baby for sale!

on the 3rd july, 2006, claudia came into this world quiet, compliant and ready to be the text book 3rd child. she slept through at 4 and half weeks, was so quiet that she didnt even cry for a feed. a midwife once labeled her as a 'placid baby' and we, proud of our parenting skills, patted each other on the back and imagined our future with a child that just did as we asked and never rocked the boat.

(cue sinister music) basically the minute she turned 1 all hell broke loose, you could literally see her rubbing her hands together and thinking ha had you all fooled. she has run us ragged for the past year and anyone who has spent more than 5 minutes with her can attest to that! she has a faster grab than an octopus, a louder scream than a banshee, sleeps more lightly than the greatest spy, has a more cunning mind than a fox and more climbing ability than a monkey! last night she put all those skills to use as we woke her while retiring for the night. we have used the controlled crying method with our children but this was not going to work on this occasion as the little minx scaled the walls of the cot about 80 times from 11pm till 3am. we tried having her in bed with us but she was too awake to fall back to sleep. finally, after poor old mick had put her back for the umpteenth time i got up grabbed her forcefully and smacked her as she started to get out again. i told her off and it got through to her. we are so tired and worried about tonight!

please say your prayers to the cosmic gods who have somehow put her karma off kilter to restore our little angel.

mmwah rosey