Bah! - crossed fingers phooey

Sleep is yet again a commodity which I have been deprived of. Got to sleep in whatI'm sure was a record time in recent weeks. But around 2am the whining started again. Trying to describe the sound is tricky, but it's akin to nails down a blackboard, but with more changes in pitch thankfully. A sort of long continuous shriek, the sort which makes you think that she knows, even at 15 months old, what sounds really cannot be ignored. So up and down a few times - once in her room the sound mysteriously stops, replaced on at least one occasion by a giggle, just to add insult to injury. It became rapidly apparent that there was nothing seriously wrong, and very little that could be done to alleviate the condition. Even the modern day saviours that are Calpol and Calgel could not change circumstances. So I found myself at 3am trying to reason with a 15 month old baby " Come on you know there's nothing seriously wrong, you must be tired, let's cuddle you up with tinkling bunny". Now sometimes I have no doubt that she understands exactly what I am saying, yet now in the middle of the night she acts as though I am speaking a completely different language. I am beginning to suspect that the female ability to completely re-interpret what men say develops at a far younger age than I previously thought. I'm saying "let's settle down and get some sleep", she hears, "carry on whining, I'm really enjoying it". Coupled with this is my wife's ability to sleep through/ignore and hope I deal with the situation. Unfortunately I inadvertently nudged her upon getting back in bed, provoking too rapid a response foe her to have been genuinely asleep. Her fall back position was that with her blocked sinuses from her current cold she hadn't heard a thing, but could strangely hear my muttered curses just afterwards. Another amazing female ability.