Rock Stars Don't Sleep in Cribs

As many of you know, Neal loves the XBox game, Rock Band. This has started a love of the game for Miss Meredith too. Typically, while he plays, she calls out "Mama - dance!" and she and I stand off to the side of the TV and turn in circles, throw our legs in the air and just generally look like dancin' fools. The other night though, Neal turned the mic over to Meredith - holding her up to it and prompting her to call out the names of her favorite people. She loved hearing herself say "Gigi! Papa! Bubbie!" come over the TV speakers. She even seemed to change up her normal inflection just for effect. Neal put her down after doing a thorough roll-call, but she would have none of it! So, he bent the stand so that it was about the right height and let her take the stage like any true rock star!

Finding her inner Janis Joplin

Shortly after her first big living room concert, Meredith decided she was much too cool for her crib - much to our dismay! She had been hiking her leg like she was thinking about it for awhile now, but truthfully I did not give her enough credit. I really thought she would be too chicken to go all the way - this is the same girl that is terrified of dirt! But Monday during her nap with Gigi, all my mom heard was Meredith talking to herself and then "THUD!" She went back to find her in tears on the floor. I was a little concerned about what we would do because I was really not prepared for her to sleep anywhere but her crib. Luckily, I was able to cheat and take off the outer side of her crib and then bought a rail to keep this busy little girl from falling out in the middle of the night. The first night was pretty tough - I ended up laying on the floor until she fell asleep, but last night and tonight were a bit easier. Naps are still more of an issue (we have only had 1 nap this week - but who is counting?)

Meredith's first night in what Neal calls her "medium-sized girl crib" - probably just to keep me from crying that she is growing up so fast!