Good Brothers

In the past week or so, Sam has started really interacting with Joey. Sam will push Joey on his swing, or wrestle with him (which amounts to clambering on top of him and 'helping' him roll over), or feed him at supper time. It's great to see Sam wanting to do things with Joey; it's even better to see the huge smiles they both get. Every time.

Real Games!

Cool thing happened today; I taught Sam some games. Some actual, honest-to-goodness, other-people-know-them games. We played tag and Hide-and-Seek (well, sorta; the idea was there, though). It was the coolest thing, getting to play a game with rules and interaction, and seeing him just get it.

Not Really Getting The Concept...

Sam loves to hide. Loves to hide, loves to jump out and scare people, loves the whole thing. The only thing is, I don't think he really understands what hiding is.

It is not, for example, standing behind sheer curtains. It is not telling people that you're going to hide behind said curtains. It is not pointing to a place and telling people that they are to "hide there". (He also gets genuinely annoyed when he 'hides' me in a place and I move before he finds me. I do it just to get him riled. :) )

He sure does love it, though.

He Rolls!

He's an official Roller now. He doesn't do it all the time, but he can (and does) do the full revolution if you, say, leave a toy just out of reach. The best part about this is that now he can sleep on his side or his tummy; maybe he'll be happier that way.

Attempt #1: the nap that's currently enjoying is on his side, because he just wouldn't settle on his back. Fingers crossed!

Early To Bed...

...too damn early to rise.

We've been trying to put the kids down a little bit earlier for a whole bunch of reasons -- the top two being 1) to get more evening back, and 2) because rumour has it they may actually be physically primed to sleep a little bit earlier than they've been doing. Now, instead of 7:30-8:00 for Joey and (unfortunately) 8:30-9:00 for Sam, we're aiming for 7:15-ish and 7:45-ish. It's going well, but...

...Joey, who has been doing a good 7 hour chunk when we first put him down has gotten up before 6 for the past 4 days. And this is after a ~5am feed. He'll stir about quarter to, Julie will feed him, he'll take waaaaay too long to get back to sleep (normally around quarter after), and then he'll be awake for the day at 5:45 or so.

The real pain in this one (aside from having to get up before Dawn's even seen her crack, let alone presented it) is that, when I stumble down the stairs with him and sit in my comfy chair to wait for sunlight, he falls right back asleep in my arms. Do you think he stays asleep if I try to put him back in bed? *sigh*

This too shall pass...

The 2 1/2 year old mind - part the "this one"

"Daddy, today I put some rice up my nose. Not all of it; just some."

___________

(Educational note: a quetzal is a kind of long-tailed bird.)

Mommy: Can you 'caw' like a quetzal?

Sam: Quetzals don't caw - they say, "Can I have some bird food?"

*sage nod*

Sam:...they can't say 'please'.

___________

When we sing Sam lullabies, we wrap him up in one of his blankets. Some nights, even trying to pick which blanket can be a struggle. Tonight, Julie said, "We're using your green blanket."

"No, mama, the red one," came the inevitable reply.

"We'll use the red one tomorrow night," she came back snappily.

Sam sighed, rolled his eyes, and said with a long-suffering tone, "Why do you have to do this every night, mama?"

General Sleep Update

Quick note for those of you following at home: things improve. Sam now goes to sleep more easily than he did before The Incident, and though he's still waking up more than I'd like in the middle of the night, they are at least short sessions, and we're working on "when is it appropriate to wake Daddy up". Joey has been going down relatively easily (8 Brahms' from crying to crib tonight) and has only been eating twice a night. It's not perfect, but it's better -- and still improving.

Things improve.

They're Fiercer Than You'd Think

Every night Sam gets three lullabies. The current roster is Farewell To Nova Scotia, then The Mockingbird Song, then Brahms' Lullaby (and always in that order). I have a tendency to start singing too low, and kind of bottom out when I get to "...the seabound coast".

Apparently, this is now how the song is to be sung. Mama gets in trouble if she doesn't sing that line all gravelly. Now, this isn't that surprising; Sam seems to have very specific ways that just about everything should be done. What was surprising was that Julie got the reason tonight.

