Piper, pipe that song again...

I was seriously wondering whether I should have dubbed my 1 1/2-year-old "Piper" for this blog.  It seemed like it fit at the time I was thinking of names, wanting to go with a bird theme for reasons best known to myself. ;)  "Rosefinch" was easy to shorten into a perfectly human sounding name, and "Sandpiper" would actually be a kind of hip name if only I was actually a hip person.

In case you hadn't picked up on it, I'm not hip.  I am a little bit crunchy, which is hip, but that's not why I'm crunchy.  I'm crunchy because I'm a paranoid OCD control-freak.

Just being honest here, folks.

But back to Sandpiper.  It fit because she has sandy-colored hair, yes, but primarily because she, um, pipes quite well.  She pipes particularly well when it is supposed to be bedtime, and she can scream pipe for a surprisingly long time with no apparent intention of stopping, until she suddenly gets tired of it and turns it off like someone just flipped a switch.  It's really unnerving - she just about has me convinced that she is completely inconsolable and then it's quiet.  I usually think she's dropped dead and lay one hand on her back and frantically wave my other hand around in front of her nose to see if I can feel her exhaling.  Of course this usually rubs her the wrong way and she starts "piping" again.

"Piping" is a very nice term for what actually sounds much more like a banshee.  Actually, no, that doesn't even quite nail it.  She sounds like this (and please turn your speakers down lower before you click on the link):

Click if you dare...

Not even kidding.  It's hair-raising.  And it sounds much more humorous than it actually is.  See how you feel after you've been listening to a ring wraith scream for two hours.  It seems to upset us more than it does her.  She sounds like she must be dying of some severe, unseen affliction. Ring wraith one minute, peacefully-sleeping angel the next.  It's uncanny.

Well, this all vanished about the time I dubbed her "Piper" and started blogging.  It was wonderful.  She would just go to sleep fairly calmly and not, you know, shriek.  She would sometimes object, but it was more of the normal kind of objection you might expect from a toddler who isn't ready to go to bed yet.  Not hair-raising, blood-curdling shrieking.  I was relieved.  And somehow "Piper" didn't seem like it fit her anymore.  I kept finding myself wanting to call her "Skylar" for some reason whenever I started to write "Piper."  I know, I'm weird.  I am a name nerd or something.  But nerdiness aside, "Piper" just didn't fit her anymore.

Until last night.

Last night, the ring wraith came back.  With a vengeance.

She could turn it on or off at will, whenever she pleased.  We stayed up with her trying to get her to go to sleep until she finally calmed down and laid there talking quite cheerfully to herself for 30 minutes.  Then, finally, (with breaks here and there for hugs and cuddles that she didn't seem terribly interested in - she just wanted to be put in the floor to play) after being in the bed for 2 1/2 hours - she fell asleep.  And slept through the entire night.  But wow.  Just...WOW.  I, of the soft voice, always being told to speak up because no one can hear me - I just can't fathom how somebody so small can pack so much lung power.

Future soloist on our hands?

I think it is possible.

Yes, I could totally see her doing that someday.

But today, you would never know that last night was anything out of the ordinary.  Piper is playing quite happily with Rosie and seems bright-eyed and bushy-tailed even though she only got 8 hours of sleep as opposed to her usual 12.  We may have an early naptime today.

Then again...probably not.

So I think I'll just call her "Piper" and leave it at that.  We have quite a vivacious, strong-willed personality on our hands, methinks.  And for the purposes of my blog, "Piper" suits her just fine.