This was a very long day. Yesterday was a date night for Den and I, we got to go out and have a couple of drinks and eat and dance and hang out with people. It was fun! However, it also meant that Kate was going to go to bed late. Which would have been fine by itself, had I not woken up at 7am with a raging headache and night sweats because of the two drinks I had. (Note to self: I am now a major lightweight, do not attempt more than two drinks, holy smokes.) Since I was up early, she soon followed. And thus started the day of a thousand whines.

What I can’t figure out is why when a baby is really tired they don’t, oh you know, friggin sleep. I got my headache to go away and I wanted to crash, and Kate clearly needed more sleep but oh no, she wouldn’t. She was just this squirmy mass of whiny crawling spazz. After a few hours of that we did manage to take a long (2 hour) nap together, and I thought, great, now I’ve fixed it! Wrong. She was better, but not fixed. Second nap of the day she fought me again. I wrapped her up tight in my arms and finally she gave in. She was down for 2 more hours. I was gleeful. Another 2 hour nap! Surely now evening will go easier! And to be fair, we had a good evening. We played, we ate, we took a shower/bath and splashed and laughed. She got tired and whiny at 8 and I whisked her off to bed and she actually went down easy! I felt pretty pleased with myself, I will admit. I was still in good humor. Amazing, since Den was working today and then went out to a superbowl party, so all of The Day of Whines was me and only me. But I did it! I sat down at my computer, opened my game, and relaxed.

For all of 10 minutes. The dogs barked and I realized I’d left them in our bedroom, which happens to be right next to Kate’s bedroom. I flew down the hall and opened the door only to find the asshole dog ON our bed. (Which he has not been allowed on in well over a year.) Kate didn’t wake up, thank goodness. Den got home and took the dogs downstairs – I was still pissed at Zeeke, but I am frequently pissed at Zeeke. I was letting it go. And then of course Kate woke up. Den got her and spent some time with her because I think my brain turned to mush at the idea of fighting her yet again to go to sleep. I just couldn’t dredge up the energy.

When Den went to bed I put her down too. Or tried to. You know that feeling when your patience is just totally fried but you know you need to hold it together? You can’t get mad at the child, obviously, you can’t walk away (because she’s overtired and NEEDS TO SLEEP or it will just get WORSE), you just count to ten over and over again and hold your breath and dig your fingernails in. That was me tonight. I laid there fighting her FOR AN HOUR. First she cried. Then she did the back arching, pushing away from me thing. Then she tried climbing me. (Did I mention how she pinches HARD while doing that? I don’t have visible bruises, but my arms are literally sore from the grabbing and pinching.) I thought she had fallen asleep roughly 5 times, and just when I’d start to relax that it was over she’d kick me again and start all over. I wanted to cry. I really, really wanted to cry. And she was so tired! I ended up throwing my arm over her legs so she couldn’t get up or crawl, and faking being asleep (But peeking every few seconds because she has a habit of jabbing me in the eyes, yanking my hair and/or headbutting me when I have my eyes closed.) She kept trying to push to her knees and I’d lean on her a little more so she couldn’t, she’d cry then put her head down and drift off again. I’m pretty sure we laid there for half an hour like that, her kicking me every 60 seconds or so (just to underscore the fact that she WAS NOT asleep and didn’t WANT to be), giving a little cry every 5 minutes.

Finally she sighed. I didn’t dare move. I rolled over and just laid there, staring at the ceiling in the dark, terrified that me opening the door to leave would wake her up again. My patience ran out about an hour earlier. If she woke up yet again I may have to run outside into the snow screaming obscenities.

So, she is finally asleep but it’s nearly midnight. So much for me having a couple hours to myself tonight. I’m so fried. Almost makes date night not even worth it.