aidan has been refusing to stay in bed when we put him down at night (for about a month now). it's not because he's not tired ... he's yawning, eyes are red -- all the correct 'time to go to bed' signs. he happily goes, he just won't stay. he makes you think he's going to go by getting all cozy, giving kisses, saying good night and telling us he's going to stay in bed. we've been suckered in every time. let me also explain that this is not a 1/2 hour ordeal ... it's a 2-4 hour process. bed at 7, not asleep until 11 at least three nights out of the past seven. if we're lucky he's asleep by 9.
we've tried everything ... we've done the supernanny (just lay him back down without talking to him (worked very well the first few times)), we've done the amy (be very strict & mean), we've done the john (try to reason with the 2 1/2 year old), we've done the amy II (take one cozy thing out of his bed each time we have to go in -- the pacifier and blankie coming out last (the latter being our most effective punishment to date)), we've also done the john II (lay down with him until he falls asleep) ... well, tonight i finally had enough and we did the amy III which consisted of pulling every single toy, book & stuffed animal out of his room (all of which is now sitting outside his door).
getting to the funny part. after we do this (which was an amusing process to him--not what we were going for) i come up to check on him again. i can see his light is on and i can hear him moving around. i'm figuring i'm about to walk into his wardrobe all over the floor from him emptying out the dresser. instead i find him dancing, spinning, happy as can be ... he even dropped and rolled all around for me. by taking his fun things away we apparently gave him a nice big open fun floor to play with. you've got to be kidding me.
on another note, i cleaned out the filter on our washing machine today and didn't screw the cover back on properly. when i started a load of clothes in the midst of all the aidan-still-not-sleeping-b.s. the water just poured out all over the laundry room floor. a-l-o-t of water onto a-l-o-t of things on the floor. that was an hour+ clean up (including pulling said washer & dryer out) and now here we are.
aidan was talking to himself when i started this and now seems to be quiet. 2 hours. not bad these days.
04 January 2009
10 December 2008
some photos
04 December 2008
arkansas? check.
driving from the airport, in the middle of pasture land, we passed a restaurant (a generous word for what it looked like). there was a marquee (one of those lighted signs where you pop in the plastic letters -- like churches have that say things like 'soul food served here' -- you get the point) ... it was advertising catfish, frog legs and various fried sundries. they're open for a buffet three nights a week. i'm not sure if reservations are required.
bentonville is also the home of wal-mart corporate. i had the pleasure of visiting a "vendor friendly" wal-mart that was about the size of my sub division and was cleaner than any wal-mart i've ever encountered. they sell socks, milk, poultry, electronics and i'm pretty sure stock options.
we had a really great time visiting the johnson's ... aidan LOVED playing with the girls. he got to see his first movie in the theater (technically, so did jack). aidan was sick and didn't sleep, that sucked. fortunately he was so happy to be playing he was pretty good during the days. we invested some time in guitar hero (and subsequently purchased it when we got home). i have some ground to cover ... can't quite play past the three chord level ... but i rock at that!
i didn't get a good picture of all three kids, but here's one of aidan & ava in their doggie PJs (ava picked hers out specifically when she saw aidan's) and one of makenna on her own (poor jack didn't rate even one shot ... oops):
bentonville is also the home of wal-mart corporate. i had the pleasure of visiting a "vendor friendly" wal-mart that was about the size of my sub division and was cleaner than any wal-mart i've ever encountered. they sell socks, milk, poultry, electronics and i'm pretty sure stock options.
we had a really great time visiting the johnson's ... aidan LOVED playing with the girls. he got to see his first movie in the theater (technically, so did jack). aidan was sick and didn't sleep, that sucked. fortunately he was so happy to be playing he was pretty good during the days. we invested some time in guitar hero (and subsequently purchased it when we got home). i have some ground to cover ... can't quite play past the three chord level ... but i rock at that!
i didn't get a good picture of all three kids, but here's one of aidan & ava in their doggie PJs (ava picked hers out specifically when she saw aidan's) and one of makenna on her own (poor jack didn't rate even one shot ... oops):
18 November 2008
time
"the system of those sequential relations that any event has to any other, as past, present, or future; indefinite and continuous duration regarded as that in which events succeed one another."
the only thing i really understand in that definition is indefinite and continuous. every day i get up and do pretty much the same sequence of events (varies given the day of the week). i anticipate this continuing indefinitely for a continuously indefinite period of time. given this, i feel like i should be better organized and have more time. it couldn't be easier to put a brief post or picture up here at least once a week--what's my problem?!
by all definitions of time i should have a spotless house & car, i should have my photos organized with recent ones framed in the house, i should not have to go to the DMV to get new stickers for the new car because i threw the first set away with the envelope the license plates came in because i was moving too fast and didn't see them, my children's nails should be clipped at regular intervals instead of them having to scratch me in an effort to let me know they need to be cut, i should not ever, ever, ever forget or not recognize a birthday, my legs should always be shaved and i should have a blog that is so up to date that all 4 of you that read this are pushing reload at light speed to see what i have to say next.
i am only left to assume there's some quirky time warp that occurs, thus breaking up the "continuous" into smaller sections throughout my day, thus reducing the number of hours i actually have to work with, thus leaving me in a quandary come 9:00 every night.
