She Definitely Knows Her Own Mind...

You may recall that I mentioned that Malia was highly opinionated before she was born.  That was why in spite of the plethora of ultrasounds we had (7) we never did get that cute profile picture that most people get.  And this particular personality trait has not diminished now that she is on the outside.  She is generally a very happy baby, but she will cry…a lot… when she needs something if it takes us too long to figure out what she is in need of.

For instance, she used to scream heartily when I gave her a bath.  For the first couple of months, bath time was synonymous with torture time.  Then one day I accidentally got the water too hot.  It wasn’t hot enough to burn or anything like that, but it was definitely hotter than I would ever run it for a baby.  But since it wasn’t going to hurt her and I figured she was just going to shriek anyway, I just stuck her in the tub.  And guess what?  No crying.  At all.  It would seem that she gets cold easily (like me) and really, really hates being cold.  Now I run the bath water hotter than I normally would for a baby, turn up the heat in the house, close the bathroom door to trap the warm air and periodically pour nice hot water over her to keep her warm.  I feel like I’m basting a turkey.  The bath time temper tantrums have ended and I even get an occasional smile while she is in the tub.

Needing a diaper change is another event that will send Malia into fits.  Once she cried all the way home from my parents’ house (about 35 minutes since we had one stop we needed to make) because she had a wet diaper and we didn’t know it.  When that happens, she will stop crying as soon as I lay her on the changing pad.  Sometimes she even looks a big smug when I start taking her clothes off to change her.

Last night was another one of those nights when screaming happened for an unknown reason.  Bedtime is usually pretty calm for us.  Not only does Malia sleep 9-11 hours each night, but she falls asleep on her own in her bed.  I just lay her down when she is drowsy and she goes off to sleep.  Perhaps the biggest (we’re talking huge here) blessing of having such a great little sleeper is that we did not have to let her cry it out to learn this skill.  She did it all on her own.  She’s the only one of my children who hasn’t needed some time screaming their lungs out before they would fall asleep without being held and rocked.  Much nicer on my nerves.  But back to last night.  We had finished the first half of her bedtime feeding and Malia had been changed and bundled into her jammies.  I settled in to finish her feeding…and that is when the wailing started.  We’re talking banshee-like wailing.  End of the world kind of wailing.  She obviously did not want to eat, so I started working through all the things that could be bothering her.  Checked her diaper to make sure it was still dry.  Repositioned her jammies and blanket to make sure they weren’t pinching or binding her in an uncomfortable way.  Tried rocking her and soothing her in all the ways she likes best.  Nothing worked.  And as she screamed in my arms, her little body as stiff as a board, a little thought came into my mind.  The thought was that I should just put her into her bed.  Now, this thought was pretty welcome at that point because I was getting worn out and I realized that at the rate we were going she was never going to let herself relax enough to get drowsy so I could put her to bed.  So I figured I’d try it.  I mean, she was already shrieking like a maniac.  I figured it couldn’t get much louder.  And then guess what?  As soon as she realized I was headed for the bedroom, my little stinkpot immediately stopped screaming.  I laid her in her bed and heard not another peep until morning, when she woke up gurgling and cooing and “talking” to the Snoopys on the canopy of her bassinet.  Happy as a little clam. (That’s another blessing, by the way.  Having a baby that wakes up happy in the morning instead of crying is such a wonderful start to the day!)  So obviously she was tired and just wanted to be put in her bed, but I have to admit that I’m a bit afraid of how stubborn this child will be when she is two…