SPF Crank Factor: 49

Since I started taking the girl to the AUC nursery, putting her to sleep at night has been a dream. Somehow, their insistence that she take a two-hour nap every afternoon has resigned her to the fact that life includes sleeping, and that the best way to deal with it is simply to flop down and go to sleep.

But I can't get J to buy into the system. Every weekend, she wants to skip nap time. Today, we spent the afternoon at Mirage City, its a huge plaza of pools, playgrounds, wave machines and a small strip of sand known as "the beach". Way too much stimulation for a little girl to sleep. So, 'round about three, when the girl's crankiness factor is way up at the top of the scale, we drove home, but instead of a quite restful afternoon in the house, we attended a garden party in honor of the eight year old girl downstairs. It was a cool party and we are all very fond of the birthday girl, but our little munchkin had definitely had enough.

Getting her to go to bed was, not surprisingly, much tougher than it has been all week. Even though she was super tired, she was also super irritable (as were the two of use) and so she cried for a long time before settling down. Once she had quited down, I tried to sneak out, which the girl caght and started wailing again.

At this point, I gave up. J hung in there, singing, and trying to calm her while I went in for a small dose of brain numbing (internet and tv).

An hour later, the girl is fast asleep in her play pen (she's outgrown the crib because she can climb out of it too easily), but J is no where to be found. Not in our bed, not in the office, and she didn't come into the living room where I was. Well, I found her: She's curled up asleep in the munchkin's crib. Munchkin's got a room mate, I guess.