to sleep, perchance to wake up to screaming...

So I'm discovering that much of so-called "parenting skills" is really a crapshoot. Seriously, how do you know what's going on in a baby's head? For example, a couple times this week Ethan's been waking up around midnight, absolutely inconsolable. I try to let him cry it out, aut after 20 minutes I just can't handle it anymore. But he wails when I try to feed him, a clean diaper doesn't help, we walk around, put him in the swing, nothing. Finally an hour or more has gone by and he finally falls asleep.

At first I thought it was the food we gave him. On Sunday we gave him avocado for the first time, and that's when the first episode happened. And yesterday we gave him banana for the first time and it happened again. But he went for his shots today, and the nurse said it was highly unlikely that the food was the cause because he was eating the new foods in the early afternoon, so if he had an upset stomach or gas, it would show up long before midnight.

Then I realized that both nights this happened, he had a giant poop the next morning - the first poop in a few days.

Then I thought maybe it was a growth spurt, and he was just starving, and so upset that he just couldn't settle down to eat. But he got weighed today and he hasn't even gained an entire pound in the last 2 months, nor has his length increased by more than 2 cm. So apparently not a growth spurt. (He went form 97th percentile to 75th in two months! I think it's all brain growth, but that's just proud mama talking :)

The nurse thought perhaps the problem was teething. But he already has 2 teeth and they popped in with barely a grouchy afternoon, and I heard that the first teeth were supposed to be the worst.

So this evening he did it again, around 9. We thought maybe he really is teething, and it's just being different this time. And since he had his shots today (so this legs might be hurting), we gave him a bit of infant motrin. Still no calming down, although I know drugs aren't instantaneous.

Then I thought that perhaps he was hungry. He had only eaten 2 1/2 hours previously, and usually once he's eaten before bed, he doesn't need to eat again until 3ish. But he ate ravenously. So maybe he's finally hit that 6 month growth spurt.

So, all in all, we still are in the dark. Can you say, "crapshoot"?

PS Looks like the financing has finally gone through for our house. We hit a snag because the appraisal came in at lower than the price we agreed to pay and there were some various issues surrounding that. But it meant that we didn't sign the documents right away, so now it looks like we're going with another bank (one that doesn't require an appraisal) and we'll be getting an interest rate of 3.99% instead of 4.19%. I have to say, sometimes God is weird.