able to console him/her. Just wait til she enters her terrible 2's! But I'm just glad she sleeps through the night and loves to give hugs and kisses.

I just hope tomorrow will be a better day.