Erin's nap spots

Lately Erin has been taking self-imposed naps during quiet rest time in the afternoon. I don't usually mind, but I try not to let her sleep too long or bedtime is a disaster. We're still trying to get used to the time change right now though, and this morning's wake up for school was difficult. Plus I've been trying to take the kids on a walk each afternoon to help my glucose numbers stay down and to enjoy the springtime a little more. She was pretty tired this afternoon and I could tell she was asleep again. I can always tell when she is asleep because it gets really quiet and she doesn't ask for a tape to be flipped (yeah, I'm still trying to find the old favorites on CD so I can use the "repeat" mode and not have to get up every 15 minutes).

Before I show you how I found her today let me preface it by saying that Erin LOVES blankets and always wants them to be spread out perfectly. It's annoying when she wakes up in the middle of the night and can't do it herself. She can't fall back to sleep if they're not just so and calls me to come help - a little bit of OCD, maybe? However, during the day time she can do it by herself just fine. With EVERY SINGLE BLANKET IN HER ROOM. Really.

She also loves little cubby holes and small spaces.

Thus said, here's where she was today:


She took out all the dolls and stuffed animals from a basket that we keep them in and then spread that ABC quilt in the bottom. Next she took her bed pillow and the pillow from the rocking chair along with her "snuggle blankie" and the burp cloth I use on the side of the chair to keep the night light from shining in her eyes at night.

PLUS, this (sorry it's turned but Blogger won't let me upload it properly):


See the 2 other mounds of blankets behind her? Those have dolls, pillows and stuffed animals under them. Very considerate, my Erin.

Here's another way I found her a few weeks ago. She and Luke had been playing with those little yellow tubes non-stop for a few days and she apparently thought it would be a good thing to take a nap in. Behind her on the bed was a whole slew of toys (including the oatmeal box drum and doll you can see).

That's her rest time box and a pillow covered up with her afghan. Not so neat about the rest of the room, but when it comes to spreading blankets she's a pro.


And I didn't take a picture of another one last week, although I wish I did. I sent Luke into her room to wake her since he is very gentle and uses a soft voice (it's pretty cute). He came back out and said, "I can't find her, Mom!" She had climbed into a VERY small doll bed (similar to a doll-sized pack & play) and completely covered her head with blankets. Because the bed was so small, she was forced to sit with her feet hanging out and put her head on her knees. She was so folded and covered up that we walked right past her at first!

When a 3-year-old stops napping

The afternoons can get pretty ugly. Erin napped consistently for 2-3 hours in the afternoon -until she threw away her pacifier. Now it's spotty at best and she can get very cranky. Here's what ends up happening some days:

Pretty cute, huh? However, after a long nap on Monday followed by 2 hours of naughtiness after bedtime, I have decided that quiet rest time (without sleep) in the afternoon followed by some heavy activity outside is the best ticket for a better bedtime. Yesterday we had rest time for about 45 minutes (she is still learning how to do that and I hope to increase the time up to 60-90 minutes) then went outside to work in the front garden for a few hours. She did not get out of bed after bedtime even once!

Here are some random pictures of the sweater that I finally finished for Erin. Thankfully we've had some chilly weather and she could wear it yet this year - plus it's pretty big and will still fit her next year. It took so long because the neckline ended up not being stretchy enough and she couldn't get it over her head. I had to learn a new technique for binding off. Good thing too, because I have yarn to make a matching blue one for Luke, Mr. Giant Head, and now I know what I'll have to do when I get to the neck on his.

Not sure why she had to tilt and do a funny smile in each picture.

One last thing before I get the kids up. If you haven't heard Rush of Fools yet, go check them out. I think I may actually buy some new music.

"Big Girl Bed" Update

So last night was Erin's first night in her "big girl bed" (modified crib). Since she is so active I was pretty skeptical about how it would go. I took my crocheting basket upstairs in preparation for staying there for a while enforcing the rules. She was very excited at bedtime and climbed up by herself. I tucked her pink blanket under the mattress, hoping that it would help her to feel where the edge of the bed was and not fall out. Then I told her the rules.

"Erin, you must stay in your bed. You may not get out until Mama comes to get you in the morning. And no playing in your bed; go to sleep now."

