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.

Where I've been, Wheat Belly, and Whatever

I know that, as frequently happens, there have been rumors circulating that I must have dropped off the face of the earth again.  I say "again" because it happens regularly in my blogging life.  I am on, blogging almost daily, and then suddenly I disappear for weeks with no explanation or apology.  The fact is - are you ready for this?

I'm not very organized.

There, I said it.  Bet you would never have guessed that, right?  It's not like it's obvious or anything.

I won't bother with all of my reasons - it's been a very busy few (more like lots of) weeks since I last posted and I am ready to make a go of it again.

And there I go talking like Kipper and his friends again.  For the uninitiated, this is an adorable British animated show that my children love to watch.  Talking animals with delightful accents who say things like, "Let me have a go," and "Brilliant!" and "Ohhhh, NOOOOO!  The sun's gone in."

In other news, we are currently embarking upon a culinary adventure.  I hope to share some of it with you here, perhaps even including recipes.  I don't dare make any promises, but I do intend to try.

I think it is also showing that I have been reading "The Chronicles of Narnia."  My writing has gotten all British-ified.  You can always tell what I'm currently reading by the way that I write.  I'm doing it all with a British accent at present.  (See?  "At present."  "I don't dare."  "I do intend to try."  Lovely, but not exactly American, right?)

But I digress.  My husband and I have decided to try going completely wheat-free, and since we already know that Piper is sensitive to wheat, Rosie is along for the ride.  She doesn't seem to be missing wheat at all, though - and she's actually starting to eat some veggies.  And likes them.  YES!

Manly read most of "Wheat Belly" by Dr. William Davis.  And yes, it is all the rage which makes it immediately suspect to my cynical little mind (which is in so much denial on the subject that I misspelled "cynical" twice just now).  However it does contain some very compelling arguments against wheat, which has apparently been bred and bred to produce the "perfect" variety of wheat - to the point that it has virtually been turned into a mutant grain.  It's all complicated and I won't try to explain it here.  Just know that after he read it, told me about it, and I read some of it for myself - we're pretty convinced that we should stay far away from wheat.  I would love to write more about this, but I don't really have the time because it would take a lot of referencing and such - I am no expert.  I would recommend that you read the book for yourselves, if you are curious.  (And no, no one is paying me to say that.  I don't think it's a miracle book, but it does seem to be very well-researched.  My data-loving mind appreciates this.)

So, explanations aside, we are a week into our wheat-free journey.  So far, so good.  We're actually really enjoying the food - we're not really missing the wheat that much!

And this concludes my greatly-abbreviated summary of what I've been up to since my last disappearance.  I take heart that I do have two blog posts written up and nearly ready to post - I just need to run them by my Proof-Reader a.k.a. World's Greatest Editor a.k.a. my husband.  :)