The inmate has taken over the asylum.

Yesterday I said I wasn't going to say anymore about how Llama doesn't sleep. Well, I lied. I stupidly said that thinking that it could not get worse. I was wrong. Last night, she got up every 20 minutes for two-and-a-half hours, and that was when I poked Bucket and tagged him in. Thank God for tag team Llama wrangling.

So he dealt with her for an hour before it was my turn again. Finally, at 3:30am, she went to sleep. For the grand total of two-and-a-half hours. If you're counting, that means she got up at 6am. And then slept on Bucket for another hour before he had to go to work. But she would not go back to sleep with me.

We're on our fourth nap of the day. She keeps waking up every 20 minutes. Is she hungry? I don't think so. She eats lots and lots during the day. Is it teeth, you might ask? Maybe. But it's been teeth for two months, and she was sleeping better before. Is she sick? Maybe. She's snotty. But that might be teeth. No fever. I gave her Motrin anyway (yeah, send my name in for Mother of the Year) in hopes that it would knock her out long enough to sleep for more than 20 minutes. It didn't. That brings me to my theory on why she can't seem to sleep.

It's crawling and pulling up. My kid can't take one step at a time. She is not quite crawling and she's not quite pulling up, but she's working hard at both. Even in her sleep. Sometimes when she cries at night, I go in and she's stuck up on her hands and knees, rocking and screaming, with her eyes closed. I think she might even be sleeping when she's doing it. Last night, I pulled her legs out from under her (nicely), covered her back up, turned on her soother, and left. Over and over again. Until I tagged Bucket in, and he scooped her out to cuddle her.

Yeah, cuddling is against the plan - against the plan of every sleep book I've read, against the pediatrician's advice, and against the advice of every well-intentioned older lady who talks to us. But you tell a daddy that in the middle of the night, when his baby is crying and he knows he can make it better.

I know I say a lot about Bucket and how frustrating he is. I also need to make it abundantly clear that he is always, always working to make our lives easier. And that he is a wonderful, involved, extremely loving dad.

And Llama has both of us right where she wants us. She is in charge. God help us when she's 14.