To my great surprise, there was no problem. Not even a peep. For a few weeks now I have had to go upstairs several times after the lights are out to tell her to stop messing around and go to sleep. When I peeked in on her when I went to bed she was a little bit uncovered but that was it.

We did put the gate in her doorway after we closed the door. We didn't want her falling down the steps if she got up and was half awake.

Around 3 I heard her crying, which is not too unusual. She was standing by the door when I went to her, but I couldn't understand what she was saying. She was pretty cold and asked to have her diaper changed, so I did and then rocked her for a few minutes with her snuggle blankie. As I was tucking her in again she said quietly to me, "No messing around." I think she got it. I had to wake her up in the morning to get ready to go to CBS and her blankets were exactly as I had put them at 3!

We also needed to make a rule about where to put blankie & pipe since they are supposed to stay in the bed. She puts them under her pillow - we'll see how long until she comes downstairs with them!

Now we are working on going potty right after she gets up. She has a potty chair in her room since we don't have a bathroom upstairs and she went right away this morning. She tried after her nap but since she had already wet her diaper she didn't go. I think I will make a potty chart for going after she wakes up and see if that helps.

Next big change on the agenda: getting rid of the pipe. I think 3 is plenty old enough; Luke gave his up when he was 3. Maybe after she's used to the new bed we can make a plan to get rid of it.

We don't think inside the box here

We just sleep in one!

This past weekend we finally got a new couch. I'd been looking for one that would fit the smaller space we have in our living room. An average sized couch would be too big so I was looking for something that would be more loveseat sized. We finally settled on one at IKEA. This one.

Since it was an "assembly required" item, it came in some big boxes. And of course the kids couldn't resist playing in them. Luke took the 2 end pieces and created a little hidey-hole.

A really little hidey-hole.

After we took those pictures, Alec showed him how to unfold the ends to make it bigger. When we did that to both ends it became big enough to lie down in - and take a nap. On Monday, Luke took a nap in the box and I took a nap on the new couch.


Today I got tired of the boxes in the office taking up room and causing a hazard for anyone walking through to the family room. We hauled them up to Luke's room, where he took another nap in them.

Cute, huh?
And he really is sleeping in this picture - not faking.

How To Keep a 22-month-old in Her Crib

Also titled, "Did You Know They Make Crib Tents?"

Sorry it's been so long. A lot has happened around here. I think I'll tell one little story and then show a bunch of pictures.

Last Thursday, for some unknown reason, Erin decided she wasn't going to be a good little sleeper anymore. She woke up around 11:30 and refused to go back to sleep without screaming every time I left the room. Ordinarily I would just let her cry herself back to sleep. On this night however, I went back to bed and heard a loud THUD. Darnit if the kid hadn't figured out how to swing her little leg over the crib rail and fall to the wood floor below. Most kids wouldn't try it again after learning how painful a fall is, but my Erin is a stubborn one and not disuaded by a little pain - she tried again.

Thus began 3 nights of at least 2 hours awake, half-sleep while keeping an ear open for the inevitable thud, and eventually Mommy sleeping on the floor in Erin's room.

On Sunday I was so tired that in my sleep-induced stupor I Googled "toddler climbing out of bed." My goodness, what a wealth of opinions! I weeded it down to 2 main camps: those who say it is time to move to a toddler bed and those who recommend a crib tent. Automatically deciding that we are definitely NOT ready for a bed (and the sleeping with her that unquestionably follows when she won't stay in bed by herself), I then searched around for crib tents. Monday we went to Babies R Us and are now $70 poorer but well rested. Money well spent, I say. And cheaper than a midnight ER visit.


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And here are a few pictures to show you what we've been up to when we're not trying to stay warm. It's COLD here, did I mention that?

My wonderful, strange children

I got a new coffee maker. Luke got a new Boxy.
He dressed it up with his shoes and new "Superhero" hat.

I tried to FreeCycle some old 35mm cameras but before they could get picked up they were grabbed as the new fun toy of the week.

It's more fun to read on a pulled-out trundle bed. Sitting on chairs.

We watched the inauguration. Did I say it was cold here?

