I went up into the attic yesterday in an attempt to see how easy it would be to install some ceiling fans. This was the first time I've been up there actually. There's not much to see. Part of our central air-conditioning is up there so there's not really much space for anything else. So, all was well, until I looked at a gable. There, in the soffit vent were about a dozen bats!

It was day time when I was up there so they weren't moving around very much. So I didn't immediately freak out. However, as I stood up there longer I wondered if there was actually anything between me and them. I had to run back down the ladder and grab a pair of binoculars in order to confirm that there was, in fact, a screen between me and them. So, phew. That would've been totally creepy.

So, we've got bats. I should probably check to make sure that screen stays intact. Plus, I'm not entirely sure that having bats is a bad thing — after all they're probably keeping the mosquito population down.

As for the ceiling fans — the insulation prevented me from seeing anything useful. So I guess I'll just have to unscrew some chandeliers and see what's going on.

We've got a little walker in the house. He started doing a few steps here and there the other day. Now he'll take several steps, stop, turn and walk to something else. He doesn't walk to us when we call him, but he's always been stubborn like that. I'm glad I got to see it all happen. Because it would be just my luck that he'd do it when I'm away this weekend!

As Laura alluded to earlier, last night was one of the worst nights I've ever had as a parent. Andy woke up after a little more than four hours of sleep, and then he basically refused to sleep for the rest of the night. Believe me, this is highly unusual for him. He hasn't refused to sleep like this since he was about 4 days old. He would scream whenever we lay him down in his crib, and he would jerk himself awake and scream whenever he dozed on my lap. My first thought was that he had a nightmare and was too afraid to go back to sleep. (Interestingly, one of our baby books lent a little credence to my theory — babies between 12 and 15 months are just beginning to actively dream). It was a good theory, but probably not correct. It turns out that he's cutting at least three teeth at once — an incisor that we already knew about, and at least two molars as well. We gave him some ibuprofen, on doctors orders, and he's been sleeping since lunch! Which is a darn good thing because he certainly needs it. I know I did!