Pee pee on the potty!!

After DJ's nap yesterday, Steve changed DJ's diaper.  A couple hours later, after dinner, DJ went go get a bath and Daddy noticed his diaper was still dry.  So after his bath, I sat DJ on his new potty seat.  And he sat and sat and sat some more.  While we were waiting, I thought to go get his nail clippers and I'll do that while he's waiting.  I wasn't gone 10 seconds and when I got back, DJ was going pee pee!!  And he really had to go!  While he was going, I gave him LOTS of praise, and he was beaming, saying he was going pee pee in the potty.

The reward, besides our being thrilled, was to get toilet tissue off of the roll, drop it in the potty, flush and wash hands!  He was so excited!

Festival of Trees

Today, we met the Jenn, Damian and Leo at the Festival of Trees at the Timonium Fairgrounds.  This is 3 day event that apparently draws huge crowds.  We went shortly after it opened this morning, and it wasn't too crowded, but there was a stream of people coming in as we were leaving. 

The Festival of Trees, on the whole, is geared towards kids.  There's a large model train display and an entire 3rd of the place is games and rides.  There was also a performance stage in the middle third of the place, and we watched a magic/circus show.  There were decorated Christmas trees throughout the place available for sale (there were some very creative theme trees) and crafts vendors everywhere. 

DJ got on a carousel for the first time - at his request!  He got on it another 3 times after that.  While we were on it, he was saying, "Going up!  Going down!" as the horse he was on went up and down.  He also got on a "train" ride and although he wanted to do it again, the line was outrageous for it.  So we got lunch instead.  :-) 

DJ did a lot of walking and what really surprised us was when he and Leo both sat and actually watched a modern dance interpretation of the Mother Goose Rhymes.  Granted, it was only about 15 minutes, but it was a whole lot longer than we expected (30 seconds).

We got home in time for naps.  DJ didn't want to nap at first, and ended up waking up Elektra.  DJ eventually has since gone to sleep but Elektra is WIDE awake.  Someone is going to bed early!

Elektra's tricycle - update

Elektra really loves the tricycle Uncle Dave, Aunt Nancy and Cousin Axel gave her for her birthday.  In fact, she's gotten so good at it that not only can she swing a leg over it to get on it but in the last week, she has learned to do 2 things:

1.  Steer it.  She isn't efficient at it yet, but there is active steering involved!

2.  Back up!  If she gets stuck because she's run out of floor, she actually backpedals (with her feet since there are no pedals) to a spot where she can't backpedal any further, and then moves forward again.  DJ never ever never never ever ever did that on any of the riding toys he's ever had!

Moonbounce pictures

As promised here are some pictures - via iPhone so they aren't fantastic - from the tallest moonbounce in the place that DJ insisted we go on over and over again.  He LOVED this thing, and he LOVED the climb...

This one is of the climb.  It's dark at the bottom, but it's the best view of how long and steep the climb was.  Damian took this picture from the top, looking down.

This is a pic of the slide going back down, again, taken from the top.  This thing was FUN!

HAPPY TURKEY DAY 2009!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are thankful for our health and our families. 

Jump Zone

Tonight, I picked up DJ from Eleanor and Sonny's, and I took him to meet Damian and Leo at Jump Zone in Owings Mills.  The place is basically one big warehouse of massive moonbounces.  For $7.50, DJ (and I) could have free reign of all of the moonbounces for 2 hours.  Granted, DJ and I didn't arrive right when open play started, so DJ got an hour and 15 minutes.

The moonbounces were pretty cool.  Some were your standard moonbounces... nothing but "flat" moonbounce surface enclosed with mesh so that no one can fall out.   Others were equipped with slides and obstacle courses.  The one DJ started in was the Sesame Street themed one that is targeted for toddlers.  It was perfect for DJ to get comfortable with the whole play format.  It had a little slide, and lots of accessories with which to play.  First, he had to get used to the whole bouncing format.  That alone made him nervous until we started bouncing together.  Then when he realized it was safe AND fun, he started exploring.

DJ is adventurous, but sometimes you have to show him how to be adventurous.  In this case, it meant that I needed to take his hand and lead him to another moonbounce, and crawl/bounce through it with him.  But he was willing to do it with me despite initial protests.  We did the little obstacle course and its slide, and he had a big smile on his face.

