A list of grievances

Margaret has become very difficult lately. In fact, she's become so difficult that life in our household has become quite unpleasant at times.

Sleeping problems:

• On Saturday morning, she woke up at 5:00 AM. When it became clear that she wasn't going to fall back asleep, Maddie and I took her to the park so that Abby could sleep some more.
• Monday morning, she woke up at 4:00 AM and stayed awake until 6:00 which left just enough time for me to doze off and hit a R.E.M. cycle before I had to get up again. I didn't feel right the entire next day.
• Last night, she woke up at least twice, once around 11:30 PM and again around 1:00 AM.

What's annoying about the sleep issues is that she's been so good for so long about sleeping. The sudden "early rising" isn't a welcome change to her routine. It's gotten to the point where I feel it's necessary to go to bed around 9:30 PM or so to ensure that I can get enough sleep.

Eating problems:

• Margaret still refuses to eat ANYTHING that is put on her tray. Even things that she'll eat when they're mashed up and fed to her. If anything, her response to cheese/carrots/peas/etc. on the tray has regressed as she screams bloody murder when she faces a selection of finger food in front of her.

Misc problems:

• Margaret had two major meltdowns in her stroller over the weekend, both unlike anything that she'd done before. In the second, which was the only one that I witnessed, she bellowed constantly for about 1 hour. We eventually tried to take her out of her stroller, took her to the park, put her in a swing, pointed out the puppy dogs, etc. but nothing seemed sufficient. She still yelled herself hoarse. It was an almost unbelievably unpleasant experience.

But then again, we sat in the backyard tonight and blew soap bubbles that Maddie jumped up to bite which made both of us giggle. And a walk through the park at 5:30 AM on a Saturday morning as the sun rises isn't that unpleasant - it's pretty peaceful since, believe me, you've got the park all to yourself.