Little crank

Ryanne's been cranky. It started the day before our plane ride to Phoenix when she got the sniffles and continues now. I don't know if it's the sniffles - which she always seems to get right before we fly...how does she know?? - or the teeth or what! She cries in the car, she cries at the apartment, she cries in the store...she's happy only when asleep and those periods feel all too brief.

Thankfully, we seem to have stopped at 2 teeth for now, but I think more are on the horizon. She's still gumming and gnawing on everything in sight.

Earlier this week, I tired of her constantly pulling my shirt up trying to get milk so I encouraged her to sign again. Now, she will very readily sign "milk" with both hands when she wants to nurse. Now, it seems like she's nursing more and that may be because she can communicate it or because she's not feeling her best. Today, she started putting her hand to her mouth, similar to the sign for "eat", whenever I asked if she wanted to eat. I'm going to take this opportunity to really encourage the signing and help her communicate. Her verbal progression has slowed some...most everything is back to sounding like "da" and I don't know if I'm just too tired to figure it out or she's not trying as much so I'm hoping the sign will help us both out.

She's sleeping with us, in typical Japanese fashion. We haven't yet decided whether or not this will continue once her playpen/crib gets here. Right now, she's still waking fairly often and, with me right there next to her, she wants her milk. I don't quite know how to deal with that with her in bed with us and, wouldn't you know it, I left the sleep book in Texas. *sigh*

There are some advantages to sleeping like this. Despite the night wakings, I'm asleep more. I don't have to listen to her cry from the next room while Chrys puts her back to sleep. I fall asleep while she nurses so I'm not waiting up while he puts her down. I think I might be better rested, but that's not the primary concern.

One disadvantage is that, since we have a futon, she can get in and out of bed as she pleases. The good news is that when she falls out of the bed (since it's still just a double) I don't worry about her...it's only a few inches. The bad news is that when she doesn't want to go to sleep, it's very hard to constrain her. We'll see how this pans out.

Another nice thing about Japan is that it's very child friendly. Ryanne LOVES to wave at everyone (and is doing so much more often) and most people will happily smile and wave back which only encourages her. She gets lots of extra attention...partly from being a baby and partly because they seem especially attracted to American babies.

One downside is that, despite their love of babies, baby things are insanely expensive. Like an idiot, I left the plug protectors in Texas and recently found out that they're about ¥800 for 4 (about $8), instead of $6 for 36 like I got at Target. Well, I know one thing that's on the list of things to grab at Christmas! On the flip side, I found door pinch guards in 2 packs at the ¥100 store...

For now, sleep calls (and the need to start the Japan blog) so I'll quit while I'm ahead.