I Heart Bedtime

Well, I've pretty much always loved bedtime. I'm sure there was a time in my life when my parents would have argued against that statement, but for the most part, I am a fan of sleep whenever and wherever I can get it.

But my current affection for bedtime actually has nothing to do with sleep, nothing to do with the peace and quiet that comes after the little ones doze off for the evening and absolutely everything to do with those little ones themselves.

As a full time work-outside-the-home mom, I generally feel like I don't get to see the kids enough. I still wish I got to spend more quality time with them throughout the day, but I have to say that lately, we've stumbled into a really sweet and fun bedtimeroutine .

Sometime after dinner, whether there's a bath or not, we all end up in our bedroom. The kids may need to be led in there against their will or they may make their way in there by playing "hide seek" (Gretish) after dinner. Either way, there is playtime in the bed that usually involves jumping, tickling, reading books, snuggling and lots and lots of giggling.

Sometime in there, jammies get put on, a diaper gets added, hands and faces get washed (if it's not a bath night), and teeth get brushed. Eventually stories get read and the lights get turned off for stories in bed for Fin while I take Greta to her room for nursing and snuggles. One of the sweetest highlights, however, is Greta's almost constant request for singing.

Last night I was reading a counting book to Greta. I'd turn the page, ask her the animal and we'd count together. On the page with 5, the picture was of beluga whales. Greta saw the animal and immediately ordered, "sing."

It had been a while since we'd read this book together - maybe a few months - yet the girl remembered I once sang Raffi's Baby Beluga to her on that page.

Well, I made up some words and sang it to her, then tried to continue with 6. Nope. She turned the page back. "Sing. More Baby Nuga."

This went on for a while until I decided it was time to get her to her room. Even there, once she seemed to be dozing off, she raised her read and said:

G: "More Baby Nuga"
M: "No baby, it's time for sleep."
G: "Sing."
M: "No baby, it's time for sleep."
G: "Backin" (Thumbkin)
M: "No baby, it's time for sleep."
G: "Nemo"
M: "No." (laughing because I don't know a Nemo song anyway)
G: "Dory"
M: "No."
G: "Me." (pointing to herself)
M: "No baby, it's time for sleep."
G: "Me sing."
M: "You want a Greta song?"
G: "Uh-huh"

Well, how could I resist that? I sang her one of the love songs I made up about her and have sung since she was tiny.

G: "One more."

Oookay. I'm a pushover.

G: "More."
M: "No baby, it's time for sleep." (laughing again - she is persistent)

She finally seemed to be dozing off, until about 5 minutes later when she suddenly raised her head and said again:

G: "More Baby Nuga."

Well, it worked before, right? :) I snuggled with her a bit more - no more singing - and finally put her in her crib where she chattered to herself for a few minutes and went to sleep.

I returned to our bedroom to find Finny and Dave still reading superhero stories. We turned off the lights and settled in with a few kisses and goodnights and such.

Just when I thought Fin was dozing off, he was suddenly squirming and fidgeting and I rolled over to see him doing downward dog in bed. When he gets wound up like that, we've discovered it's easier to let him get the energy out (and try to tire him out) rather than continually telling him to settle down. So I suggested some exercise.

F: "What exercises should I do?"
M: "Jumping jacks."

He did jumping jacks - which at three years old is really just jumping up and down while waving his arms around - and regular jumping and rolling side to side and sit ups and backbends and bicycle kicks and reverse crunches before finally deciding he was tired. He snuggled into bed and then asked, "Can I tell you a story?"

Again, how could I resist that?

It went something like "*whipser*whisper*whisper*" (no idea what he was saying) "and there was a big splash *whisper* in front of Liam's house and there was a flood and it wasn't from rain and we got stuck in the mud and it was SLIPPERY! *whisper*"

Then he rolled over, said "Freckle," put his hand on my chest and was asleep in about 3 minutes.

I know our bedtime rituals are not exactly conventional. We don't make the kids fall asleep alone. We cosleep and allow the kids access to our bed for snuggles and family time. I might feel differently about these things if I felt I got to see the kids enough during the day, but I treasure our bedtime conversations and our nighttime snuggles.

