Life:
This journal entry was written in bits and pieces (more so than they usually are, that is), so please excuse the fragment-ed-ness of it! :)
Yikes! So much is going on. Harmony was sick a lot of last week with a viral infection in the form of a rash, which means she couldn't go to daycare, and I missed a lot of classes and time to work. Chris' mother babysat a her for a couple afternoons so that I could go to some important lectures and had time to do research in the library at school, but mornings were rough. She wasn't feeling well, so she was crabby and whiny. Plus, I think she's still really working on some bottom teeth, so that made her extra irritable. It's been a very stressful week, with trying to squeeze in time for schoolwork here and there, as well as closing a show I did on the weekend, and trying to deal with housework without much time to do it in! I was also so stressed out leaving her with her grandmother. I'm sure she means well and all, she just doesn't seem very smart about children. The first day I brought Harmony over, I put her down to play and we kind of played together for a bit to get her used to being there. Then her grandma picked her up and I stood up and Harmony saw me and just leaned over her grandma's arms and started reaching for me and crying. So I held her, and gave her a hug and a kiss, and tried to give her back to Suzanne, but she wouldn't go! She clung to my shirt and starting crying and whining and I just felt so horrible. I held held her for a bit, until she got tired of being in mommy's arms and went down on the floor to play. This time Suzanne clued in and didn't try to pick her up or anything, just let her play. So I was able to leave while Harmony was involved in something she liked doing- climbing stairs! :) I got my research done that afternoon, but I just felt so horrible the whole time...
I got to spend a little more time with her on Friday however. I brought Harmony to school with me and Sarah walked around with her for a bit while I stood in line to get my loan (turned out it wasn't actually there, morons...) and then after Sarah went to her 10:30 class in the music building, we were walking out and past the little music recital hall and we heard music! It was a string quartet and I asked if we could stay and listen, since they were just practicing, and they said "Sure!". Harmony loved the music, and was even "singing" along when the vocalist showed up and began singing a little opera! Everyone got such a kick out of her name too- little Harmony listening to their harmony! :) We went on a nice walk and enjoyed the fall colours- it really is starting to look beautiful outside. Harmony fell asleep, so I decided maybe I would try to go to my 11:30 class afterall. Of course, she woke up after like, 10 minutes. But she was very well behaved, and for about a half hour she was content to just sit on my lap and "draw" in mommy's notebook, and play on the floor, and eat some Cherrios, and stand up on mommy's chair. She was pretty quiet too, and actually seemed to be listening to my prof a fair bit. There was one hysterical little moment when my prof made some comment or assertion and Harmony all of a sudden increased the volume of her babbling, right on the syllable "ya", so that was all evyerone heard! The prof stopped and asked "Was that...?" and I said "Yes, she agrees with you." :) So at the tender age of 10 months, Harmony has participated in her first university lecture. I'm very glad the class was women's studies though, because I don't think a baby would be welcome in, say, english or in my 250 person "Intro to Psychology" class.
Backtracking a little bit.... Harmony got to see her Dad last weekend, her first time overnight. He picked her up at 6 on Saturday (actually, that's when he was supposed to pick her up, he was a bit late, and I ended up getting dressed for work while Harmony ate her supper, and then being stuck with a very messy and grumpy baby who wanted to get out of her high chair at 6:10 when she was done but couldn't cause, well, I wasn't about to change, then change back again!) and I left for work. I called at 10 when I got home and guess what? He wasn't home!!! He'd gone out with his friend! I was just so upset because it was her very first night there, in an unfamiliar crib in an unfamiliar room, with an unfamiliar routine, etc! The whole point of me "transitioning" Chris this past month was so that she would be used to him, and comfortable with him so she wouldn't freak out without me around. I'm very glad she didn't wake up (as she sometimes does, often around 10:30) because that would have been a very bad exprience for her, and would probably have really disrupted her sleep routine. When she becomes more familiar with her grandparents, I don't think it would be such a big deal; but while she is still getting to know them, she needs to have a secure, stable person that she trusts around too. Chris was also saying that his mother was "forcing juice down her throat" and doing a lot of things that conflicted with the way I've been trying to raise her. Also, she served shephard's pie with paprika and pepper and worchester sauce to the baby (which is why I originally thought Harmony's rash was an allergic reaction).
So far, I'm not too impressed with how things are going with that family. I mean, Chris is trying to convince me that yes, he's going to be a responsible parent, and yes, his parents are ok with the baby, but I just can't believe the things that slip by their minds. If he was anyone else but her father, I wouldn't trust him with the baby in a million years. I wish I could just keep her away from him and his family, for her own safety, but I know that later she may have wanted to know her father. Oh well, I'll just let her figure out later that he's not so great a parent or else maybe he'll change into a decent one. For now though, I'll be stressing out whenever she's over at that house...
Harmony's Growth:
Harmony got her 6th tooth last Saturday, the day after she got her 5th tooth! So she now has 4 on the top and 2 on the bottom.