Ridiculous!

Can I say, without jinxing anything, that my girls have been sleeping through the night? Both of them.

It's been about a week.

It's also been fabulous.

Despite getting a full night's sleep, some of us are still rather grumpy in the morning. I am going to assume this is because some of us are not "morning people" so regardless of the amount of sleep we get we're still going to have a hard time in the morning. Or it could be that some of us are three.

This morning when I took Miriam into bed with me to have her first-thing-in-the-morning-before-she-dies-of-neglect nursing session, Rachel came, too, which is normal. Rachel also brought along this little toy mermaid and kept insisting that Miriam hold it while she was nursing. Miriam tried to ignore it, she tried pushing it away, she tried growling at Rachel (which I translate to mean, "Leave me alone; I'm eating!") but eventually she gave up and took the silly mermaid.

When she finished nursing she was still holding the mermaid so she thought she'd play with it.

Unfortunately, for some odd reason Rachel only wanted her to hold it if/when she was nursing, so since she wasn't nursing any longer Rachel snatched it back from her.

Miriam started to cry.

I told Rachel that she had to give it back; she was the one who forced Miriam to hold it in the first place and she didn't have the right to grab it back from her. That's beyond rude.

So Rachel gave it back. And started to cry.

I suggested that Rachel go into their room and get a doll that Miriam likes even better than the mermaid. Then she could trade the doll for the mermaid and we'd all live happily ever after.

So Rachel ran into their bedroom and brought back Miriam's favourite doll, which in all fairness is actually Rachel's doll but certainly not her favourite. Rachel knows how much Miriam loves this doll and instead of trading it to Miriam she began flaunting the fact that she was holding the doll.

"Oh, my cute, wittle baby!" Rachel crooned, snuggling the doll right up to her cheek.

Miriam cast the mermaid aside.

"Baby!" she said, reaching for the doll.

"No. I'm playing with this baby," said Rachel.

Miriam started crying.

"Rachel," I explained, "The reason I asked you to get the doll was so that you could give it to Miriam so she would give you the mermaid. You know how much she likes that doll; it's fine if you want to play with it but don't do it right in front of her. You can go play with the doll in your room or you can stay here and give it to Miriam."

Rachel defiantly squeezed the doll in her arms.

"Let me tell you a second time," I offered, "You either go play in your room with the doll or you give it to your sister."

Rachel closed her eyes and turned up her nose contumaciously and gave the air a sniff.

"I'll say it one more time," I told her. "Give the doll to your sister or go play with it somewhere else. End of story."

Rachel stamped her foot in an outrage.

"That's...that's...that's RIDICULOUS!" she shouted and stormed out of my bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

Maybe so, but I think it's better that only Rachel be upset than make everyone else around her upset.

Fortunately her tirade only lasted a few minutes and she's been wonderful for the rest of the morning.

Right now I'm flying an airplane—I'm in the cockpit (the office) and the girls are in the cabin (their bedroom). It's totally Rachel's idea and not mine but I'm fine with it because they're doing all the things that one would do on a long airplane ride (reading, watching movies, eating, sleeping, looking out the window) and I'm just flying the plane without having any passengers bother me (again, Rachel's idea, not mine).

I should probably take this opportunity to work since I haven't done that yet today and it's already nearly noon. *sigh*