"Mama, you have to sing like this *demonstration* or the fish will be angry." Or the fish will be angry. There was one line in each song that had to sung just so to keep the fish mollified.

I had no idea.

Do The Locomotion

Joey's gonna be crawling by the next thaw -- count on it. He's up on all fours at this point, and though he normally ends up on his face, he seems pretty determined to figure it out. He still won't roll onto his stomach; we'll see how this one plays out.

That's A Good Question...

We had a playdate with a work friend of Julie's on Sunday. Her kids are almost 2 and almost 4; Sam was thrilled. He played with Stella (the 4-year-old) on his own for ages, and they were both quite adamant -- and impressively eloquent -- about not wanting to leave.

("I will say something bad," said Stella. "To who?" I asked. "To the other people, and then we can stay together forever." Cute at 4; creepy at 30... She got lucky this time.)

While talking about at dinner last night, Sam looked up at us and asked, "Why does Stella have a giant?" Julie and I stared at each other blankly; we hadn't seen the toys they'd been playing with, or paid much attention to their games, so if it was a reference to something, we missed it.

And then I got it.

"What's her giant for?" I ventured, dreading the answer.

"For peeing with!" was the exasperated response.

*sigh* "She has a vagina because she's a girl, little man," I said.

I don't think that was the last we'll have of this conversation.

Two Firsts

Two new things for Joey: tonight he drank from a cup for the first time, and two days ago he rolled over to his tummy for the first time. One of those is exciting; one of them, not so much. I'll leave it up to you to decide which is which.

The Best Thing

Sam had a... something last night. He woke up about 10:30, wailing, and just kept doing it while Mama tried to settle him. It wasn't really crying, more of a formless noise, and he couldn't seem to stop. Or open his eyes, really, or tell us what was wrong.

After about 10 minutes, I went in to try to help. After trying unsuccessfully to soothe him, I asked him, mostly in frustration, what he wanted. "I want to go HOME!" he sobbed. I picked him up, Mama wrapped a blanket around us, and I walked the length of the room with him, telling him we were on our way home now. I laid him down, tucked him in, and he was asleep before I made it to his door.

I'm convinced that all kids are crazy, and you never know what's going to set them off.

I'm also convinced that making everything ok is the best thing I'll ever do.

I'm Coming Back, Honest

Updates have been sparse lately due to, first, holidays, then crippling sleep deprivation. Last night Sam didn't get out of bed, and didn't freak out if he couldn't see one of us in the hall while he was falling asleep. I consider this to be great progress, and will, quite possibly, lead to a return to normal (ha, ha) life.

All my posts until then will probably be quite short, as I'm doing them *gasp* from the office.

The Big Reveal

Right. Kids, balance, delicate, yadda yadda yadda.

The mystery is much less mysterious now.

Over the weekend (probably Sunday), we had company in the evening. Specifically, we had company while I was putting Sam down -- note: this is important foreshadowing. To be polite, and to allow us our privacy, somebody turned off the volume on Sam's monitor. It wasn't turned off -- the power light was still on -- but the volume was totally off.

Can anybody see where this is going?

When I finally heard him, he was almost hysterical. He may have been crying for upwards of 4 minutes. We finally got him settled after about half an hour of soothing. Somehow, that's translated into a reluctance to go to sleep and some severe mistrust about us showing up if he cries. Who could have guessed?

*sigh* It's times like this when I really wish he was more logical. "Yes, I took a long time to get here. Once. In 2 years. And for technical reasons that have been rectified. You're good now, right?" Wrong.

This too shall pass, this too shall pass... (Bright side: Joey slept really well last night, and Sam, though up a couple of times, went back to sleep easily and didn't climb out of bed. Tonight shall be better still!)

The Great Backslide of Aught-Ten

Children are a delicate contraption, with many parts and no warranty. Once placed into gentle equilibrium, the utmost care must be used to ensure that nothing disrupts the subtle harmonies of their lives.

Now, if only they never changed, and were never placed in any situations at all...

