Little Drummer Girl

The year is drawing nigh; the season of goodwill is upon us. The new year brings the promise of new beginnings, hope, and daycare.

On January 3, Penny will begin daycare as mom and dad return to their regular work schedules. Anticipating a new morning routine, we have started to ease Penny into a different sleep schedule, and learning from past mistakes we have begun early.

This week Penny started sleeping in her crib full time. Previously she slept in a “sidecar” position: in a bassinet on mom’s side of the bed. This served the dual purposes of making midnight feedings a little easier and giving mom the opportunity to peek on Penny while she slept. We became accustomed to her stirrings and baby coos, but they were admittedly difficult to sleep through.

Now that Penny is in her crib, her nighttime stirrings are less noticeable, save one. Penny enjoys lifting her legs up and letting them fall. She’s also partial to flapping her arms. And on a crib mattress, which is nothing more than a few coils in a tightly strung cloth, her stirrings emit a noise similar to a poorly constructed bass drum. So now during the hours of approximately one, three and five o’clock, we hear our amateur percussionist banging away, as if to say,

Wake, she told them, pah rum pa pa pum
I have good news to bring, pah rum pa pa pum
My diaper’s leaking, pah rum pa pa pum
The sheet’ll be stinking, pah rum pa pa pum, rum pa pa pum, rum pa pa pum