But then we did the biggest slide in the place.  It was a huge climb, and DJ did it all by himself.  I was behind him, but I didn't have to help him at all.  Then we went down this super slide together.  I'll post pictures of this monster thing when Damian sends them to me.  Not only did DJ love this slide, he kept going back for more.  And let me tell you, this climb made me tired, so I can't even imagine how tired he was after all of that effort.  We probably climbed that slide 10 times tonight in addition to all the other moonbounces we went on.

While DJ was in the Sesame Street moonbounce, Damian said he'd watch DJ so that Leo could show me the "big" obstacle course.  That was really fun!  There's a place where you literally have to squeeze through... and it was a squeeze!

But that hour and 15 mins was more than enough... when I told him it was time to go, he didn't fight me at all.  He was beat.  Heck, I was beat.  That was a lot of work!!  It was all worth it, though, because DJ had a ball, and he went to bed without even protesting.  I only stayed in his room about 5 minutes after I turned out the light, and we haven't heard a peep from him!

DJ's Big Boy Bed Progress

DJ has done GREAT this week with going to bed considering how low my expectations were of this to work out well.  The key has been to figure out how to calm him down before bedtime... not an easy task.

This week, Daddy had the main job of putting DJ to bed so he tried a new technique.  He downloaded a few Charlie Brown cartoons from iTunes, including the Thanksgiving Day Special, and would sit down with DJ to watch them.  DJ was required to sit in Daddy's lap to watch the videos, no playing. 

DJ loved the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Day Special.  He laughed out loud when Snoopy was battling the lawn chair.  :-) 

By the end of the video, DJ was rubbing his eyes and yawning, so Daddy took him to his room to read him books.  DJ crawled into bed on his own after that, and asked Daddy to hold his hand.  5-10 minutes later, Steve emerged from his room, and we had a sleeping boy.

Each morning, DJ has gotten a car magnet for his progress board, too.  He'll get another magnet tomorrow morning, totally three since he got his last car sticker, so he'll get to celebrate by putting a car sticker on his wall.

Now we just have to teach him to stay in bed in the mornings!!!!  Time to put some age-appropriate toys that he hasn't seen in his room to entertain him, I suspect....  Either that or SLEEP IN.... ok so that'll only happen when pigs fly... or when he turns 13, whichever comes first.

DJ's reward

Last night, DJ earned his 3rd race car on his progress chart because not only did he stay in the bed (with my firm (read: holding his arms) wishes known), but he also stayed in the bed this morning when I went into his room to get him dressed to go to Eleanor and Sonny's. 

As his "big reward", I let him put a re-stickable sticker on his wall.  I had found a package of Cars re-stickable stickers while we were searching for his new sheets and although at the time I didn't know how I would use them, their use became clear this morning.

Daddy had to help him, but DJ got to put a BIG sticker of Lightening McQueen on his wall!

DJ sticking the sticker to the wall

 

All done!

Here's to another 3 days in a row, DJ!

Big Boy Bed - first nap

Today for nap, he was very excited and I thought I might have some trouble settling him down, but he really did settle down and go to sleep after about 15 minutes.  I was really surprised it was that fast, but I'd been running him around at the Carroll Manor Elementary School playground earlier, and I guess that had the effect I'd hoped.  I had to hold his hands down only about 10 minutes, and the other 5 I spent making sure he was really asleep before I left.

At 4:15PM, we heard wailing.  We walked into his room, expecting to find a disaster, but found DJ on the floor really upset.  When we finally calmed him down enough to talk to us, he said he fell out of the bed.  This is possible as I didn't tuck him into the bed for his nap, as I had last night for bedtime.

When he was calm, I got the progress board down and showed it to him.  I told him that because he'd been so good about staying in the bed before nap that he would get to put a car magnet on the board.  He got lots of praise for this, of course.  He picked out a car, but didn't seem to want to put it on the board.  So Daddy helped him.  

He hung out with Daddy for nearly 45 minutes, but now he seems to be awake and himself.  Hopefully it gets easier from here....

Big Boy Bed Party

Yesterday, we decided to take down the crib and transition DJ to his car bed.  And we decided to make this a big deal, in hopes that DJ will realize that the car bed is no longer a toy but HIS bed.

In the morning, I took him to Babies R Us and let him pick out his new sheets.  He had a choice of a bunch of different ones, including sheets that have a sports theme, a fighter jet (no web shot as it was on clearance), or Cars.  I was trying to let him pick what he wanted, so I asked him, "DJ, do you want Race Cars or Airplane?"

