Camera shy?  Sun shy.  It was a bright day for a sleepy girl.  She burrowed.

Speaking of sleeping, we’ve been helping Avery sleep more deeply with white noise.  Seems to work well.  There’s no magic bullet, but we find that once she’s managed to get past the resistance phase, she’s more able to stay down for a couple hours or more.  That’s a nice.  On the down side, it’s a constant stimulus for me.  Hard to get to sleep.  I’m sure it’s tied up with my affinity for music, my training as a sound mixer, and my sensitivity to annoying noise when I’m trying to sleep.  Doesn’t bother M a bit, of course.

Last night I stayed up til 2 cobbling together a 5-hour long mix of virtual waterfall.  It favours lower frequencies – more soothing to papa bears.  Hopefully it works just as well for her.  Seems to me it would be more womb-like.  iPhone speakers aren’t cutting it, either.  We’ll try some inexpensive Logitechs before we shell out for Wharfedales, but who can put a price on a good night’s sleep?

All this is supposed to get us through the “fourth trimester“.  We don’t know why she gets so wound up, but she looks so relieved when she can finally relax.  So it’s about helping her get there.  Gentle when she needs it.  A firm swaddle when she needs that.  The diaper change tantrum… well… the diaper still has to be changed.  We have yet to try the blow dryer.

Oh but when she’s happy!  What a doll!  She’s just starting to discover smiling.  Mum and dad love to see that hint of a smile!  She watches mum’s face with rapt attention.  Mum sticks out her tongue.  Avery works on that for a few seconds, and manages to get that tiny little pink tongue poking out.  Mum laughs in delight, and Avery smiles.  We laugh some more.  And so on.  Just yesterday she wasn’t as present.  And less so three days before that.  But today, we all had some smiles.  She was even willing to play the game again with me.  Fun!

My mom & dad are in town.  First time in New York.  Staying in Harlem.  Don’t ask me.  They got their chance to meet Avery Peppermint in person today, though she started out asleep, squawked a bit, then zonked out again in the Baby Bjorn for the duration.  We love the Bjorn!  Gramma finally got to hold her for a few minutes after lunch, but then the squawking started again.  Good thing they’re here for ten days, or Grampa might get shut out.  These windows of calm alertness aren’t that common.  Though it has to be said, she seems to be a morning person.  Like her mum.  Not so much like her dad.

Her dad recently found out that his assertions of living on a 26 hour clock are entirely on base!  True story!  See, if left to my own devices (like no need to be up at a specific hour the next day) I will stay up a little later every night.  Midnight, 2am, 4am.  The tendency comes and goes.  When it clicks in, it might go a week.  Finally, when dawn pokes me in the shoulder, I’ll force myself to go to bed by midnight and yank the clock back around.  I’m good for a while, but it sneaks back in if I’m not on top of it.  Turns out, the 26 hour day is a real thing.  Also, not much can be done about it.  Fortunately, for me, it’s pretty manageable.  And it “helps” to have a baby waking you up completely randomly no matter what your clock wants to do.

I’m crazy about her, of course.  Even if she is an unreasoning shrieking banshee.  Doesn’t matter.  She’s perfect.

Do I even dare start counting my blessings?  I’d be up all night.

Avery loved her bath today!  Well, not going in, and definitely not coming out, but while she was in there, she had a look of thoughtful wonder.  Very gratifying.  And two of her diaper changes today were with minimal squawking.  Probably coincidence, and she was just taking a breather, but we’re encouraged.  She spent most of the day awake, and a baffling portion of it yelling, so it’s good to know the button’s not stuck.  You’d think she would have slept like a stone after being up every couple of hours last night.  Maybe she was saving up the sleep tickets for tonight?  A man can hope.

Hey!  I did get the Italy pics filtered down.  To just 324 favorites.  It’s a start.  With any luck it won’t take me another year to post a few.

It’s no good – I keep thinking of blessings.  If I don’t shut up now I really will be up all night.  Is that a rip off?  Maybe.  But I wake up every single morning and count a few blessings before I get out of bed (I really do).  So long as I know what (and who) they are, and remember to appreciate them (and show them I do), that’s the important thing.  That way, they count me as one of theirs.  You see what I did there?  Bit of a circular thing.  Elton John could do a song.

Give some thanks to those closest to you.  But not that yappy little dog down the hall.  I hate that guy.