Update

Alma complained that I do very little follow up on this thing, so here goes:

1) Tallulah responded well to the passive-aggressive sleep training. She now goes through the night and waits until morning for her food.

2) The refrigerator did, indeed, die, a sad, pitiful, premature death. It was a headache, but a trip to the Sears Outlet (which sells banged up but perfectly operational appliances) got as a great new refrigerator, much better than the last, with just a few scuffs.

3) Baby Z. continues to shock us with the number of words she can say and the even greater number of words she understands. And as her parents, Alma and I are extremely attuned to the subtle nuances and meaning of every last bit of babble she utters.