Cirque de Kate

I just spent an hour trying to put Kate to sleep. For 2 nights now, she's so tired she conks out before 8pm, only to wake up 30-45mins later, refreshed from her nap.

I'll leave the room dimmed with only the night lights on, and lay still on the bed with her. I'll try to feed her (to try to cheat her to go to sleep) but if she doesn't want to sleep, well, she wouldn't.

And with her learning to crawl and stand, that's all she wants to do - practise! It's so adorable watching her try and get frustrated, rolling around; talking to herself and playing. I only dread the day she'd knock her head - hard.
So far, she's had a tiny accident resulting in a mild bruise on her right cheek. She's also knocked her head lightly on several occasions, and fallen over unscathed on some. I know it's inevitable with this learning progression, but I'm not looking forward to the repurcussions. I can only console myself that 1/ it's a phase and she's gotta learn and 2/ kids are resilient and hardier than we imagine.

So my dear baby was crawling around the bed, sucking her toes, kicking her feet, pulling herself to stand, falling on her butt... at some point I remember thinking that I'm the sole audience to this private acrobatics show! Hah.

What's endearing is that she'd never crawl far from the length of my body. She'd sometimes throw herself at my chest or head - which I like to think is her way of showing me affection. It just hurts though, sometimes when she hits right on my head, collarbone or hipbone.

Eventually, after an hour, she tired and in the last moments before she slept, her hands were still moving. That's my fidgety baby!