Every night I get to marvel at their creativity and humor and share the wonder of their discoveries. Their personalities are so amazing and our bedtime rituals and games are so much fun. I've long been a fan of bedtime, but these days, it's definitely my favorite part of the day.

I Think I Nicknamed the Wrong One Monkey

Among the kids' many silly little nicknames, Finny is often Monkey and Greta is often Peanut. Fin was a climber before he could walk and Greta has always been a tiny little thing, so the nicknames have made sense for the last 22 months or so.

I realize now that in the true sense of "monkey see, monkey do," Greta is the one we should be calling Monkey.

I know it's very common for the younger sibling to mimic and imitate everything an older sibling does, especially when they're only about 2 years apart and especially when the younger one is a toddler. Heck, look at my sister Kiza and me - if it weren't for her relenting to my demands and teaching me EVERYTHING she learned at school every single day, who knows how I would have turned out?

Greta has long been quick to mirror Fin's every action, whether it's a silly face at the dinner table, a dance around the house, jumping on the bed, etc. We've joked that she has no idea she's little and has no fear. If she sees Fin do something, she's going to do it, too, or yell and yell at you when she can't (or, God forbid, you don't *let* her for her own safety and your sanity).

For the most part, this has been an adorable and fascinating part of their siblinghood. Fin is very patient with her and will usually help her if he sees she's struggling with trying to copy him. But in the last week, we've encountered a somewhat scary aspect to this behavior and a very useful one.

Last week Fin was cutting out some artwork. He's been using scissors for a very long time and is quite adept, so these days he usually requests the scissors and gets them with only a quick reminder to be careful. He carries them correctly when he walks through the house, he cuts only the things he's allowed to cut, and he's very methodical and precise with them.

That evening, he decided to lay down on the couch while he was cutting things and sadly, caught his finger. He didn't scream and cry, just balled his little hand into a fist and came into the kitchen where Dave and I were making dinner. He said he had cut his hand and apologized for getting blood on the couch. I turned to see his little fingers curled in a ball of blood and was amazed at how calm he was being.

We washed and cleaned the cut (it was very minor and needed only some neosporin and a bandaid - he declared it "all healed!" the next morning), and luckily Dave thought to go retrieve the scissors from the living room before Greta came upon them.

Sure enough, when he walked into the living room, Greta was standing at the couch holding the scissors and trying to figure out how Fin had made his finger bleed with them. Yikes.

The scissors are once again a "sit at the table and cut where we can see you" toy for Fin. Not because of his behavior (if anything, he's more careful with them than before his cut) but because we never know when Greta will grab them and try to do whatever she last saw Fin do with them.

She does keep us on our toes...

But yesterday I also discovered, quite by accident, that her desire to be Just Like Fin can work in our favor, too.

She wanted to use the potty, and after our usual "Mommy, 'way" (go away) commands and "Are you done yet?" back and forth, she declared the trip a success, and it was. She let me clean her up, with her help, of course ("Me wipe!" Fuuunnnn.) and then tried to run free through the house.

I grabbed her back into the bathroom and told her she needed her big girl panties back on and we went through the usual debate about her desire to be naked all the time. (What can I say? She is my child. LOL)

Finally, without even thinking about it, I said, "Finny always puts his big boy pants back on after he uses the potty."

The struggle immediately ceased, she stepped right in to her panties and even helped me pull them back up, then she happily went to see what Fin had been up to while she was away.

I'm a little surprised the tactic hadn't occurred to us before, but I can guarantee it will be used again. If she's going to try to do everything she sees Fin do anyway, we might as well use it to our advantage now and then, too, right?.

Fin's Latest Favorites

So after rereading a few entries from last year, I found myself alone in the car with Finny this afternoon and thought it might be fun to see how he answered the questions about his favorite things now. It was an amusing conversation.

Me: "Hey Finny, what's your favorite thing about Greta?"
Fin: "umm..." (silence)
M: "What's your favorite thing about Daddy?"
F: "Plaaaaaying!"
M: "What's your favorite thing about Mommy?"
F: "Freckle!"

