Word of the Day
niveous, adj : of or relating to snow : resembling snow (as in whiteness) : snowy
AKA, word I will never need. But from Latin nix, “snow.” Etymology gives this beautiful usage example by James Hurdis in 1800: “cottage and steeple in the niveous stole of Winter trimly dressed.” (Edit: And here’s the poem.)
Daughter at 5 Years
Last night was One of Those Nights. Daughter woke up at 3 AM to ask me for a cup of water, which I groggily brought her. I went back to bed but she didn’t, so ten minutes later I went into her room to remind her she can’t make noise humming, singing or talking to herself while everyone is asleep. Mommy went back to bed. Repeat this twice more. On the third time, Daughter said, “But I’m not SLEEPY!”
Now, the last time this happened I tasked myself not to be grouchy. Have you ever tried not-to-be-grouchy on three hours of sleep when someone keeps waking you up every fifteen minutes? Yeah. So while I managed not to yell at her for being wakeful, I could charitably have been called taciturn. You know, one or two word sentences in monotones, delivered without the Mommy syrup that makes it sound like you have God’s own patience for the people you love. Sometime around 4:30 AM, Daughter said to me after I tucked her in for the sixth time, “I can’t sleep without Daddy reading to me!”
“Well,” I said blurrily, “then you’ll just have to not-sleep, because Daddy’s not waking up.” I kissed her and mumbled, “Good night, love,” and toppled back into my bed again.
Not long after, to my dismay, I heard rustling. And then little feet padding into the bedroom. But she didn’t say anything, and nothing broke, and I heard her moving so I figured she’d gone back to her room.
An hour later, I opened an eye and found Daughter at my hip, lying on her side round as a seashell and still as a stone. She was sleeping so deeply I had to watch her ribcage to make sure it was still moving. At first I was astounded at this failure of Mommy radar, which all mothers seem to instantaneously develop at their first child’s birth and which is supposed to warn you where they are. And then I realized: “No wait. Of course it turned off. Child is right here, in a safe place where I can keep an eye on her.”
So I untucked my blanket from around myself and covered her, and she rolled herself into that blanket without opening her eyes, and I watched her for a long moment and was glad, very glad, I hadn’t yelled at her for her insomnia. She had come here, finally, to the place she thought she could rest, and it was with me. So I can’t be the crabby dragon I think I am, not all the time… can I?
I fell back asleep for another half hour, and it was good. My little seashell girl. We make do, don’t we.
Creative News/Plans
Still on vacation! I even… *gasp* wrote two paragraphs yesterday and then gave up to go wandering around pinning things. I did something fun! It was fun! Glee! I even found amazing stuff I never knew about, like this Jokka illustration on FA.
But anyway. Saturday’s Earthrise is down to $10, thanks to over-enthusiastic Thursday sponsors. Jokka book continues to go. And I did art yesterday… actually a lot of random sketching and stuff. I should, I dunno, upload it or something.
Elsewhere (The Has-to-Do-With-Books Edition)
• Hack the Cover. About good cover design in the e-book age.
• On Negative Reviewing as Performance. Some guidelines on reviewing constructively.
Quote of the Day
You always pass failure on the way to success. ~Mickey Rooney
