Jo is currently teething. You would think since she is our third kid we would be a pro at this whole parenting gig and be able to instantly tell that she is teething! B and Mel teethed by the book. Their teeth came in in the exact order and time the books said they would. Jo is one day shy of being 17 months and she only has six teeth. Two on top and four on the bottom! So, we've been anxiously awaiting some new white pearls to pop through! She finally let me look in her mouth a couple days ago and she has one upper canine tooth that is about halfway through! She is also getting one of her upper incisors, I think! I have this feeling that for the next several months she will be cutting teeth left and right!
For a week now she has been extremely difficult to get to sleep. We've always done the same routine with her...put the big girls to bed, give good night kisses, then I bring Jo downstairs while Brad stays upstairs and reads a story to the other two. I change her diaper and rock her for a bit then I put her to bed. We have done this same routine from the day we brought her home from the hospital so she should definitely know it is time for nighty-night. For the past week, she will lay in her bed for about five minutes...long enough for us to think that there might be a glimmer of hope that she is falling to sleep. Then all of a sudden she starts screaming and tossing things out of her crib, beginning with her pacifier. That is our clue that she isn't going to sleep unless we go back in there, lay her down, put her paci back in, cover her up and close the door. Then it starts all over. Some nights it has been two hours before she finally settles down and goes to sleep.
Every night we hope and pray that this will be the night that she will sleep all.night.long. Some nights she will wake and be up for 3 hours at a time. She seems ready to go for the day. No bueno! We change her diaper, give her motrin then put her back to bed. For three hours we are going back and forth between our room and hers, putting the pacifier back in her mouth, laying her down, covering her up and quietly walking out the door hoping that she will go back to sleep. So, on average we are maybe getting 3 hours of sleep a night. Teething definitely has a way of turning everything upside down! It's almost like we have a newborn in the house again which makes any inkling of baby fever I had quickly go by the wayside! On the plus side, she was only up once last night!
It's a good thing she's cute!
She has also learned how to climb! Something B and Mel never did. I guess she has to keep up with her big sisters. B and Mel are good about keeping things that Jo shouldn't have out of her reach, but now she can climb to get where she wants to go. Today she thought she needed Mel's scissors and markers!