...and the verdict is?...

Inconclusive. I'm trying to figure out if my daughter is a freak or if there is something causing her to act like a freak. Let me explain.

Last night, Leila was a FREAK! Earlier in the afternoon, Kuso was playing peek with her while I was laying on the bed. He would put his face down by my stomach and then she would turn upside down to see his face. This happened a couple times. THEN, she started waiting for him to put his head down, then she would head-butt him on the back of his head. Then look at us and laugh her guts out.

Later that night, she acted like she was scared to death to go to sleep. Any time she was almost asleep, she would pop her eyes open and scream! She would be totally content in my arms, but as soon as I lay her down, (alone or with me on the bed) she would wake up and scream. After we finally went to bed around 1:30 am, she still flopped around the bed and would cry out in the night.

A few days ago she started playing this "game" where she would run around the room and hit things (the couch, the chair, the door, your leg) and keep running. Kind of like tag? Anyway, she started doing that. And then later in the night she started being really freaky...
she would "dead fall" where she stands straight up, then starts to fall forward, face first, and at the very last second, catch herself, then intentionally smack her face on the ground. After, she would get up, look at my mom and I, and laugh. So crazy. Then in addition to that, she would run around, abruptly stop, and while standing, bend down and smack her head on the ground. Then stand back up and laugh. SO WEIRD!

After we had got past the falling on the ground and smacking her face episodes, she was laying in my arms and throwing her left fist around by bending her elbow in and out really fast. Sometimes she just does this while she walks around, but hasn't figured out her right arm does the same thing...anyway, she was doing that and started punching herself in the face. She hit herself like four times before I stopped her. Then she just looked at me and grinned.

WHAT DO I DO? She is obviously not hurt when she does it because she thinks it's funny and keeps showing off. I have to admit, it was HILARIOUS. I'm sure if I could have caught it on camera, we would be $10,000 richer. But it was also kind of scary/weird. After she quit doing it, then went back to doing it, we were able to stifle our laughter so she quit doing it. But I don't want her to think this is appropriate behavior ever.

So there are several possible factors that I'm attributing to her odd night.
1. She has turned into a daddy's girl while Kuso was off and staying home with her the past 2 weeks. He had left town to go back to work.
2. We were not at home. We were at my parents, so maybe she knew she wasn't in her normal environment.
3. She gets extremely hot and had on warm pajamas. We had already cut the feet out of them since she has hot coals for feet, but she was still hot. So we ended up having her sleep in a t-shirt and her diaper.
4. The milk may have been a bit sour. It smelled okay, but she could have had a stomach ache?
5. Teething?
6. Daddy has a sinus infection...she could be developing one as well?
7. Ear ache?
8. Or she is just a freak.

While I'm at it...any ideas about how to get her to sleep in her OWN bed ALL night? Most nights she goes to sleep in her own bed, and within 2 hours, she is crying to come in our bed. Some nights she sleeps really sound in our bed, other nights she flops around. Any ideas or suggestions would be helpful. And if you did the "cry it out" method, let me know how long it took you until you were successful. Thanks in advance for any advice!