The battle for late-night

So it only took one night of getting up sick to completely undo my months and months of sleeping through the night. For the past two nights — Thursday and now tonight — I've been getting up in the middle of the night, wide-eyed and ready to play. That has set up another late-night battle of wills between Dad and me: will he get me to learn to fall back to sleep on my own, or will I be able to cry loud enough to convince Mom to overrule him and come to my rescue? It hasn't been fun for either of us so far...

In between sobs, I'll tackle another batch of Ask Julia questions from my Aunt Rebecca:

How crushed were you to find out that Boston won the World Series?

Ugh, don't even get me started! However, I do have to give credit to my relatives in CT and MA, who resisted the urge to rub it in when I saw them last weekend (at which point, Boston had won their first two World Series games).

Are you looking forward to Thanksgiving? Do you think you'll get to play with a drumstick, even if it's not on the list of foods you're allowed to eat?

I actually am, now that I sampled a Thanksgiving food for the first time today: carrots. They were quite tasty! Though Mom and Dad are dreading the after effects tomorrow morning, when they expect that they'll be changing an orange-colored dirty diaper. But I don't think I'll be playing with anything edible like a drumstick, because everyone knows that everything I play with eventually ends up in my mouth!

Speaking of Shiloh Pitt, is there any possibility that you'll be able to meet her when she and her family come back to New York?

Ah yes, the little girl I portrayed at Dad's Halloween party. I don't expect to meet her because I can't stand the paparazzi. Being subjected to Mom and Dad's incessant picture-taking and flashbulbs is more than enough for me!

Any plans to go window-shopping in NYC when the stores are decorated for Christmas? Any plans to go sit on Santa's lap at Bloomingdales?

I've heard Mom and Dad talk about maybe taking me back into the city during the holidays, but I'm not sure what we'll do. I do think I'm a little too young for Santa—I'd probably end up just chewing on his beard.

I see that Ratatouille has come out on DVD. Have you thought about putting that on your list for Santa Claus? What else catches your eye as something you'd like to have for Christmas?

One of the perks of Dad's job is that he gets all the new DVDs sent to him, so we already have it. It's just too bad that my parents won't let me watch movies for at least another year, especially because I hear that Dad has set aside lots of kids DVDs for me, everything from Baby Einstein to Dora the Explorer.

For Christmas, all I really want is something to gnaw on!

How is your family going to spend Thanksgiving this year? Does your mom have to cook? Will you help her if she does?

It looks like we'll be at Grandma and Grandpa's for Thanksgiving, so neither my Mom nor I will be cooking. That's too bad, as I'm sure I could whip up something yummy for our feast, like drool soup.

Sorry, I've got to get back to my late-night faceoff with Dad.

WaaaaaaAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!.....