Mondaily: Sea Monster Cards update and weekend report.

[ellenmillion]

It was an awesome weekend, full of Mexican food, monsters and margaritas.

We made a fajita marinade at home that was AMAZING, and a bunch of homemade sausage. At gaming, we had super delicious tacos and wraps, with homemade guacamole and loooots of veggies. Nom.

(Also, I've become a margarita light-weight... at one point I was feeding monsterus minimus and mentioned to Jake that it was a miracle any of her peas were getting into her mouth. It was fun, and not something I often get a chance to do!)

Monsterus minimus is on an up-twice-a-night schedule again, which is slowly killing my brain.

I got some art time, in bits and pieces. I finished a handful of older Sketch Fest sketches - these are my favorites:

The Star Catcher:


Twisty Trees:



And here's a look at what's happening in my sketchbook right now:


I have finished 9 of 20 sea monster cards for my Sea Monster Card Project!

In plans for the week: Kickstarter campaign, programming, more sea monsters, lots of fun baby playtime, and squishy driveway disaster navigating. Today: vacuuming, laundry and baked chicken. I'm going to try to squeeze in a shower right now, and then look at code for a while.

Comments

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

I find myself inclined to offer unsolicited baby advice. Requesting permission, Captain!

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

By all means, yes!

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Sir, thank you, sir!

She's what, fourteen months now? She's old enough to be making it through the night without waking up/feeding/etc. It is, I am afraid, time for you to Become Hard-Hearted.

Give her something seriously filling before bedtime. Something protein-y. Cheese, if she likes cheese. Mashed up meat baby food. Egg. Something that will stick to her little ribs. And if she's in the habit of nursing, be prepared to perhaps give her a bottle of water (which isn't very satisfying) at one of the wake-ups, but what you *really* have to do at this stage is not coddle her in any way. Just go in, kiss her, tell her you love her and that it's time to go back to sleep...and then let her cry it out.

It will suck beyond comprehension for a week. Possibly for ten days. She will be miserable. *You* will be miserable. Jake will be miserable. But after not terribly long in the grand scheme of things, she'll start to realize that you're not going to rescue her, and she'll go back to sleep.

The critical, and incredibly difficult part, is to not go back and reassure her again every few minutes. You just have to let her cry until exhaustion wins out. And once you start this process you *have* to do it every night until she learns, because if you go in and rescue her then what she'll learn is that if she throws enough of a fit, Mommy will take pity and come save her, and then you're back at square one. It takes nerves of steel on your part.

She's pretty big and strong now, so she can probably last quite a while. Young Indiana, who was (is) VERY big and strong lasted 90 minutes the first couple of nights, and two hours a couple of times. Then it dropped precipitously: 45 minutes, which went on for several nights, then half an hour, then fifteen minutes, then, increasingly (and for quite a while, mind you) a token protest to show he knew who was boss still, darnit.

And it was horrible. It was *awful*. It was ungodly. But I was so grateful for the first full night's sleep I got that I could hardly believe how much better I felt.

This is not coming from a high horse, as I was in precisely the same position with Young Indiana at the same age. Teething was So Traumatic that I just couldn't let the poor little guy suffer. And I didn't, except it didn't really help *him*, and I was *obliterated* with exhaustion, and it was so desperately worth it.

Start now, and by your birthday you will be very likely to getting a full night's uninterrupted sleep.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

(Also, it's reasonably likely if you let her cry herself out the first time she'll be so goddamned tired she'll not wake up the second time, which would be an improvement right away. :))

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

I've just lived with babies, not borne any, so I didn't want to say this, but now that it's been said I will absolutely concur. :)

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

Experience is experience! I would welcome it from you whenever something occurs to you! :)

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

We stuff her every night, hoping that helps - protein and oatmeal, as much as we can get her to take. I had heard that bottle-of-water advice before, too, but forgotten it.

*braces self* I shall attempt to be strong.

(She's so variable! She'll go a week of sleeping fine, and then just backslide like crazy! Must not encourage it!)

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

My experience is that babies of smart parents know a LOT more English than they can use yet. Therefore I suggest that you explain that it's time for her to sleep through the night in whatever way you think fits her personality best, and reassure her that this is just part of getting to be a big girl and there will be hugs and breakfast in the morning.

I can't guarantee she will understand the explanation, but if she understands any of it, she will know there's a plan and it's not you randomly ignoring her.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Also in the hour up to bedtime, every ten minutes or so saying, "And tonight you'll sleep all night long without waking up!" can help her grasp the idea that she's not gonna be rescued.

But definitely, if she goes back and forth on it, you just gotta hold the line. It's awful, I said again, in teh attempt to prepare you, but it's worth it :)

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

I was all ready last night! Totally prepped, with a bottle of water waiting at her door.... and she slept like a log through the whole night. Yay!

(Maybe warning her worked.)

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

*laughs*! Well, hey, at least you got a night's sleep. And it's actually possible warning her /was/ enough. She's nobody's fool. :) Be brave again tonight, just in case! :)

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

I was brave! I had a bottle of water prepped! I warned her again when we went to sleep! Three cries, very close together, early in the night, but not long or sad enough that I would have gotten up even before my new hard-hearted resolve.

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

(Though, 'don't feed the baby while drinking margaritas' is probably a given...)

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't know, I think actually you should feed the baby while drinking margaritas and film it for posterity. Put it on teh intarwebs to make sure it doesn't get lost in the cobwebs of time. :)

[kelkyag]

The sea monster stranded in the tree post-flood is delightful. From a nice safe distance.

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

I LOVE the sea monster in the tree! Thank you!

[pixiewildflower.livejournal.com]

Great art hon!

[ariestess]

Oh, I am liking all three sketches, especially the last one!