There is a new foster at Brad's house. His name is Dante, he arrived on Monday, and the excitement of his arrival apparently pushed all knowledge of how to go to sleep out of Sam's head. Monday night had him waking up three times in four hours (cleverly, the same four hours that Joey actually slept through). Last night, Sam decided that he didn't want to go to bed, and refused to stay in bed once we'd closed the door. For THREE HOURS. There was screaming. There was crying. There were threats, and arguing, and cajoling, and ignoring. (Some of this was even done by us.) He finally went down after I laid down in the hall with his door open so he could see me.

Tonight, I just laid down in the hall, and slunk away as Sam went quiet. I'm not proud, but it's better than the alternative.

Here's hoping he remembers soon, because this sucks.

Mama's Birthday

We have a good boy (and a great daycare guy); Sam came home today with a coloured birthday card and an E-Z-Bake cake for Julie. He was very excited to give them to her (though, admittedly, that was probably partially because he was expecting the get some cake for himself).

Yesterday, as we were driving home from Brad's place, I asked Sam what he wanted to get Mama for her birthday. His answer? "Lots of presents!"

I suggested some beads, both to coincide with Julie's new obsession and because I'd just bought some that he could give her. Nope. He was having none of it. "What should we get?" I asked him. "Chocolate chips!" he replied. 10 minutes and two 1kg bags of chocolate chips later, we were ready.

Unsurprisingly, the present was a hit.

Don't Ask, Don't Yell

I'm learning all the parent-y tricks as I go. My latest lesson: a great way to avoid a 'scene' when leaving the house is to not tell your children you're going.

Sam is still pretty clingy; if I'm going somewhere, he wants to go. (It doesn't matter where -- grocery store, garage, bathroom, the other side of the room...) If I'm trying to snag a couple of things from the drugstore, it's a 10 minute trip by myself, or a 35 minute epic with Boy. I've tried saying goodbye - add at least 10 minutes before the outing starts, and it normally results in me taking him along. (Note: I love having him with me, but sometimes, I really am just trying to duck out for something.)

The solution? Duck out while he's distracted. No tears, no scenes, and quick errands! It's brilliant. At least for me; I don't know what happens at home, but hey! I'm already gone.

(Is it sad that I sneak away from my almost-3-year-old?)

Bedtime - The Horror

Oi vey. This is apparently Crazy Week in ChildSleepVille. Joey spent three days taking 45 mins to drop off rather than ~15, I haven't managed 2 hours of continuous sleep in the last two nights, and Sam took an hour and a half tonight, complete with multiple breakdowns, before he settled enough to sleep.

People fall asleep at night, all by themselves; people sleep through the night. I know they do, because I can fall asleep, and I hear stories from people that wake up -- for the first time -- in the morning, with, you know, natural light. I can only assume from this that my children will also figure out how the whole 'sleep' thing works. When this happens, I'm sleeping in. EVERY DAY.

Quotable quotes

Sam: That's Sammy candy!

Me: I don't think so, buddy.

Sam: ...maybe I should try it and find out.

___________

While out shoveling, I notice Sam has something in his mouth. He shows me his mittens full of snow: "That's some good ice!"

___________

Overheard (to Sam): I don't care if it fits, I don't want you to put it in your mouth!

Joey the Eating Prodigy

I'm sure it's some sort of record how well this boy is taking to solid food. We now eat banana, apple, pear, carrot, squash and sweet potato, and more quantity than I was really expecting this early in the process. He still doesn't understand that it takes longer to get food with a spoon than with, say, a natural spigot; there are some issues with that (read: he yells an awful lot from about the time the spoon leaves his mouth until it goes back in). What really impresses me is how he eats banana, pear and apple unmashed, and he's a real pig about it. Verve, that's what he's got. Verve and gusto.

The other side of this coin (quite literally) is diapers. *sigh* It's been a good long while since I had to put another human being's poop in a toilet; I was getting to like it. S'alright: this too is just a phase. It's just a phase. It's just a phase. It's just a phase...

Oh, right...

...I'd forgotten about the joy of the random, multi-hour wake-up in the middle of the night. Thanks, Joey, but I was pretty happy not remembering.

Holiday Break

So, that was unplanned...

Ton of backlog, on the way. Fear not, brave explorers!