"Airplane."

Ok.  So to be sure he wants the airplane, I ask him, "Do you want Airplane or Race Car?"

"Race Car."

Repeat.  Same response... he's picking the last thing I say in the question.  So instead of pointing to the displays, I pull out the packages and ask him to pick between the two packages, not naming either.  He picked Cars.

I did the same thing sports vs. race car vs. airplane.  Eventually, it worked out to be that he wanted Cars.  This was my preference, as I thought it would be cute with his car bed.  I also bought him some reusable wall stickers of Cars as extra incentive.  He hasn't really seen those yet, but I think he'll get one today after his nap.  ;-)  More on that in a minute.


Then we went to Michaels craft store, and I bought race car stickers and magnets.  We then traveled to Learning How at Kenilworth, and picked up a small magnetic monthly calendar.  This was all in preparation for my attempt at making a progress chart for him.  I put the car stickers on the magnets to make them magnet and for each sleep time that DJ stays in the car bed, he will get to put a car magnet on his monthly calendar.  So theoretically, on weekends, he could have 2 cars per day (nap and nighttime).  Once DJ gets 3 cars in a row, he'll get something special.  What that something special is, I don't know yet, but I am hoping just the idea of putting a car the board will at least initial incentive.  Then again, we are talking about a 2 and a half year old, so who knows if this is even making a dent in his busy brain but we'll see.  :-)


DJ spent his nap yesterday in his crib and he we watched "Cars video" as opposed to Bob (the Builder) video, Pixar's Cars movie.  Before dinner, Steve dismantled the crib, we vacuumed DJ's room, and moved the car bed to where his crib was.


We showed DJ his room redone, and he said, "Oh!  Clean!"  And then he squealed with delight at his new car bed and the new sheets.  While my dad and I finished getting dinner ready, DJ played in his room with Yiayia.

We had dinner, and then celebrated with (mini) cupcakes with a candle for DJ, sang Happy Birthday (he loves Happy Birthday!), and he blew out the candle.    We have a couple of pictures of the kids post-cupcakes. 

After dinner, we watched the end of the Cars movie, and then it was time to see DJ to bed.  We got him changed into his pirate (yaaarr!!) pajamas, and took pictures.

 

While DJ was getting into his PJs, Papou said to him, "DJ, I like your new sheets." 

To our complete surprise, DJ said, "Thank you, Papou!"

I showed DJ his progress calendar, and put a car magnet on it for Saturday.  I told him that I was putting a car magnet on to celebrate his first night staying in his big boy bed.  I also told him that to get more car magnets, he needs to stay in the bed after the lights go out in his room.  If he gets 3 cars in a row, Daddy and I will give him a big treat (again, no idea what that treat will be... will figure that out later!).  He seemed to listen....

Daddy read books to DJ while my parents and I left the room.  Steve came out after putting him to bed to get his iPhone, say good-bye to my parents, and went back in there ("Text me when you need relief!" I said.).  Forty minutes later, Steve came out of DJ's room, looking pretty frazzled.  He was digging through a drawer in the kitchen where we keep baby stuff; he was looking for Binky.  "He's not settling down.  He's totally wired.  He needs Binky." 

"No he doesn't," I said.  "He's been able to settle himself down without Binky for the last month.  We just need to remind him that he can do it!"  I stuffed Binky in my pocket, and went into DJ's room (iPhone in my pocket, too). 

DJ was nothing less than totally wired.  As I was walking in, he was running back to his car bed, giggling and completely giddy.  I put him under the covers, turned off the light, and wrapped my arms around him to keep him from squirming.  Eventually, he stopped kicking and stopped fighting me.  Soon I heard even breathing, a big sigh of relaxing, and I let go of him.  I turned on my iPhone under the car bed to surf for a bit, and I left the room about half an hour later. 

He slept well enough, until about 2AM when I heard him talking over the monitor.  I went in there, and he had turned on the overhead fan (I have since turned that off via its pull chain) but not the light since I had turned that off via the pull chain.  I put him back under the covers, held his arms again, and this time he settled down MUCH faster than when we first put him to bed.  It was probably 2 minutes or less.  I laid down next to the bed for about 5 minutes and went back to bed.  I laid awake another 40 minutes or so listening to him toss and turn in the bed. 

