Le Freak, C'est Chic, Freak out!

I think I've finally recovered from an increasingly rare but nonetheless trying freak out by Em. Brent was at a work event this afternoon and evening, which he's been preparing for over the past few weeks. The last few nights I've been responsible for putting Em down to sleep on my own, which isn't hard for me to do usually. I can handle bathing her on my own, wrapping her up, taking her to the nursery, changing her for bed, reading a couple stories, swaddling her, feeding her and getting her to drift off to a peaceful slumber. Tonight, however, went a little differently. For some reason she decided not to take her usual naps today. She typically takes a 2+ hour morning nap, followed by a few other shorter naps before bedtime. Today she would only take little cat naps - less than a half hour each. I even took her on a neighborhood stroll, which would usually conk her out. Nope, not today. At 6:15 I stopped trying to get her to nap as it was getting closer to her 7:30 bedtime. She fussed and fussed and fussed. I got her into the bath, where she seemed calm. Then she had a massive freakout for reasons unknown. The water temperature was fine. This was before I even shampooed her hair, so I knew I hadn't gotten anything in her eyes. There were no piranhas nor electric eels to be seen in the bath water. I quickly took her out of the bath and she proceeded to scream through the rest of our nighttime ritual (sans books - thought I'd better skip it). The house phone and then my cell phone rang. I knew it was Brent on his way home from the event. I called him back and said, "Can't talk. Dealing with the ultimate freak out." Brent has complimented me numerous times on my ability to stay calm when Em freaks out. I surprise myself sometimes, actually. When it happens, I just run through all the possible solutions for the possible problem. It's this weird sort of Mommy Mode that emerged when Em did. When all else fails, out comes the boob. And tonight that's what ultimately calmed Em down enough to finally sleep. While I was able to remain calm, nights like this still wear me out. Brent is on his way home with dinner from one of my favorite restaurant, and he just called to remind me to make an appointment for a massage tomorrow. Good man, good man. "It's a crystal. Nothing more. But if you turn it this way and look into it, it will show you your dreams. But this is not a gift for an ordinary girl who takes care of a screaming baby." - Jareth, Labyrinth