Skip to main content

Year Three: Day 259: Sleep Training a Wild Banshee





What a lovely Saturday I have had so far. And it is not yet even 9 a.m.!  Perhaps I should take the plunge and shift from night owl to early bird!

I had a lovely breakfast early this morning at Valerie's Restaurant in Vancouver with my mother. Before sunrise even! Those "potato chunks" were divine!

Then we went to watch Baby Gracie while my daughter went in to work for a few hours.

My most sleep deprived daughter!

I spent the night in my daughter and son-in-law's trailer last night. My daughter attempted her first night of "sleep training" with Baby Gracie last night. We dimmed the lights, put on a CD of lullabies played by saxophone. Then she fed, had a bedtime story, we sang her a song and said a prayer. Then her mom walked around the room so she could say goodnight to her daddy, me and her stuffed toys. Then she placed her gently in her crib with a blanket. We all smiled. We sat and looked at each other. It was so quiet!

It was also short lived. Soon the little trailer was filled with shrieking. Not crying. Baby Gracie doesn't cry. She screams. Like a wild banshee. Not that I've ever heard the scream of a wild banshee. But it's how I imagine it would sound.  But I'm content never coming face to face to face with a banshee. They are just figments of Irish folklore, after all. But most creepy!

Anyway, to make a long story short, Baby Gracie shrieked. We tried to console her by walking, rocking, singing, patting her back.

She was inconsolable. She knew what she wanted at bedtime. For her mama to nurse her to sleep.  Which she eventually did. She slept from about 10:30 until 4:00 a.m. At which point my daughter nursed her back to sleep. She was still sleeping at 6:30 a.m. when I went to breakfast.

Sleep training night number one was a failure.

I received a call from my daughter today around lunch time. She has not given up on the sleep training. Most determined is she!  She is doing much research. And taking videos of their progress. 

I will keep you posted!

But tonight I am looking forward to peaceful sleep. Without wild, shrieking banshees!

Tomorrow is a new day. And I will talk to you then!

Love,

Zita




P.S. Here is today's hooping video. Day 220!






Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Year Four, Day 328: Success at Last!! This is What I Do

Hello My Long Lost Friends! Or, perhaps it was I who was lost? And now I think I am beginning to find myself!  Under layers of fat, and self loathing!  How's that for an opening line!  Or perhaps the title of a novel:  Layers of Fat and Self-Loathing! Today I stepped on the scale.  I am weighing myself every morning these days. I was shocked! I told my partner the scale must be broken!  Yesterday I weight 186. Today 185! I have been on a strict intermittent fast for the past 10 weeks. I have officially lost 12 pounds!  And the best news is I think I not only can stick to this way of eating, I am actually beginning to really enjoy it!  And look how far I've come! I've been writing since May 12, 2015.  Over 8 years now!  I know this blog post says Year Four, Day 328, but there have been many pauses in blogging. For instance, when I am not pleased with progress or simply have no words! I was 53 when I first began blogging. I am now 61. I honestly feel better than I did 8 years

Year Four, Day 335: "Crisis Fatigue"

Hello Friends! I have missed you! I have been so utterly exhausted and downright depressed, that I couldn't summon enough energy to even lift my fingers to this computer keyboard to write.  Apparently there is a mental disorder for people going through crises.  Crises such as pandemics, systemic racism, political division, unemployment, police brutality, civil unrest.... It's called "crisis fatigue". When humans are presented with a threat, adrenaline is released to give us quick energy. This is called the "fight or flight syndrome". But when threats are overwhelming, and perceivably continuous, like this year, it overwhelms the system. People can feel numb, depressed, anxious and irritable. Yup. That's me.  I guess I'm quite normal after all! I found an interesting article that describes crisis fatigue, especially in relation to current events.  But it doesn't really address how to take care of ourselves during these unsettling times!

Year Two, Day 313: Most Excited Am I!

I almost started today's blog with my standard, "Most tired am I" And I am. So tired. And ready for spring.  But tonight when I got home, my wonderful housemate told me that I had a package waiting for me on the counter.  So I ran in and found the book I had been waiting for: Open Mind, Open Heart , by Thomas Keating. Most excited am I! I put a bag of popcorn in the microwave, filled my water and was heading downstairs to open my new book - but I had to detour around the cat who had just killed and attempted to eat a spider. Good kitty! :) I ordered this book the day that I was inspired to turn my introversion into a positive. To use it as a stepping stone to a deeper relationship with God. To go up to the next level in my spiritual path. Thomas Keating is known as "The leader within the Catholic world in the task of recovering our Christian contemplative heritage" Ewert H. Cousins, General Editor, "World Spirituality, An Encyclopedic Hist