naomikritzer | (no subject)

Kiera had her one-year well-baby checkup today, complete with two vaccinations. Poor baby. One of the side effects of vaccinations can be unusual sleepiness. This can also be a side effect of napping from noon to 1:30 and then not napping again for the rest of the afternoon, at least for Kiera. At dinnertime tonight, we were having one of her favorite meals (broiled salmon, broiled potatoes, and corn on the cob) and she was so tired she fell asleep right in her high chair, still clutching her ear of corn. We called the pediatrician just to make sure that this was within the range of normal (some kids do this every night, but Kiera does not), let her sleep for about twenty minutes, then woke her up. She was grumpy, then settled down, perked up, and ate the rest of her dinner, plus a jar of baby food.

Unfortunately, having had her nap, she was well rested and ready to play at bedtime. I gave her a bath and put her PJs on, and then took her into the bedroom. She wanted to jump on the bed. She wanted to bounce on my tummy, giggling hysterically. She wanted to grab my noise. She wanted to crawl to the end of the bed, slide halfway off, then scramble back onto the bed, shrieking.

She is so cute when she's like this. Why can't she be Perky Kiera at 6 p.m. when Ed gets home, and then be crabby and sleepy at 10 (or 9 -- that would be okay, too)? Instead she's usually crabby while I'm trying to make dinner, and then ready to play right at bedtime.

I actually had a fairly productive day: Kiera went to the doctor, and I still managed to get most of the laundry done. Yet it felt like all I did, all day long (after the doctor's appointment) was follow her around the house keeping her from killing herself. She climbs up on chairs, and then wants to stand up, grab the back, and shake them vigorously, like she's trying to get them to rock (or failing that, tip over). I removed her from one chair about 20 times in a half hour. I remember this phase with Molly. With Molly, though, I could shove all the dining room chairs in against the table, and she couldn't climb into them. Kiera crawls under the table and climbs into a pushed-in chair and then screams because she's stuck, so I have to carefully pull the chair out, extract her, put her down, and push the chair back in, so that she can start over again with climbing in...