He woke up again at 4:30AM wailing for "DaddyDaddyDaddy", so I got out of bed and went in there.  He was in his bed, but upset.  I calmed him down, put him back under the covers, told him that Daddy was still sleeping, the car bed was sleeping, Tiger and Scout were sleeping, too, so he needs to go back to sleep.  I didn't stay in there more than 5 minutes, and went back to bed.

Sometime around 6:30AM, I heard him again, but I wasn't going to bother to get out of bed.  I was beat.  Maybe I should have, though.  Steve went in (sometime around 7:45AM), came back into our room grinning from ear to ear and said, "His room is a disaster."  I was too tired stayed in bed.  Meanwhile, DJ had come down the hall towards our room, and got scared by the vacuum, so he turned back and went back to try to go into the kitchen.  By then, Steve started cleaning DJ's room.  DJ then tried and successfully got into Elektra's room.  That's when I decided I had to suck it up get out of bed, too.

I went into DJ's room, and it looked like a bomb had gone off, and this was after Steve had started cleaning it.  Clothes - clean and dirty - were everywhere.  Blankets were pulled out of storage locations, books and stuffed animals/toys were strewn everywhere.  It took us 20 mintues to clean it all.

Note to self: put some age appropriate toys in DJ's room to help amuse him in the morning.  Maybe there will be less to clean up...

So DJ is now in a big boy bed... wish us luck because we'll need it.

Here's a picture for your amusement from last night...

Elektra's tricycle

Aunt Nancy and Uncle Dave and Cousin Axel sent Elektra a tricycle for her first birthday.  She loves it!  She can even throw a leg over it to climb on.  As promised, here are some pictures of her walking with it!

Back in the crib, again.

DJ requested to sleep in his car bed last night.  After reading books, he climbed in, I turned off the light, and covered him with his blanket.  Then I sat down next to his bed.  It was all DJ could do to sit still.  You could tell he wanted to get out of the bed and play so badly....  But I continually reminded him that he needed to lay down and go to sleep.  Forty (40) minutes later, it seemed like he was settling down, so I left the room. 
I turned on the baby monitor and within 2 minutes, I heard him start to stir.  I went to his room, and found his blankets and Tiger on the floor next to the door in an attempt to turn on the overhead light.  As I was walking in, he was running for his bed.  I told him that if he gets out of his bed one more time, he will go back in his crib.  "Do you want to go back in your crib?"

"No, I want to stay in the car bed." 

"Ok, then you need to stay in your car bed and go to sleep."

I left the room and shut the door.  I hadn't been on the couch 30 seconds when I heard rustling again over the monitor.  Back I went, and of course I found him trying to turn on the light again.  I moved his mattress back into his crib, put him in it, and said goodnight.  He wailed only after a little bit when he wanted a particular toy, but he settled down right thereafter.

He woke up again around 12:30 AM wailing "DaddyDaddyDaddy!".  I went in, told him Daddy was sleeping, and rubbed his back until he went back to sleep.  This morning, there were no incidents.

So I don't know what's going on.  Multiple people have suggested taking the crib out of his room.  I keep thinking he's just not ready to leave his crib.  Either way, it's a pickle.

Playground

Today, we got together with Damian, Jenn, and their son, Leo at a very large playground in Reisterstown (mid-way for all of us) called Hanna Moore Park.  What a perfect day to be outside - high 60's and sunny.  Leo, being a year and change older than DJ, could really get a lot out of the playground with less help from his Dad than DJ.  But DJ got a lot out of the experience as well.  He had a ball climbing up all of the apparatuses, and sliding down the slides, even the very very tall twisty slide and going on the see saw.

Meanwhile, Elektra was walking everywhere holding my finger but could NOT resist the wood chips on the ground.  She HAD to pick them up and try to eat them.  She finally managed to get a mouthful at the end... persistence does pay off!!  She also spent some time in a swing, and she also went down the slides by herself!!  Daddy sent her down and I caught her at the bottom.  She had an ENORMOUS grin on her face when she got to me!!!  She was also doing a ton of people watching.

The two families drove to Kenilworth to have pizza and go to Learning How together, and both of the kids fell asleep in the car on the way.  Refueled from their power naps, they each ate 3/4s of a slice of pizza, and wandered through Learning How. 

