Eliza's too smart for her own good. She knows I'm a soft touch and that all she has to do is holler long enough and I will give in. Over the weekend she gave me trouble a few days in a row with taking her afternoon nap. She'd mess around in her crib a while and then start crying. I'd go in, give her back her paci, make her lie down, only to have it start all over again. Then she would start refusing to even take the pacifier back and I get flustered, like, "Oh no, now what?" and I'd give up and take her out of the crib.

She definitely needs that second nap still, though, so on Saturday when she pulled the same thing I just made sure she had her pacifier in bed with her, went out, shut the door, and didn't go back. She carried on for about five minutes and then plugged her paci in and went to sleep. Now, you can't tell me that child doesn't know exactly what she's doing! The same thing happened just now, for her morning nap. She was in there playing around in the crib and then started crying because she wanted out. I went in here, put her down, covered her up, and tried to give her the pacifier. She smacked my hand away (ohhh, yes, she did) so I just set it down next to her, said, "Night-night" and left. She screeched for a couple minutes, then got her pacifier and went to sleep.

People, I'm being played by a twelve-month-old.

This further reinforces my belief that, once we move her crib out of our room, I will probably be able to get her to start sleeping better by doing this same thing in the middle of the night when she wakes. I haven't tried it yet because it's not going to work with me lying there in full view, a foot-and-a-half away. She knows I'll get up and get her, eventually, because I always have. Plus the older two are usually sleeping in the room with me and I don't want them disturbed. I really think that, when we put her in the other bedroom, it will take just a little work and she'll be maybe even start sleeping all the way through. I think she'll be like JZ -- once she realizes she's not going to get the boob every time she wakes up, she won't bother. Right now, she knows if she keeps it up I will give in, eventually -- plus I think she feeds off the attention.

It would be great if she was sleeping through by the time we go to California. Actually, it would be great if she was sleeping through by the time Vacation Bible School rolls around at the beginning of June, since I have signed up to help and it makes for a looong week, during which I could use a good night's rest every night! Wow, I'm just imagining what this summer would be like with her sleeping through. I think I'd have a lot more patience in dealing with all three of them all day, every day, plus a lot more energy to do fun stuff!

So, it's settled: we are absolutely, definitely, 100% certainly going to move that crib first thing on Friday morning. I know you're thinking, "Why haven't you done it before now you stupid, stupid woman?" The answer is, it's not that easy. Number one, it has no wheels. Number two, even if it did, it's too wide to fit out the bedroom door, which means we have to actually disassemble it (and it was a PAIN IN THE BUTT to put together). Number three, there is physically no way I could do it by myself. You need at least four hands to take it apart so, not being an octopus, that takes me out of the running to accomplish it without Robert's help. Plus there is other furniture that will have to be moved to make room for the crib. We keep saying, every week, "We need to get the crib moved!" and then other stuff comes up and we don't. And this weekend, of course, he was out of commission for anything of that nature. By the end of this week, though, he ought to be back to normal and ready to do a little shuffling. I'm excited. Who knows? By this time next week we may have some drastic improvement to report! (And the polar ice caps could re-freeze, the Buffalo Bills could win a Super Bowl, and there could be world peace).