Yes, still. No hesitation, I swear. LOL No priming, either. He has no idea we've had this conversation before. I was cracking up.

M: "What's your favorite thing about Greta?"
F: "When she tickles me!"

This is such a sweet answer and I assume the conversation is over. I was wrong.

F: "Talk more, Mommy."
M: "About what?"
F: "About all the things I love!"

M: "Okay, what's your favorite thing about Liam?"
F: "Playing Batman and Robin."
M: "What's your favorite thing about PopPop Doug?"
F: "Playing with Liam."

Not really about PopPop there, but I let it go. We were on a roll by this time.

M: "What's your favorite thing about HaHa?"
F: "She tells jokes."
M: "What's your favorite thing about GaGa?"
F: "Going to her house."
M: "What's your favorite thing about PopPop Art?"
F: "Making holes and watching the Penguin."

This last one confused me. I knew the making holes was referring to digging holes in the back yard together, but I had no idea what "watching the Penguin" meant. Apparently, they have some sort of game where anyone with an umbrella is the Penguin from Batman, but the follow up questions sidetracked our conversation and we didn't get to run through the rest of the family before we made it home.

I have to admit, I was more than a little surprised that he still listed the freckle as his favorite thing about Mommy, but considering he still asks for it at bedtime and when he's sad/hurt/scared/upset, I guess I should have expected it. I assume he won't go to Kindergarten and still be sticking his hand down my shirt for comfort, but I guess we'll see. :)

Happy Birthday HaHa!

Dave and the kids brought HaHa downtown today so we could all do a birthday lunch at Spaghetti Factory. There was much pasta worn on the clothes and ice cream eaten with hands and I think everyone had a really nice time. I know Boo was elated to have so much chocolate cake!

The kids made HaHa some great birthday cards. Fin drew a picture of one of HaHa's favorite things: getting a massage! Then he wrote Happy Birthday HaHa on the card and signed it. I think he got all of the letters from all of the words somewhere on the card, just maaaaybe not all in the right order. But he fit them in!

So, Happy Birthday, Elaine! Hope you had a great day and enjoy celebrating the rest of your birthmonth!

Sounding It Out

A couple of weeks ago, the kids and I were reading bedtime stories together as usual. Greta had picked out a big ABC book and Fin was reading the alphabet to her.

He started strong and went through A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, and M. When he got to N, he sat for a moment and tried to sound it out, "nnnnn, nnnnn, nnnn." Finally, he whispered to himself, "F....I....N!" and then announced, "N!" and proceeded to complete the alphabet for his sister.

His little brain amazes me.

Halloween Preview!

A few weeks ago, we pulled out all the dress up costumes to see what might still fit for Halloween and generally just to pass some time playing. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot that will fit Finny right now (time to update the dress up collection at the after Halloween costume sales!) but Greta has TONS to choose from when she wants to dress up!

The Tigger and Clifford the Big Red Dog costumes were worn by Finny when he was her age. The Tigger one fits her pretty well, despite the face she's making, but the Clifford one swallowed her up. Her little hands and feet are in there somewhere! LOL

She was NOT at all a fan of the fairy costume. She said it was itchy and wore it for maybe 10 seconds before pulling it off again. But she made a very adorable frog and stared at herself in the mirror for a long time in that one.

Finny can still fit in the Buzz Lightyear costume, but of course, once Greta saw her big brother in it, she demanded to get to wear it, too. It was huge, but she liked it.

And for Halloween itself, Finny is going to be Robin to Liam's Batman. (Cute little crime fighters, aren't they?) The boys have worn their costumes for several playdates already and we pieced together a pretty good Batgirl outfit for Greta as well so she didn't feel left out.

Once Halloween rolls around, Greta has an adorable witch costume, which is purple of course.

Quick Finny Catch Up

Unfortunately, I don't have Finny's first preschool photo to share yet, but I'll post it when I get it, I promise. Still a good lookin' kid in this one, though.

In the meantime, this kid is getting HUGE! He's so tall for a 3 yr old that most people assume he's at least 5. He's maybe one inch shorter than his uncle Liam, who is 5.5 yrs old. He is still so very sweet and funny, and of course I think he's a genius, but again - there's that mom bias, right?