We got home in time for the kids naps.  They were exhausted.  But I was really encouraged by how DJ wasn't afraid of anything, and I know some of that confidence comes from climbing Sonny and Eleanor's swing set.  It also gives me more confidence to take him out to the playground at Carroll Manor Elementary and a few other locales nearby the house.  When he's destroying the house, we're going to the playground, no matter how cold!!  :-)

Teaching about "poopy diaper"

This morning, I smelled that DJ had a poopy diaper.

"DJ, do you have a poopy diaper?" I asked.

"NO!" he declared.  Then two seconds later, "Yah!"

I had read a technique on babycenter that may help with teaching potty training, so I decided to try it today.  I took DJ to his room, changed his diaper and instead of just throwing out the dirty one, I took it and DJ into the bathroom. 

"DJ, come here and let me show you something."  I told him that when he makes a poopy diaper, this is what you make (I opened the dirty diaper so he could see the bowl movement in it).  He studied it intently.  Then I told him that if he were to go poopy on the potty, the poopy would go IN the potty instead of in the diaper.  That's when I emptied the contents of the poopy diaper into the toilet and flused it down.  I definitely had his attention.

When we went back into the living room, DJ ran right to Daddy and told him all about what had just happened.  Hopefully, that'll stew in his head over the next few weeks/months!

NAKED!!

As if we haven't had enough issues with the crib vs toddler bed issue, DJ continues to add new wrinkles to the whole saga. 

Last night, we let him stay up later than usual in hopes of his being really tired and would settle down faster.  We also tried letting him watch a video as it would be a calmer activity than usual for pre-bed.  Naturally, as soon as we took him to his room, he found all sorts of energy and wouldn't settle down.  I asked him to come read books with me 3 times, and all 3 times he refused.  So finally, I said to him that if he doesn't want to read books before bed, then he's going straight to bed.  Again, he refused to come over and read books with me.  I turned off the light, picked him up, and sat in the rocker with him. 

Of course, he wailed because he wanted to read books.

We sat there for about 5 minutes and when he was calm, I put him in his crib.  He asked for the car bed, and I said no.  He wailed again.  I waited until he calmed down again before I left the room.  Leaving the room prompted another round of wailing.  I waited about 2 minutes before going back in his room.  As soon as I walked in, he stopped crying instantly.  He lay down, I covered him with his blanket, I rubbed his back, and quietly left the room. 

Wail.  And not just any wail, "DaddyDaddyDaddy!!" wail.

So this time, Daddy went in there, sat with him on the rocker, and we didn't hear from him until 12:3AM, when he woke up wailing.  I went in there, rubbed his back, laid him down, covered him with his blanket, and he went right back to sleep.  Unfortunately, he woke up again, wailing at 4:30AM and even though I hoped he might be able to work through it, he didn't.  Daddy went in and sat with him for a minute or two, and he went right back to sleep.  We didn't hear from the kids until about 7:30AM.  He was just playing in his crib and about half an hour later, he began to wail.

This is the part that really killed us....

I walked into his room, and stopped dead in my tracks.  "Steve, you have to come in here right now."

DJ was naked.  He had unzipped his sleeper and taken it off.  "Clothes on floor," DJ declared.  He had been wailing because he didn't have any clothes on.  "Put new clothes on!"  DJ insisted.

Through veiled giggles from us, we got DJ dressed and ready for the day.

Elektra practices walking

Elektra has been "walking", but only when you steady her while she's standing and then let go of her so that she can come to you.  Or she's been walking while holding on to your finger.

Today, she started taking the initiative to walk by letting go of the furniture and walking - very literally - without any support to someone or something.  She's taken lots of steps without any support, so she'll be walking soon if she keeps this up!

When we praise her for walking, she gets so excited and squeals with happiness.

Good girl!

Back in the crib - Nap time

For nap today, Steve attempted to give DJ and opportunity to sleep in the car bed again.  I'm a little fuzzy on all of the details as I was asleep myself due to the little dog getting me up at 5:30AM.  Steve went into his room twice in an attempt to get him to settle down, but both attempts failed.  One time, DJ had piled his blankets and a bunch of books onto the chair in an attempt to get to the shelves with the box of wipes.  The next time, DJ was playing with the closet doors.  Thus, back into the crib he went.  It seems that he went to sleep but half an hour later, he woke up wailing.  I went in, sat with him in the rocker for a minute or two, and he's since gone back to sleep.

