So during the last two weeks, Maia’s acquired a really bothersome new habit. After she wakes up, she’ll be an absolute joy for about two to three hours, but at some point she will do a complete about-face and get really upset. She’s not crying, the way she did when she was colicky (which she seems to be growing out of, thank goodness), but it’s more like she’s giving wails and shouts of protest. There’s no warning — it’s not like she starts showing signs of fussiness or sleepiness and I’m missing them, unless they’re incredibly subtle — it just comes on all at once that my happy, playful baby turns miserable.

All of our usual calming techniques work for a minute or two at most when she gets this way. After about 20-30 minutes of wailing in anger, she’ll suddenly just snuggle against whoever is holding her and grow quiet; within 10 minutes from that point, she’s asleep.

And honestly, it wears me out.  Desperately.  All I can do is walk around the house with her and try to keep her relatively calm, but she still lets out these little wails in my ear every five-ten steps. (I think this is probably one of those things that in several years will actually be a funny memory.)

I’m grateful at least that she’s napping more reliably now.  We’re getting about two one hour long naps per day, and on occassion she’ll even nap for two hours or more.  It’s making life a lot easier, as we’re all in better moods and interacting with one another more evenly.  And, we seem to have established a bedtime; she’s down for the night between 8:30 and 9:30 most nights.

It’s weird.  I see her changing so much, but I still feel like day-to-day, everything stays the same.

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