No, not mad cow disease

Erin has a virus. The Coxsackie virus, to be specific. Also known as hand-foot-and-mouth disease, not to be confused with hoof-and-mouth disease or mad cow disease - those only happen in animals.

I unfortunately did not catch it until AFTER we had been at a birthday party drooling over everything all morning Saturday (Erin drooled, I was just there with her). She has little sores that look like whitehead pimples on her hands, between her toes, on her buns, and around her mouth. I think they are itchy and the one between her toes is open now and red. Worst of all, though, she has a big flaming red one one the middle of her tongue, another on the edge and one on the inside of her lower lip. Needless to say, she has not eaten much more than raisins and graham crackers for the past 3 days. And she has not slept well at all. And her shirt front is perpetually wet because she doesn't swallow.

I think she is on the mend, though. This morning she practically inhaled 2 bowls of Cheerios. For lunch she had 2 pieces of banana bread and a whole pear - I almost thought I might have to cut up another. And she took a long nap this afternoon. I haven't heard a peep since she went down an hour ago, either. Hopefully I can get some sleep, too, tonight.

Here's a cute picture of her right before the birthday party we went to Saturday morning. She was looking pretty stylin'.


And here's a strange story, just for fun.

"I'm having a hard time sleeping in my bed."

This is what Luke has said to me in the middle of the night for the past week. Last Thursday he (unprompted) threw out his pacifier. We were glad, since we had been telling him that when "school" (CBS) started again it was going bye-bye. He didn't make a fuss at bed time and he doesn't nap anymore so it doesn't matter then. However, it apparently is difficult for him to fall back to sleep in the middle of the night without it. I have a little sympathy for him, but last night I ended up in his bed for 2 hours while he kicked and tossed and cried and wiggled and asked for his pipe. Not good, especially since I now have the sinus crud that the rest of my family so generously shared with me. Thankfully Erin is finally sleeping through the night again, strangely enough on the anniversary of the first time she started sleeping through the night - June 10. Hopefully it will last longer than 3 months this time.

Erin's crud developed into bronchitis this week. Yesterday I had her in for her 15-month check up (stats to follow shortly) and also a follow-up from a week ago when she was in after a day of fever and pulling on her ear. The doctor agreed with me that her lungs sounded bad so now she's on amoxicillin. Luke has a cough, too, but the doctor said his lungs were clear. The doctor's comment to me while he was examining Erin - "She's a rather large child, isn't she?" Sounds like something Grandma B would say.

And large she is! She weighs 26 lb. 2 oz. and is 32 3/4 inches tall - almost 4 inches taller than 3 months ago! That is off the chart for weight and height and bigger than Luke was at this age for both measurements. Unfortunately we have to go back a third time next week because she couldn't get her vaccinations since she was sick. I'm going to ask if we have to do the $30 co-pay a third time since it should have been done the last visit.

Now for some pictures. The first set is last night when Alec and Erin were playing. I think there are some similar pictures on here somewhere with Luke. Erin loves to throw herself back and get caught hanging upside down - a bit of a daredevil.






And this next set is from this afternoon's fort building session. When you watch the video, watch how smart Luke is when he walks into the camera and says, "Ouch!"

Dog pile!

This is Erin's affectionate side coming out. She does this while saying, "Ohhhhh." Probably since that's what we say when she does it.

Every little Dutch girl needs a wooden shoe barrette

I decided a few months ago to make a few things to sell at the Christmas Bazaar at the school I used to teach at. It's held the Saturday before Thanksgiving every year so I have a while to get things ready. I'm trying to stick to things that parents would buy for their children since it's mostly kids and parents buying Christmas presents - a lot of little kids running around saying, "Mommy, I want that!" I think the hair clips I made the other day would probably do pretty well, but I want to make a few of my own designs instead of just the ones I saw somewhere else. I'm not sure about copyright laws with ones that aren't original and I'd rather not have to worry about it.

