My little kids like me to play Go Fish with them. We have a deck of Go Fish cards which-- prepare to be shocked-- features a bunch of different fish. One of the fish is a shrimp, and somehow Camille calls it a Frimp, which makes me laugh every time. That's got to be harder to say than the actual word, right??? (She also says Fawicious, instead of "delicious.") Also, because she's two, Camille can't hold her cards properly and everyone is always seeing what she has. I didn't think it was fair for me to take advantage of this, so when I have a match of hers, I'll usually suggest that she ask me for that card. Colton has now caught on to this, and does the same thing for her. She keeps winning. It's adorable.
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Have I talked about how Colton wakes me up at night? Because he does. ALL THE TIME. It started when we rearranged the kids' bedrooms in January (yes, this has been going on for nearly a year! And I have the big dark circles under my eyes to prove it!). He'll just randomly wake me up in the night. He doesn't do it every night. But sometimes he'll do it several times in one night. And there is absolutely no consistency to any of it: sometimes he needs his sippy cup filled up again. Sometimes he needs to use the bathroom (
even though he does NOT need my help for this!!!!!). Sometimes he wants books to look at (at 2am????). Sometimes he's scared. Sometimes he just wants to snuggle in bed. Sometimes he wants to chat.
I've tried various things to put a stop to this: we've tried turning his doorknob
around so we could lock him in his room, but he just starts kicking the
door. Getting woken up in the middle of the night to someone trying to kick a door down is terrifying. We've tried locking our own door, but then he kicks that
instead. Also terrifying. I've tried making a bed up on the floor that he could sleep
in, but the only time he actually tried sleeping in it, he had a cough
and kept us both awake the whole night long coughing. I've tried pleading and threatening and comforting and everything I can
think of. I've been at my rope's end over all this.
And unfortunately, I tend to handle each night very differently, depending on why he's woken me up and how tired and cranky I am. I'm generally pretty opposed to kids sleeping in my bed, but there have been times when I'm so exhausted I don't even wake up when he wiggles his way under the blankets. And usually I try to be nice and just take care of the problem and get him back to bed as fast as possible. But there have also been times when I've completely flipped out at him because I JUST CAN'T TAKE IT ANY MORE. Like last week.
While we were in Houston, I got a brief reprieve, since Colton was afraid to leave his room at night because of the dog. But our third night home again, he woke me up at midnight (for books) and then at 5:30am to use the bathroom, then again to fix his sleepers that were inside-out, and then once more because he couldn't do the snap at the top of his sleepers. That last time was when I finally lost it and just started yelling at him as I marched him back to his room. I have no idea if I woke up the other kids in my tirade, I was so out of it and angry.
I got back in bed and tossed and turned trying to sleep but mostly freaking out because I knew if I didn't start sleeping again I was going to kill this child that I love so much. And then I hit on a new idea: the pack-and-play. I set it up in his room the next day. Of course, this seemed new and exciting and he wanted to sleep in it, but I explained that if he was in the pack-and-play, he didn't get any books and no lights on in his room (right now he sleeps with the closet light on). And the rule is, if he wakes me up, he goes into the pack-and-play. Otherwise, he sleeps in his bed with books and lights and everything he likes. And so far (knock on wood!!!!) it's worked. He hasn't woken me up in a week.
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| It's fun to play in, even if no one is sleeping in it! |
So could my eyes go back to looking five years younger now?
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I have three sons. They are like Goldilocks and the three bears in their underwear habits: one doesn't seem to change his underwear unless I tell him to (
GROSS!!!!!!!), one changes his underwear every time he changes his clothing at all-- he'll sometimes go through three or four pairs in a day. This seems a touch excessive to me (but a better problem than the first has, at least). And one child actually seems to put on clean underwear every day like a normal person. If I could average them together, we'd be so hygienic!
