Bedtime?! But I want to watch the debate!

Continuing the trend of I Am Mommy, Hear Me Gripe, this 9 month sleep regression is seriously mucking with my ability to blog. Little dude has been waking up at 1:30 the past few nights which means that baby's naptime is now mama's naptime too. I am not saying that I mutter some mighty fine threats about giving the little dude something to cry about, but man oh manishevitz am I wiped. Most of the wakings are due to diaper dilemmas ("leakproof" my ass) or the fact that he can now sit with ease which leads to much middle of the night commentary. "Hey look, I'm sitting! Hey look, there's my toy box! Hey look, there's a cat! Hey, mama! Mama? MAMA?!"

I was so happy when he first said my name... (Speaking of which, how come "dada" is always sweetly cooed but "mama" is constantly whined or screeched? Where's the love, man?)

So yeah. Tired. Ninja parents, help me out - what do you do with those middle of the night poops? He used to sleep through them (or had them closer to waking, perhaps) but now that he's sitting in it, I guess it's more noticeable. I'm sure there's some sort of stealth maneuver to get that diaper changed but I have yet to find a way that doesn't involve massive wakefulness. (He's already awake but I aim to keep the stimulation as minor as possible. Tricky when you're wrangling a 9-month-old who's solely focused on shoving as much diaper into his mouth as possible.) SPEAKING OF KEEPING STIMULATION TO A MINIMUM, I'd like to have a little talk with the makers of baby pj's. What's with all the snaps, yo? 1,700 tiny little snaps up the front and down the legs and don't get me started on trying to get those friggin' crotch snaps lined up a 1 am in the pitch dark with a 9-month-old who's still squawking about the fact that his grump of a mother wouldn't let him put his diaper in his mouth. Try to get a baby back to sleep after that! Can't be done! And let me tell you, Pioneer Ali is of no use in these situations because she would have totally made that kid sleep in the lean-to by now. (I never could figure out what the hell that was...)

As annoying as all this is (it is. It is) there's a whole lot of cute going on these days. I've been taking baby boy to the pool every day (after renewing our $1,500 gym memberships you best believe I'm getting my money's worth) and he is digging it. Grandma introduced him to the "big" pool and ever since he's wanted nothing to do with the namby-pamby plastic number his mother keeps trying to force him into. I bought him a baby wetsuit (heated pool my ass) and he tools around with me (or the significantly braver lifeguard) like a baby Michael Phelps. I have to say, my dumpling of a baby is quickly being replaced by someone who looks suspiciously like a genuine boy. Still no hands-and-knees crawling but he's getting around quite well doing the soldier drag. I was in the bathroom the other day and heard this repetitive slapping sound followed by suspiciously giddy giggles. There he was, dragging himself out of the bedroom and into the hall like one of those prehistoric fish with arms. He was so pleased with himself I almost gave him run of the place but then he made a beeline for the litter box. (We really need to baby proof.) He's also eating a lot of new foods, mostly because I refuse to have a kid who only eats chicken nuggets. (Says the woman who was happily raised on fried bologna, Spaghetti-O's, and red Kool-Aid.) Of course the kid will eat chicken nuggets - I am his mother, after all - but if he also has a healthy appreciation for pad thai and vegetables I'll be pleased. I'm constantly amazed at the foods he loves. Pureed edamame, spinach and sweet potatoes blended into mush, broccoli puree, califlower mash (which I could only make once, due to the stench involved). If anybody has any easy (operative word) baby food recipes, sling 'em my way.

By my calculations the kid'll be up in roughly 6 hours so I probably ought to hit the dishes. Anybody else feel like they spend 90% of their time with dishpan hands?