However, this is starting to prove that he just doesn't have the discipline to stay in the bed without one of us staying in there with him.  It's almost as if he needs to be "removed" from the opportunity to do things via the containment of the crib to go to sleep.  He's just too curious about things he can do in his room, no matter how much we baby-proof it.  I'm concerned about starting the habit of having to stay in there until he falls asleep, and neither of us don't really want any parts of it.  Last night, we thought that maybe his bedtime is too early so that if we kept him up later, he'd be tired enough and just go to sleep.  That didn't work.  It just made it so that he didn't go to sleep until after 9.  Today we asked him if he was ready for nap, said yes, but that didn't get us anywhere either.  So I don't know what we're going to do...

Back in the crib - Day 2

Last night, we tried putting DJ to bed in his car bed in hopes that we can start getting him used to it.  We also put a new door knob cover that he can't seem to get off the knob.  This is good, we thought, eventually, he'll go to sleep because he won't be able to leave his room. 

After the initial attempt at getting out of his room, things seemed to quiet down.  Then we heard banging, the banging that sounds like DJ's closet doors opening and closing.  So I go back in there, and tell him that when it's dark in his room, he needs to stay in his car bed.  It's time to go to sleep.  I cover him with his blanket, and leave.

All is quiet and no further attempts at his door are made.  However, I heard his closet doors again, so back I went.  When I went into his room, to my surprise, I found that his overhead light was on, the humidifier - which is on his dresser - is on, and the overhead fan is on.  I couldn't figure out how.  Did he climb the dresser?  The chair in his room was still in the same place, so he didn't move that and use it (yet)... Needless to say, I was confused.

In addition, DJ has put all of his stuff animals, his blankets, and favorite books in the closet.  Looking back on it now, he could have potentially fallen asleep in there (which is fine), except that he was playing with the doors and showing no signs of actually going to sleep. 

But now I was in a pickle.  I told him that "when it's dark in his room, he needs to stay in his car bed and go to sleep".  Yet, he'd turned the overhead light on!  So in his mind, based on what I'd said, it wasn't dark in his room, so he didn't have to stay in bed.  Yes, I get the part where he still got out of bed to turn the light on, but.... whatever.  I moved his favorite stuff animals to his car bed, his blankets and favorite books, cover him, and tell him that he needs to go to sleep.  If he gets out of his car bed again, I told him he'd be going back into his crib.  I turn off the light via the pull chain, leave the room and shut the door.

Not 2 minutes later, I heard noise at the door, not an attempt to open it, but some kind of noise.  I immediately go to investigate, and I have trouble opening the door because something was blocking it!!  And thus I discovered how DJ turned everything on the previous time; DJ had piled his blankets and a few books on the floor in front of the door.  This time, he'd managed to turn on the overhead fan but not the light because I'd previously turned it off via its pull chain.  He was running to the car bed when I got into the room... clear evidence that he understood what I was telling him and not following it. 

I moved the mattress to crib, put in his favorite stuff animals in it, his blankets, a few books, put him in it, and left the room.  Wailing ensued. 

About 2 minutes later, Steve went in there, sat with DJ in the rocker to calm him down, and then put DJ back in the crib.  We didn't hear from him until a little after 7am this morning.  And when I went into his room, he was still in his crib. 

Back in the crib

I think the temptation is just too much.  DJ just can't resist.  If he has the opportunity to go do something, he will, and that means he won't stay in his car bed or his room after lights out.

So after half an hour of telling DJ he needed to stay in his car bed, Daddy went in and told him that he didn't stay in bed (or even just in his room!), then he'd go back in the crib. 

Sure enough, 5 minutes later, we heard his door open.  Daddy went in there, moved the mattress to the crib, and put DJ in the crib. 

DJ wailed. 

We let him wail about a minute or two, and then Daddy went back in there, and sat with him for 10 minutes in the rocker, telling him that it was time to go to bed.  At that point, he went to bed without a fuss.

And lo and behold, he was still in the crib this morning when I went in to go get him.

This is going to be a long process, for sure.

DJ and his car bed - Day 2

Last night was the first night I put DJ to bed in his "new" car bed.  If you haven't seen this thing, it is a toddler bed in the shape of a VW bug.  He LOVES it. He just won't stay in it.  Nor will he stay in his room since he can turn door knobs (this is officially confirmed).