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We are slowly edging Camille away from baby things. She chewed through her last binky a few months ago and has been pacifier-free ever since. When we went to Houston I didn't bring any bottles (that was on purpose!) and told her now she was a big girl and didn't need bottles any more. She still gets an occasional sippy cup with warm milk in it, but I'm trying to not let it be something she NEEDS the second she wakes up in the morning or from a nap.
Unfortunately, as she grows up in these ways, she's also trying to outgrow her naps. She just doesn't seem to need them much any more, a fact which makes me sad. We still try, but sometimes it just doesn't happen. And she's fine.
The funny thing is, I've been taking care of babies and/or toddlers (and often both!) for eleven years now, but the thing I'm looking forward to being done with the most is... Nope, not diapers. I actually don't mind changing diapers. (And for toddlers, it's often WAY more convenient to change a diaper than to find a bathroom in an emergency!) No, the thing I'll do a happy dance for when we're finally finished with it is buckling those stupid five-point harnesses on carseats. I really hate those. Camille can switch to a booster seat in February and that will be a joyous day indeed!
And while I'm talking about Camille, she likes to color now and if she gets interrupted, she will yell indignantly, "But I was making a bootiful picture!" Or if she wants something she can't have and you offer her a compromise, she'll say, "FINE. I'll take that!" But she says it with an impressive amount of spite for one so tiny. The other day I came out of my room to find her standing in the hallway with her hands behind her back, trying for an innocent smile. Both fists were full of loose change she'd found in Bentley's room (I locked his room for him after that). This girl-- I am going to have to keep an eye on her!
She also demands that everyone give her hugs and kisses before leaving in the morning. It warms my heart to see Bentley, my prickly son, dutifully give his little sister a hug and kiss before heading to the bus stop.
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And speaking of my kids getting older, we went to the temple on Saturday to look at the Christmas lights. We're learning that it's hard when you live in one place and build up all these amazing Christmas traditions and then you move two hours away because you just want to keep going back, but at this rate, I have reasons to head to northern Virginia
every weekend in December, and that's getting to be a bit ridiculous! But the temple was important enough to make the trip.... Anyway, I had all five kids for a bit while Craig was inside the temple, and I was pleased with how much more manageable that is than it used to be! Not having to carry anyone or deal with a stroller helps a lot. And Bentley and Kendra are old enough that I can usually count on them to be well behaved and not do anything terribly stupid (like run out in front of cars), so that helps tremendously. At the Visitor's Center, I glanced over at the mother's room and thought of all the times I've sat there nursing a baby and I was okay with not needing that room.
Here are the pictures from this trip:
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| Ryder was grumpy |
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| They were in a better mood for this picture |
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| And then Ryder and Colton started busting out their moves. And Camille, but she did hers sadly... My kids are really weird. |
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| Craig was letting Ryder take pictures-- this one is pretty cute! Look how long my hair is getting! |
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| Also by Ryder |
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| Okay, so this is super blurry, but you get the idea |
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| Note: jackets with reflective bits don't mix well with night-time photos. Good thing we already got our portraits! |
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When Craig and I were first married, we took a weekend trip to St. George. I think we ended up stopping three times along the way, so that when we got there, I informed Craig that it hardy felt like a road trip-- it felt more like we'd just been running errands for a long time. That was how Saturday's trip to the temple felt. On our way there we stopped at: the library*, Target**, Culpeper***, and Manassas****. On the way home, we did almost the exact same thing, but in reverse. It made for a long day (we were gone for over 12 hours), but at least I kept getting to stretch my legs!
Life with Craig is never dull!
*The kids needed books.
**Craig wanted to buy a DVD player for the car. It kept the kids entertained, but made some annoying buzzing sound. We're going to return it.
***I'd told Craig to see if his parents wanted to tag along, so we picked up my Mother-in-Law on our way
****The condo toilet was leaking, so Craig needed to fix that. On the way home, we needed to stop at Cafe Rio for dinner. Obviously.
