I’ve been run out of my house. Baby girl has been unpredictable lately (really since the day she was born, but her unpredictability has been even more irregular lately). She never has two days in a row that are the same, or even similar, but we think she might be teething right now because she’s not napping (yes, that’s normal for her, but she’s doing an even worse job of it than usual) and she goes from happy to crabby in a flash.

So this afternoon she was walking around, happy, eating, playing with her brothers and then we could tell she was getting tired. She was less steady on her feet and started lying down on the floor and putting her head down on the carpet. Great! Naptime! So what if it’s 4:30? She kind of slept for 20 minutes in the late afternoon yesterday, so maybe she’s getting into a pattern! (14 months later and we’re still looking for patterns. I guess we’re just chronic optimists.)

Josh puts her down for a nap and I go run an errand. I come back around 6pm and of course she didn’t nap long (1/2 hour – 45 minutes according to Josh), but she had been hanging out happily with him on the couch, snuggling and being pleasant. I walk in and she starts arching her back, flopping, screaming and yelling, falling on the floor . . . basically losing her mind. I hold out my arms to her and she won’t even walk over to me, she just flops down on the floor crying even more. Josh picked her up and carried her to me and she arched her back and became a dead weight, but continued to scream while I held her. So I put her down again. After 5 minutes of listening to her wail and roll around on the floor in a major tantrum and listening to Josh laugh and say, “she was totally fine while you were gone.” I decided it was better for all involved if I left again. Of course I don’t have anywhere to go because it’s Ramadan and everything is closed for another hour, but I grabbed my purse and keys (and computer), drank a big glass of water (since there is no drinking allowed in public and being forbidden to drink makes me extra thirsty), and headed out to sit in front of Starbucks until it opens.

At least it’s nice waiting out here because I went to the one by the beach. It hasn’t been hot lately (of course that’s relative for here), only 100 or so and humid instead of 115 and humid. There’s a warm breeze blowing and I have a full battery and a view of the ocean so aside from the fact that my baby cries when I’m around, things are good.

I can hear the call to prayer sounding right now which means I’m only minutes away from a latte. My bruised self esteem would probably rather have a strong drink, but you can’t buy alcohol anywhere for the entire month so I’ll live on the wild side Omani style and go for regular instead of decaf. (Aw, who am I kidding? I’ll always choose coffee over alcohol. No matter what month it is!)