Baby Log: Week 48

This week I had a glimpse into my future with an independent-minded toddler and it wasn't pretty. The week started off brilliantly. Marlie slept the whole way during the drive back from Austin. Damon had to go to San Franciso the next day for work. No biggie, right? Wrong! The day was normal...eat, play, nap, eat, play, nap, eat, bath, b-e-d-t-i-m-errrr! That's the sound of the record screeching to a halt. I first attempted to put her to bed at 6:00 pm. Two friggin' hours later I'm getting a little worn out, but I'm not giving up. By 10 pm I'm having a mommy meltdown (more on that tomorrow). I call Damon in tears. SHE WON'T GO TO SLEEP! I'M EXHAUSTED. LOSING MY MIND. ON THE EDGE OVER HERE! He suggests I take her for a drive (way to throw my own advice back at me hubby). So, I strap her into her car seat and off we go over the Trinity River and into the woods. Not really, but go with me. We're driving and driving. I'm not paying attention to where we're going. An hour later, I realize she's asleep and I'm lost. It's past 11 o'clok at night. Nothing is open. I feel the panic creep into my throat. I look around in the darkness and I see salvation in the form of golden arches. I turn into the McDonald's drive thru and ask the nice lady how to get to the highway and then I order a medium fries because it was the right thing to do. hee! We get home close to midnight. I carry sleeping beauty inside and lay her down on the bed where she...promptly wakes up! I breathe deeply, pick her up in my sore arms and rock her for 15 more minutes. Back. to. Sleep. I never, ever want to feel that burned out again. I told Damon we have to make plans for me to have some assistance when he's out of town. I can't do it alone with no breaks. It's almost criminal to have one person on baby care duty 24 hours straight.
The rest of the week was much better:

• We popped homemade popcorn with our new old-fashioned stove top popcorn maker. Marlie loved it.
• I taught her to say "good" and "yum" when she likes something she ate. Sometimes is comes out as "gum" She also says "huh?" when you ask her a question. Daddy is still her favorite word. She kind of sings it when she sees him. Whereas "ma" is what she screams when she is having a nightmare or whines when she is hungry, sleepy or has general malaise. I'll take it.
  
• She is obsessed with doors and light switches. Same with removing the velcro on her diaper covers. I now appreciate the design genius of the onesie.
  
• I've been showing her how to build stuff with her blocks which she immediately knocks over. I built a castle and she just swatted and stomped on it. My new nickname for her is Godzilla. She screeches like Godzilla too. We had a screaming match on Friday. It was a tie.
  
• She has become the little walker overnight. She can now turn and walk in a different direction. She had her first major spill this week, a face plant on the hardwood. I saw blood on the floor when I picked her up. She bit her lip when she fell. Ouchie! It took 10 seconds for her to expel the full force of her cry. I never heard her cry like that. I gave her a cool washcloth to suck on and she was right as rain. Check out her video debut: