What are we going to do with Ellie?

As I'm typing, Gavin's having "quiet time," and Ellie is taking a nap... so I'm taking the opportunity to document the last few days (nights) happenings with our girl. She's always been unbelievably good at going down for naps & sleeping at night, and she really only cries when she's hungry or tired. Monday night, after her bottle, she was pretty much out & content in my arms. I tucked her in her crib as usual, and she immediately started to cry... and by "cry" I mean SCREAM, like she was in pain! So I got her out, and she immediately stopped screaming & laid her head on my shoulder, making her little guttural content sounds (I gave up trying to spell those sounds). I stood, holding & rocking her for a few minutes, and she was feeling heavier, like she was fast asleep... so I tried again. Laid her down, and IMMEDIATELY, the same thing. This happened about 3 times, and I'd increase the amount of time I held her each time until finally, it took.

Tuesday, on her 9-month birthday, I got the weekly baby development email I subscribe to, and the first bullet point was:

• Your baby is developing a mind of her own - and part of her determination is a desire to test you, seemingly about everything!

I read it to Darin, and we both had a chuckle. What we didn't know was that this little "fortune cookie" has come true--this has happened every night since (4 nights and counting). Last night was the worst! She went down before 9:00 pm without too much of a struggle (I did let her cry on her own for about 5 minutes), but then she woke up at 1:30 am, and we did the whole routine (holding, rocking, tucking, screaming) about 4 times, each time canceling out all my work of the past 15 minutes or so. It was as if she had an alarm that went off whenever I laid her down, and she'd initiate the screaming. And to have her just melt into my arms when I'd pick her up... The phrase, "At least YOU'RE comfortable," came to mind each time I rescued her from her miserable state. I did have some reality check moments in there too--realizing how blessed we are to have her, and how spoiled we are that she's been so easy in the sleep department up to this point. She finally succumbed at 2:30 am and slept until about 9:30 am, which was nice, I will admit. But then again, she owed me. :)

Of course, I've Googled it and found people with similar situations citing "separation anxiety" as a common thing at this age... I don't remember Gavin having such a sudden personality shift like this though... so what are we going to do with Ellie?

JUST LOVE HER.