Bedtime issues

We are still having trouble at bedtime. DS1 cries and even kicks when DH is holding him. When put in his crib, he cries and reaches out to be picked up. What's a parent to do? Finally, after a couple of 5 minutes crying in bed alone, and being held but still crying, I went into the bedroom too, and DS1 calmed down and was asleep in 5 minutes. The odd part is that I didn't hold, touch, or even talk to him. I just sat down (holding DS2) on the footstool by DH and DS1. DS1 saw me and stopped crying in less than a minute, and after a couple more minutes he was out cold.

His daycare provider says that it could be a stage of not wanting to miss anything else that is going on. And when he sees that we are all in there, then he knows he's not missing anything and will go to sleep. Also, having a standard bedtime routine (even if the time has to fluctuate based on our evening schedule) might help.

Sleep, glorious sleep

After a really rough night Monday, last night was wonderful! DS1 had a bit of resistance getting to bed, but that is common when DH is gone and DS2 is awake and needy at DS1's bedtime. Finally they were both asleep. DS1 slept until I woke him a little after 7 this morning. DS2 woke only 2 times during the night to eat, one of which was about 5 minutes before my alarm clock.

Mothering Magazine -- Experts -- About a 2 year old waking a lot at night.

I haven't blogged in quite a while. We had a nice break from work and daycare. We drove from Kansas to Idaho (2.5 days in the car each way) to celebrate Christmas with paternal Grandma and Grandpa, and had a good visit. DS1 has fought getting into the carseat both mornings this week but is fine after a few minutes on the road and is happy to arrive at daycare. This morning he even fought getting dressed. On a happier note, he said "cracker bath" which means "my cracker is in the bathtub" after throwing it in there while I was getting ready this morning.

Mothering Magazine -- No Time for Teaching: Spontaneous Learning at Home

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Handheld Databases: What's Out There

Flu

DS1 was sent home with a fever last Wednesday and finally was able to go back to daycare today. He was fever free Monday morning, so we thought he would go back Tuesday, but Monday afternoon after his nap he had a fever again, so we stayed home yesterday, too. All day yesterday he was fever free, so we went in today and I went back to work. He did not want to leave me this morning. After almost a week of Mommy and me, he did not want me to go. I just called his classroom to check and got their voice mail. It is almost lunch time, so they might not have come in from outside yet.

Advent Traditions

DS has an Advent calendar with stickers this year. I got several of them for all of the kids in the church nursery. So far DH has been the one to help him everyday. We missed yesterday, so he got to put 2 on this morning. He now likes stickers!

We are making plans to drive to Idaho to celebrate Christmas (between Christmas and New Years) this year. The boys are changing so fast, and MIL is fighting cancer, that we want to see them as often as possible. Their aunt hasn't even met DS2 yet. (Neither has an uncle, but he lives in Chicago.) We took a weekend trip to Kansas City after Thanksgiving. It went pretty well. We had my niece along, which really helped us manage things. I hope she is able to go to Idaho with us, too.

Remembers, but no grudges

I watch DS1 a bit today during my lunch break. He played "ring around the rosie" with a teacher and friend at daycare. It's nice that he doesn't hold a grudge, because I am pretty sure that the classmate was the one who bit him on Friday. I didn't see it happen, but when I was observing over lunch on Friday I saw this same girl push my son and another child and bite a different child. The teachers handled it as well as possible. I hope she gets over this phase soon. This morning DS1 stopped at the doorway to the classroom and didn't want to go in. The child that was closest to us (there were 4 there already) was the suspected biter. He may not hold a grudge, but apparently he doesn't forget either.

Growing up

DS1 is changing so fast lately! He is saying new words almost daily. He is also starting to exert his independence, both at meal time and at sleep time. I got to watch him interacting with the other kids several times last week when I dropped DS2 off at daycare at noon. Today I saw the last part of lunch and some playtime. It's just amazing, watching him grow!

Last Day

Today is my last full day of maternity leave. I need to do a load of laundry for the boys, and I hope to bake some cookies. I have a recipe for Monster Cookies that is wonderful! They are peanut butter, chocolate chip, M&M, oatmeal and taste great.

The CHILD Disorder - The Natural Child Project -- This must be genetically transmitted. Both of my boys are showing signs of it, and I'm sure that I had it too! We are doing many of the approaches that minimize difficulties.

No, mama

DS1 said what I consider to be his first sentence! We were in the back seat of the car, and I reached over to hold his hand. He said, "No, mama" and pushed my hand away.

Checkups all around

Everyone except DH has had a checkup in the past 2 weeks. DS1 had his 18 month checkup last week. He is doing very well, but still on the short side (but we knew that). Developmentally he is doing great. He weighs almost 25 pounds. That's in a higher percentile than his height, but he doesn't look chubby. I'm sure he is getting ready for a growth spurt because some days it seems like he could eat everything in the kitchen. The challenge is to give him lots of things that are good and few junk foods.

He also got his first MMR vaccine last week. We are doing the shots one at a time now so I can tell which shot causes any bad reactions that he might have. So far so good. :-) The MMR was sub-q and it stung so he pulled away and the nurse actually ended up sticking him 3 times. Poor guy!

Rough nights

DS1 is not sleeping well lately. Actually he is sleeping okay, but when he wakes up in the middle of the night crying he has a great deal of trouble falling back asleep. We've tried every trick we know. Last night / this morning, DH didn't get back to bed before his alarm went off. They were in the recliner in the living room and DS1 was asleep, but DH wasn't. After an extremely difficult night Sunday night we thought that teething may be part of the problem again. So last night DS1 got a dose of Tylenol before bed. That may have helped because he woke up later than Sunday night. Or it could have been the active play to wear him out Monday evening (that we didn't do Sunday evening). I hope this doesn't last long! It's hard enough on me and I get to nap during the day... it's getting very hard on DH... he is definitely getting to be sleep deprived.