Tessa's Own Little Party

We have a joke around our house about Tessa having her 'own little parties'...and I finally caught it on video!  Well, there is nothing to see...but lots to hear.  I listed out the video details, for one reason only: the time!  This was literally going on at 3:09 a.m. and it is simply hilarious.

Night Video 1 Details:
Title: VID_20121012_030940
Time: Oct 12, 2012 3:09:40 AM
Duration: 00:23
File size: 7.56MB

Overall, we had a really rough night with Tessa last night.  Darin was up with her from about 1:00 to 2:30 a.m. and then I was up with her from about 3:00 to 4:30 a.m.  Darin definitely got the raw end of the deal, because for that first hour and a half, she was screaming.  Tessa waking up in the middle of the night crying, is not unusual.  We don't really know why it happens, but we can usually go in her room and hang out with her for a little bit, hold her hand, turn on her light-up sea horse, and she'll settle down and go back to sleep.  On occasion, like last night, we completely run out of solutions.  Darin ended up moving Tessa from her crib in her room to her nap nanny in the living room.  From time to time, we attempt to turn on a favorite show, either on the TV or the iPad, and camp out on the couch until she goes back to sleep.  Last night, Darin went ahead and made Tessa a bottle and I think after that, she finally started to calm down.  

Then around 3:00 a.m., it was my turn.  Darin was so exhausted from the endless screaming and crying, he was pushing through it a little harder, to stay asleep during the 'party'...I, on the other hand, went and sat on the floor by our bedroom door so I could peek around the corner into the living room and witness this mysterious event.  It is such a mystery to me.  Her laughing & talking parties are just as much of a mystery as her screaming & crying episodes.

Tessa doesn't sleep with her ears on.  From the very beginning of having hearing aids, we've always wanted to her feel comfortable taking them off and settling down in the evenings for bedtime, without them.  The same is true with her cochlears.  We want her to be able to get ready for bed and have a peaceful night's sleep without her ears on.  The evenings are actually lots of fun; once we take her ears off and get a bath, we usually spend lots of that time signing to her together as a family.  She stays highly entertained and it's fun to have her just all-natur-al!

Just as much as I wish I knew what plagues her during her screams and tears, I so wonder what it is that brings her so much joy and laughter during the middle of the night.  While I'm recording, she is simply laying in her nap nanny on the living room floor.  The tiny microwave light is on low in the kitchen, but other than that, it's pretty darn dark (obviously, because I was pointing my phone at her during the video...and we see nothing).

When Tessa's ears aren't on, she is obviously very visually driven.  That's why signing to her, when her ears are off, is so much fun.  She loves to watch us.  We have always left the bathroom light on between Tessa's and Parker's rooms.  At the old house, their rooms were right there together with just the bathroom in between them.  The same is true at our rent house now.  Since Tessa was a tiny baby, I've always had to be very very careful with my shadow!  I have so many funny memories of tending to Tessa in the middle of the night in her crib and then dropping flat on the floor and army-crawling out of her room.  If she ever detected even the slightest shift in my shadow, it was instant tears.  She couldn't ever hear me leave...but seeing me leave, was incredibly tragic.  It was much easier to sneak out of Tessa's room back in the day when her crib was raised up high.  Sometimes I could get away with just slightly ducking down and running fast out of her room.  Well, now her crib is on the very lowest setting, and it's just amazing to me how fragile our shadows are!

I have been thinking about a lot of different things after being up most of the night last night.  None of which I can really figure out how to express, so for now, I'm just leaving you with a few more sounds of this priceless mystery!  (hold out for 20 seconds...it's a hoot!)

Night Video 2 Details:
Title: VID_20121012_031011
Time: Oct 12, 2012 3:10:11 AM
Duration: 00:33
File size: 11.15MB

~Whitney