Grumpiness and Income from Daddy! FINALLY

Aislin's four-month birthday was on Saturday. She must have begun her fourth-month growth spurt, because lately she's been more fussy than usual. We used to be able to take her wherever we wanted and she would do just fine. She'd patiently let strangers hold her and she'd fall asleep all the time... she was pretty much the ideal baby. Now, though, she's developed some preferences. She definitely prefers Mom and Dad, and anyone else holding her is going to have an unhappy baby before long. This has been... upsetting? Difficult? A change for Grandma and Grandpa. My parents used to be able to take her whenever and she'd just go to sleep or be content while Grandma rocked her. Now, not so much. It's Mom, Dad, or nothing doing. On Saturday (her four month birthday, remember?) we went and saw Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and left her with my Mom and Dad. Evidently, she cried the entire time we were gone. By the time we got back, Dad was ready for a nap from walking her all over. Sometimes the only thing she wants is to be vertical and moving around. She doesn't even like being rocked like a normal baby. It's too boring or stagnant or something. She has to MOVE.

Today, she was grumpy. On top of her new preferences, she was grumpy. The only thing she wanted was to be moving or eating. Anything else would not fly. Normally she takes a mid-morning nap and an afternoon nap. Well, the mid-morning nap lasted for about 15 minutes and then the crying began. I couldn't get hardly anything done. It was pretty frustrating for me; I just wanted her to be her cheerful self -- or at least give her what she needed. Sometimes, I can put her on our bed and she'll squeal and pull my beard and tell me all kinds of things, but today all she wanted was to eat and move. No naps. No sitting. No playing. Food.

On the employment front, remember those fliers Ted, Nick, and I made and posted around campus? Well, they were advertising my editing skills. Someone hired me. Yeah! Someone needed a history paper looked over by midnight Friday and I took the job. He left a message on my phone, and at first I thought he said 200 pages. I gulped and wasn't sure if I could get that many pages edited by midnight, but he said it was only 200 words. Oh man. I could do that in half an hour. It was more like 2000 words, because it was five pages. Anyway, I said I could just look for grammar and that would be one dollar per page, or I could go through it with a fine-tooth comb and that would be 2.50 per page. He said he'd pay me 20 bucks to get it as good as possible. Booyah. Done and done. It was a success, and when he paid me on Saturday he said he'd recommend me to anyone. His girlfriend was a writer and she was impressed with my comments and he said she may need an editor in her future sometime. At least, I assume it was his girlfriend. It was a girl, who appeared to be something like a friend. It was a success. All around. 20 bucks! After an entire year, I bring in some money again! A tiny victory -- a minute, microscopic one even -- but a victory nonetheless! Kate and I were so excited we made business cards for me. They look great.

It's late now, so I'm off to bed. One thing about Aislin acting up all day is that she normally sleeps more at night. So that's good. I'm looking at the good side of things right now. She's still enormously cute. She steals every party we go to.

Oh! Really fast. We had dinner with a friend of mine from high school, Julia, and her husband Sam, and their six-month-old son Colin. It was the first time either Colin or Aislin had seen another baby, so we held them up to each other. Colin thought she was just the greatest thing. His eyes got wide and he started bouncing and reaching out to touch her and talking to her... Aislin on the other hand, was not so sure. She looked at him and let him touch her, but she didn't bounce or coo like he did. She just turned shyly back to Mommy. I told her guys like a little reciprocity, but I understood. Hopefully she didn't inherit my prohibitively shy nature. It was kind of sad; Colin was only six months old, and he had already faced his first rejection. We thought it was funny though. By the time we were leaving, we held them up to each other one last time and they both began to cry. Kate and I promised Colin we'd talk him up when we got home. Maybe that's why Aislin's been so grumpy lately...