E can control her destiny

Yes. E has come to the conclusion that she actually has the ability to manipulate the world around her. This isn't an entirely new concept, she's understood this the majority of her short life. But her understanding of that control is always changing.

At first it was simply the ability to control if someone fed her, changed her, or held her. But over time she realized she could control where her hands/feet were. She could control the sounds that came out of her mouth, and she could control small objects that were beside her. But as she came to each of these realizations she became more and more aware of her ability to control her own destiny. She isn't just a helpless baby who has no control over her life. She was a demanding baby who could boss the world around.

There have been some good advances from this development. For example, her ability to pick up a rattle and entertain herself for a short period of time. Her ability to stick her hands in her mouth and suck on them rather then cry over a lost pacifier. Her ability to wiggle, kick, and otherwise turn her body around so that she is facing a direction she finds more appealing to observe. All of these, have been good developments. Unfortunately, the good also comes with the bad. For the time being, we'll focus on this "bad": Her ability to control naps. So for the past several days she has been exercising her right NOT to sleep. I think I've said before that babies are counter intuitive. If they get tired enough, it would make sense that they would go to sleep. But the more tired they are, the harder a time they have falling asleep. So as the days have been passing, E has been getting increasingly cranky. She will still go to sleep, but she either #1 has to be out and about and really, I'm sure she'd explain it more as "resting her eyes". Or #2 things have to be JUST right at home.

Sunday at our house is bath night. So as bedtime had been approaching, Daddy and I were discussing when should we start bath time. Was E going to make it to her 7 PM bedtime? In which case, we would start bath time at 6:30. Or was she not going to make it that long, and should we be aiming for 6:30 and therefore be starting her bath now, at 6. We decided her minutes were number. So we began to get ready for bath time. Make her bottle so as soon as her bath was done we could go straight upstairs and have a bottle and go to bed. Draw the bath so the bathroom would be warm and the bath water perfect. And as I (Mommy) stood in the kitchen making her bottle. I heard Daddy from behind me say "Oh, well. She almost made it." And Mommy turned around to him holding E. Slumped over in a seated position in his arms. Both eyes closed.

We went ahead with the bath time. But we made it super quick. There were no kicks in the bath water, no floating, or pretending to swim. It was a quick wash up, and a wash of the hair. And when we roused her to get her undressed for her bath, she just had the most pathetic little look. She realized she'd been asleep. She didn't want to be asleep. But she didn't want to be awake either.

So E has realized she can control her own destiny. Let's just hope she gets better at the choices she makes.

All my love to the Mommies and Daddies. Let's celebrate the realization of the manipulation of the world. And come on now! Who dropped the pacifier???