I Love Gertie, really, I do.

Gertie continues to wake up from EVERY nap screaming and crying. She is irrational and uncooperative. I just don't know if I can put on paper (or, uh, the internet) how incredibly frustrating and exhausting this is.

Today: Wakes up screaming for Mom. John goes up and she'll have nothing to do with him as he tries to bring her downstairs, calm her down, but evenutally gives up, leaving her screaming in her room. John and I are just discussing what to do because this is becoming an ugly routine. She starts screaming for Dad. He goes and brings her down, telling me that she's going to calm down. Her face is blotchy and red, she can't regulate her breathing yet, and she clings to me, still whimpering. I sing a bit to her, and she tells me, don't say that. I ask her if she'd like something to eat. She starts crying. She's not hungry. She doesn't want a banana. She wants a banana. I take her in my arms to get the banana. She wants to peel it like a monkey. Mind you, all of these comments come out in on-the-verge-of hysterics cries. She takes three bites. She doesn't want any more fruit. I want Cheerios. I place her in her chair to set her up, and she's still screaming at me. She needs a drink. I've had it. I take her up to her bed and she screams up there for a few minutes. She tells me she's going to calm down, so she is allowed to come down. I sit her back in her chair as she whimpers for her drink, then her Cheerios. She eats. She watches Dora.

That was ten minutes ago. Now she is cheerfully talking of going to church and how she wants to go to her class. Go figure. And, heeelp meeeee, please.