Not-So-Slumber Party

For the last couple of weeks, Eliana has been a very restless sleeper and a bit grumpier than usual. We've accepted that multiple wake-up calls and crabbiness are part of our job description, but last night was unlike anything we've experienced.  Around 10:00, Eliana woke up, Mate went to comfort her and she screamed with a new level of intensity.  I took her, rocked her back to sleep and then put her between us in bed.  We had about 5 minutes of peace before Eliana started tossing and turning.  She wasn't upset, so we just waited for her to settle into a deeper sleep.  When this happened, Mate attempted to take her back into her own room.  Just as he reached for her, she screamed, levitated off the bed and into my arms.  I'm not sure how she knew her daddy was about to evict her or how she defied gravity, but both were pretty impressive. After falling back to sleep in my arms, I carefully tried to put her in the crib.  Without warning, she screamed and contorted herself into the downward dog position, determined to keep her body from touching the crib.  At this point, I was resolved to holding her for the remainder of the night.  Back to our bed we went.  Unfortunately, we couldn't get her to stay still and the strange behavior had me stifling laughter, all of which made it impossible for Mate to sleep.  Needless to say, Eliana and I spent the rest of the night on the couch.  While highly entertaining, we'll be just fine if there are no encore performances.

The star of the show