Fly On, Free Bird
2006-08-01, 14:24

When I got in from lunch, one of the ladies from the sewing department, who knows that I had a Chinese daughter, asked me (with good intention), "Say, did you see the Chinese proverb that we have hanging up in back?"

Not having seen it, I asked her what it was.

She said (paraphrased), "It says, 'You can't keep birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from nesting there.' So if you're upset or sad, you shouldn't hold on to it. Nice, yeah?"

"Sure," I responded. "It'd be nice if that actually worked."

"I know - I just let them nest there," she said with a laugh.

"That's okay. Plus, hey - free birds!"

Leave it to me to find the bright side of being unable to let go of your issues.

Laurana had a major night terror attack last night, the first one in a fair while. I have a feeling it was brought on by our being out too late at the county fair watching, per The Boy's request, the countywide demo derby. Who can say no to greasy fair fries, cotton candy, fried cheese and loud things smashing into other loud things? This was already Laurana's second derby (please, do not get the impression that we do this all the time - it's more a novelty than anything), although I'm sure she doesn't remember being at the first one.

Anyway, we didn't get her into bed until about 11pm - usually she's down by 830-9pm, although the last two weeks, with H being gone until late hours due to The King and I (she was playing in the pit orchestra) rehearsals and shows, the baby's schedule has been thrown off for a while. I'm surprised it took this long for her to have a night event. She woke up - well, really she didn't wake up until about 45 minutes later - at around 1am, I think. H got up before I did, so I'm not totally sure. I got up to help around 115am, and went upstairs to find Laurana standing in her crib, making a new kind of scream (it sounded like a toddler-based 'red alert' klaxon, at ear-spitting pitch and volume), glassy-eyed and swinging her toddler claws at anything that got near her. This went on for a while and I tried soothing her with my best Sensitive Daddy voice, to no avail. It seemed like she wanted to be held but at the same time wanted to be as far away from me as possible - altogether terribly confused and frightened. Eventually I got her into my arms and held her close, trying to keep her from swinging at me, and eventually she seemed to wake up, although she was still freaked out. Some mommy, some Angus and a bottle took care of that. We managed to get back to bed at about 220am.

This morning, strangely enough, I found myself inspired to look up information on night terrors. Thank goodness, it's not uncommon or horrendous - for her that is, because watching it in action is pretty horrendous - and she should grow out of it. I also found some tips on helping to prevent them, so we'll have to see how that goes. I'll try anything to not have to do that again. Even knowing that the terrors aren't necessarily trauma-based, it doesn't make it any easier to not be able to console your little one. But still - thank you, Internets, for the sound advice.

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