He is now in preschool 3 mornings a week. He NEVER wants to go to school, but he also NEVER wants to leave once he's there. He likes his teachers and new friends, but he generally never wants to stop anything he's doing to start anything else, regardless of how much advance warning you give him or how fun the new thing will be. The kid just doesn't dig transitions much.

He is an amazing big brother and is very patient with Greta - most of the time. He lets her help him build Legos, he always assigns her a character in his pretend play (Batman, Bloat, whoever), and he loves to read books with her. A few weeks ago when she would still say "kack" when you pointed to a duck, he would tell her, "Greta, say 'duck'" until she did. Y

Fin's drawings are really starting to look like the things he intends them to look like (which is way more than I can say of my own drawings, but I digress) and even his teachers have been impressed with some of his artwork. The other day he drew a very nice rainbow, then added a leprechaun, and then drew raindrops all over the back of the picture. I love how his little mind works.

Quick Greta Boo Catch Up

I can't believe this sweet little girl is almost 23 months old. She is one of the funniest, sweetest, smartest little people I've ever known, but I do recognize my bias as her mom. She is really growing up and is all the things you'd want your daughter to be: fearless, independent, confident, a little bit headstrong. LOL The only bad part (occasionally) is that she is often all those things toward us, too. Yep, she's approaching two.

One of her very first sentences was, "No, Mommy. Me hep!" (me help) Yeah, that pretty much set the tone right there.

She is talking up a storm, has a huge vocabulary and almost always speaks in sentences. She started potty training herself at about 19 months and now typically only wears diapers for naps and bedtime. She loves to draw and will happily pretend with Fin for hours or even days. They have been Nemo and Dory all week (though Fin really wants her to be Bloat and me to be Dory, but she claims she's Dory when he's not paying attention). And her favorite color - for EVERYTHING - is purple. She always wants the purple anything and no matter what she tells you she wants, she will then tell you to make hers purple. Shoes? Purple. Jammies? Purple. Eggs? Purple. (Dave did this a few times, then decided eggs are yellow for a reason. But she still asks.)

And of course, she's beautiful. (Again, there's mom-bias, but look at her! LOL)

She's been doing the one day/week parent-toddler interaction class at preschool with Dave this fall. She loves it. My friend Michele Stange (http://www.michelestange.com/) did the school photos and sent me a sneak preview of Greta's (above).

So, now that she's getting a bit older, one of the things you'll hear from her most often is, "Look me, Mommy! Look me did!" (which, if you don't speak Gretish is "Look at me, Mommy. Look at what I did!") She is very proud of all of her accomplishments, and is also very polite, peppering her conversations with "Deku, Bubba" or "Deku, Mommy" (thank you), and of course, "Beeeeee!" (please). When she really wants something, she will add the baby sign of rubbing her chest to say please as she begs. And of course, I still get "Nur be" (nurse, please) every morning and every afternoon when I get home from work.

The other morning as Greta and I were enjoying our wake up and snuggle nursing session, I realized I'd been staring at her in wonder and adoration for a while and hadn't actually spoken to her much. So I smiled and said hi. She returned a huge grin and said, "Hi!" then went back to nursing. I cracked up laughing and told her I love her. She replied, "Mm-hmm" and threw her top arm way out. Then she sat up and said, "Other arm. BIIIIIIIG!" and threw both arms wide. Yep, this kid knows she's loved.

Y

Jumping Back In

So, for months now I've been thinking I wanted to get back to this blog, but every time I'd think of something worth writing, I'd think of six other things I'd want to "catch up" on before I covered it. Then it would feel too overwhelming - how can I possibly sit down and write ALL the amazing, sweet, funny, cute things the kids have done and everything that's gone on in our lives over the past 9 months at one time? So I just stayed away. :(

But I still want to be capturing our lives, and the kids have just been full of sweet and funny things worth sharing, so I'm giving myself permission to just jump back in and catch up as it seems appropriate. So things may not always flow in order, but really, who cares? What are you going to do about it? Not read? ;)