So I've been making more. They're kind of addicting. I had a bag of old felt scraps that I never use and I spent about $1 at the store yesterday buying a few new colors. Today I made 2 more of my own design - ballet slippers (to go along with the ballet/tutu bags I'm making) and a wooden shoe. A lot of the families at this school are Dutch and I've also been thinking about changing my Etsy shop name to "Little Dutch Girl Crafts." It's a little more cute and less obscure than "Kinderstikken." And the wooden shoe clip could be the signature item. I'm not sure who would buy it, but if I become famous everyone will want my logo on their head! Right.




The ballet slippers need a little work - the stitching shows where I secured the clip inside - but I think you can tell what it is, right?


I made this one the other day to match a sweatshirt of Erin's - it's about the size of a half dollar, which is how big all of them are. I'll probably make a bunch more of this one, maybe some with a little leaf. I also have ideas for a ladybug, a star, a holly leaf, a butterfly, a snowflake, and a tulip. I'll take suggestions, too. Give me one I use and I'll give you the original prototype. It might be worth something someday!

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And here are some random photos from lunch. Erin had pasta with tomato sauce for the first time last night and again at lunch today. I could tell she liked it because she ate it before the banana, which is usually shoved into her mouth by fistful at great speed.




A satisfied smile.

And Luke wanted in on the action, too, of course. His latest thing is to stick out his tongue for cameras or to make any kind of silly face.










"Ha ha! I'm so funny and cute!" That's what you think, Bub. Just wait until the next time I say it's time to go potty and you throw a fit. Then we'll see how cute you are.

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Yesterday I walked into the kitchen and saw this:

I think I was ignoring Luke and he got bored.

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Last Friday I took the kids up to our local outlet mall to get some things for next winter. After I added it up, I got over $90 worth of clothes for $14.35. Score! I almost want to go back, but things were kind of picked over already and I'd want to go by myself. Too hard with 2 kids. They both fell asleep on the way home.



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And last, but not least - Erin has slept from 7:30 to 7:30 without waking for the past 2 nights. PRAISE THE LORD AND PASS THE PILLOW! I'm hoping it's not a fluke and continues indefinitely. I was not looking forward to the sleep training I was going to have to do once her cold is finally gone.

One of *those* days

And by *those* I mean it's now 9:30 and I'm not really sure what I did today. Both kids got fed and had naps, but I'm not sure if I was really productive since I can't remember what I did all day.

Here's what I do remember.

I kept the kids out of the family room while Alec did this:



6 new can lights



insulation in the attic above

I watched Erin do her favorite new exercise in her exersaucer. Click here and use password "lukerin." (Sorry about the poor quality; I don't know why it downloaded like that.)

I helped Luke clean up a huge wet accident in his pants. The kid just won't go to the bathroom by himself. He has NEVER gone at his own instinct, only waits for me to ask if he needs to or until he wets all over himself. ARGH.

I made a cool new little hair clip thingy for Erin. It actually stays in. Now if only her hair were a tiny bit longer and less stick-uppy it might look a little better.



I enjoyed watching her eat her supper.



I am NOT enjoying hearing her STILL not sleeping upstairs right now. She went to bed around 7:30 and is still chatting and borderline fussing. I don't think she can sleep well because her nose is so full of crud.

Well, that was my day. I guess I don't have to have a whole list of things checked off, but it would make me feel better at the end of a day if I did.

Napping

Lately Luke has been showing signs of giving up his nap. I'm not thrilled. Yesterday he "rested" for about 15 minutes. Today he was so beat he went down without eating lunch. Tomorrow is a crap shoot. The inconsistency of it drives me crazy. Plus Erin doesn't always nap at the same time so some days I feel like I don't get anything done. The desk is a mess, dishes get piled up, dinner doesn't always get made, etc. Right now they've both been sleeping for about an hour so I got the dishes done and am now taking my 15 minute break before I move on to the next task on my list.

Here are some pictures of earlier today when Erin didn't want to sleep. I took her outside since it's so nice and took a few pictures of her sitting in the leaves. I couldn't get many smiles because 1) the sun was in her eyes and 2) she only wants to suck on her lower lip, feeling her teeth. But, the sun made some neat shadows and I like what I got.









When we went inside again I gave her a ball to play with and then I did get some smiles.




PS Mom, don't send these to Grandma! I want to print off some for a Christmas present. Plus, I send her pictures every other week and sometimes I think she gets the same things from you.