Grump (grump, grump, grump)

So, something's going down in Istra town.

She has been so incredibly grumpy lately and it is driving me (for one) insane. She whines constantly and needs constant attention. Playing happily on her mat or with her Whoozit gym isn't good enough for her anymore; no, she needs mommy or daddy to carry her around all day--and as soon as we put her down she screams.

When we were at Quaker meeting on Sunday, I'd taken Istra out of the meeting room because she was fussing and I ended up talking to a woman named Judith who is a homeopath. She told me that the constant need to be carried is a sign of teething. Well, she's got the other signs too (as I mentioned before) -- the drooling, fist chomping fussiness. So I guess Istra is teething. Yay.

To report yet more Istra-related annoyances, I could talk about how my attempt to have an earlier bedtime for the babe has been an utter failure; in fact, she seems to be going to bed later and later and getting up earlier and earlier. Her glorious 10 or 11 hour nights have now become 6 or 7. She usually has an evening nap and my attempt at making this nap her bedtime was also a failure -- she wakes up wide-eyed and ready to play at 9 or 10 and then is up sometimes until midnight.

So, needless to say, we have been getting no downtime lately. She wakes me up in the morning and goes to bed with me at night. I'm having a hard time getting my school work done and forget having a conversation or anything with Tim.

I write all this in hopes that someday Istra reads it and is sympathetic when I'm 89 and grumping at her all the time -- or, O sweet Justice, she has to change my diaper every 20 minutes.