in brief:
aidan just learned how to climb out of his bed (not sure why it took him so long, but we were happy it did). this means we hear little feet scamper in every morning. since we're both hearing the feet you can only assume this means we're both still in bed and aidan is coming in too early. in a moment of genius i put one of jack's rattley toys on aidan's door so i can at least hear when he opens it--this alleviates the scare factor if we're really soundly asleep.
jack hears aidan get out of bed and wakes up too. enough said.
aidan is speaking in pretty full toddler sentences. he's stuttering a little. apparently very normal, still pretty nerve wracking though. he's been doing a lot of imaginary play. he knows most of his colors, can count to ten and surprised john & i the other night by doing the ABCs in their entirety when he thought we weren't paying attention (he won't do more than the first few letters if asked).
jack is pretty much smiling, laughing, rolling and eating. he does frog legs in place while on his stomach, but uses rolling to get around.
we're heading off to arkansas next week for thanksgiving. bethany thinks we're coming to visit, but really we just want to tick another state off of our "we've visited" list. we couldn't think of another opportunity to visit this particular state, so our cousins gave us a great excuse.
that warp i spoke of earlier? it's on downstairs and i need to go watch 'the mentalist' now. for the record, i will be folding clothes while watching.
the only thing i really understand in that definition is indefinite and continuous. every day i get up and do pretty much the same sequence of events (varies given the day of the week). i anticipate this continuing indefinitely for a continuously indefinite period of time. given this, i feel like i should be better organized and have more time. it couldn't be easier to put a brief post or picture up here at least once a week--what's my problem?!
by all definitions of time i should have a spotless house & car, i should have my photos organized with recent ones framed in the house, i should not have to go to the DMV to get new stickers for the new car because i threw the first set away with the envelope the license plates came in because i was moving too fast and didn't see them, my children's nails should be clipped at regular intervals instead of them having to scratch me in an effort to let me know they need to be cut, i should not ever, ever, ever forget or not recognize a birthday, my legs should always be shaved and i should have a blog that is so up to date that all 4 of you that read this are pushing reload at light speed to see what i have to say next.
i am only left to assume there's some quirky time warp that occurs, thus breaking up the "continuous" into smaller sections throughout my day, thus reducing the number of hours i actually have to work with, thus leaving me in a quandary come 9:00 every night.
in brief:
aidan just learned how to climb out of his bed (not sure why it took him so long, but we were happy it did). this means we hear little feet scamper in every morning. since we're both hearing the feet you can only assume this means we're both still in bed and aidan is coming in too early. in a moment of genius i put one of jack's rattley toys on aidan's door so i can at least hear when he opens it--this alleviates the scare factor if we're really soundly asleep.
jack hears aidan get out of bed and wakes up too. enough said.
aidan is speaking in pretty full toddler sentences. he's stuttering a little. apparently very normal, still pretty nerve wracking though. he's been doing a lot of imaginary play. he knows most of his colors, can count to ten and surprised john & i the other night by doing the ABCs in their entirety when he thought we weren't paying attention (he won't do more than the first few letters if asked).
jack is pretty much smiling, laughing, rolling and eating. he does frog legs in place while on his stomach, but uses rolling to get around.
we're heading off to arkansas next week for thanksgiving. bethany thinks we're coming to visit, but really we just want to tick another state off of our "we've visited" list. we couldn't think of another opportunity to visit this particular state, so our cousins gave us a great excuse.
that warp i spoke of earlier? it's on downstairs and i need to go watch 'the mentalist' now. for the record, i will be folding clothes while watching.
05 October 2008
one last story
i took aidan to a park a couple of weeks ago that has an enormously high play/slide structure. it's caged in all the way up to the top and when you get up there you have the choice of three different slides. they are all enclosed tube-like slides all the way to the bottom. the first one he went down was easy, no problem. the second time he picked the blue one. the blue one was the highest, steepest slide. from my vantage point on the ground it didn't seem like a problem. he seemed hesitant, i encouraged him. i stood at the bottom of the tunnel and called up to him "come on down aidan, i'll be right here waiting for you", "okay mommy, i come down" which was followed (seriously) by "thud, thudthud, thud, thudthudthud"--not another sound. the slide was so long that i had time to actually contemplate what was going to pop out of the bottom before aidan actually arrived there. what greeted me was a look of horror & contempt and then a whole lot of tears. fortunately no broken bones and hopefully no therapy in the future.
epilogue: i thought it was important to show aidan that he really could do the slide, he just needed to approach it slower, lay flatter, etc.--the whole "get back on the horse" thing. so i lumbered my way to the top with him (past the sign that read 'these slides not meant for children in the laps of parents') and we went down the blue slide. it was really, really steep and high. we went down it with the soles of my shoes flat on the slide to keep our speed down. when the sign indicates a play structure is for 5 year olds, make sure your child is at least 3.
epilogue: i thought it was important to show aidan that he really could do the slide, he just needed to approach it slower, lay flatter, etc.--the whole "get back on the horse" thing. so i lumbered my way to the top with him (past the sign that read 'these slides not meant for children in the laps of parents') and we went down the blue slide. it was really, really steep and high. we went down it with the soles of my shoes flat on the slide to keep our speed down. when the sign indicates a play structure is for 5 year olds, make sure your child is at least 3.
aidan's pee pee
so as not to be outdone by jack's head, aidan would like to share that he thinks he has a really big pee pee. as he puts it every time we change his diaper "that's a really big pee pee mommy" (this is said in a deeper voice than his normal one). i wonder which man in his life taught him to say that? the potential list is very, very long.
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