What did I get for Father's Day? A screaming child. (Still, she's my cute child, so I'm not complaining. Much.)
The weekend proved to be weird for Ellie's sleep schedule: we went to the Fremont Solstice Parade in the late morning, and when we returned home, we tried to get Ellie down for a nap, but she wasn't having any of it. Finally, we all fell asleep. In fact, we fell asleep for about two and a half hours, which meant we all woke up at about the time we've been putting Ellie to bed. She didn't go to sleep until about 11:00 p.m. that night.
That's my only guess as to what's triggered our little girl's change in behavior. Since then, suggesting to go to sleep at all can take her from cuddly sleepyhead to full-on wailing.
Last night Kim and I figured this must be separation anxiety, because she'll grab hold of one of our shirts and not let go. We tried to just let her cry it out, but after almost an hour one night, that didn't work (it probably made things worse; but Ellie is also teething, which was our first guess about the change in behavior). What finally did work was to have one of us in her room while she goes to sleep, reassuring her that we're nearby. She'll lay down if we're close (we sit in a chair nearby), and fairly soon she'll fall asleep.
It feels like we're coddling her, but just leaving her to her own devices didn't work. So we'll try this approach for a spell and hope/assume that this is a phase arising out of her increased independence. (We've been consulting our books, can you tell?)
Here's a photo of Ellie sleeping, in the hopes that it will bring good sleep karma:

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