Eleanor kindly let us borrow some door knob covers to keep DJ from being able to turn the knob and opening a door.  Thinking I was slick, I put one on the inside knob of his room's door, figuring that if he can't get out of his room, eventually he'll figure out that he just needs to go to bed.  Within 2 minutes of shutting his door, he was busily trying to figure out how to open his door.  No more than 5 minutes later, I heard his door open.  Not surprised, I got up from the couch and went to his room to find the door knob cover in pieces on the floor.  He didn't figure out how to work the cover; he just pulled on it until it came apart and therefore off of the knob. 

So I stayed in his room with him for 20 minutes, reminding him (about every 30 seconds) that it was time for bed/sleep.  I also tried to tell him that if it's dark in his room and he's in his car bed, then he needs to stay in his car bed.  When I left his room and shut the door again, he was no where close to asleep, but I also had zero expectations that anything I said would stick.  But our boy never ceases to amaze us.  He didn't try coming out of his room again.  In fact, we found that he'd fallen asleep in his bed on his own, covers mostly on (I had to fix that).

Clearly, we have a number of long nights of putting him to bed ahead of us until he learns the habit of staying in bed and falling asleep on his own in his car bed.  In addition, we probably need to spend more time getting him to wind down at night so that he realizes that he's tired sooner.  In other words, his bedtime routine just got a whole lot longer. 

It also means that we have to be in bed earlier, too, because 6AM comes VERY quickly!  Like clockwork, DJ was awake and talking at 6AM, and came in to get Daddy at 6:20AM (as I was already in the shower).  No more sleeping in on weekends for awhile!

DJ and his car bed

Yesterday morning, I moved the crib mattress into his car bed so he could play in it and get used to it.  Yesterday evening, Steve had the job of putting the kids to bed, and DJ was ready to sleep in his car bed.  Steve said good night, and left his room.  Naturally, our busy boy couldn't keep still and actually stay in bed, and Steve heard him opening and shutting his bedroom door sometime.  So Steve took him back to bed.  Once again, our little boy didn't stay in bed.  This time, Steve told him that if he doesn't stay in bed, Steve would put him back in the crib.  Apparently, that did the trick because Steve didn't hear him the rest of the night.

When I got home, I went and checked on him.  He was sleeping peacefully, blanket covering him, with all his stuff animals surrounding him.  It was so sweet.  He was my little angel.

At 6 AM, DJ was up and talking and ready to go.  His day had started, and we heard everything over the baby monitor.  He telegraphed everything he was going to do "DJ open door..." and sure enough, out into the hallway he went.  The first thing he did was try the gates.  He rattled them, but that was it.  When he got bored of that, he went back into his room.  At that point, I went to go shower to get ready for work.

When I got out, I heard DJ in our room.  Steve was out of bed, grinning from ear to ear.  Apparently, DJ had stuck his head in our door and said, "Oh, Daddy!  There you are!  Wake up, Daddy!"  Then it was, "DJ put away 'puter!"  Wait....... what??

Sure enough, DJ had managed to get the gate open and had gone into the living and shut Steve's laptop.  We thought we were in trouble before?  Now we KNOW we are in trouble!

While DJ was playing on our bed while I was getting dressed, he exclaimed, "Oh, honey!"  Hilarious....

On a slightly different note, he's also starting to make connections.  He and I were reading a book and he pointed to a woman on the page and said, "That's a mommy, " ... pause... "Just like you!" and touches me on the arm.  I was REALLY impressed!

DJ and his crib

As reported earlier, DJ had climbed out of his crib on Saturday morning and wandered into the living room to play.  When it was time for his nap that afternoon, we put DJ in his crib again, but left the rail down.  We also made sure that his door was fully latched.  DJ didn't end up napping but he not only stayed in his crib but he also pulled the rail up!  Needless to say, I was really confused.

Saturday night, again, we put him in his crib and left the rail down.  He slept great and in the morning, I heard him when he woke up over the baby monitor.  Once again, when we went in to get him, the crib rail was pulled up and DJ was still in it.

Last night, same thing.  This morning, he woke up at 5:45AM unhappy.  So I went in there, calmed him down, and noted that the crib rail was still down.  I left the room to get ready for work and when I went back in, not only was the crib rail up, but he was half over it playing with the window blind. 

Clearly, he likes his crib.  And clearly, he's Type A in that the crib rail needs to be as usual, in it's place... pulled up.  But also clearly, he wants his freedom.  We just might have to put him in the toddler bed if this keeps up!

Climbing out of the crib - Day 2

We decided to experiment last night to see if DJ had "scared" himself when he got out of his crib yesterday morning and couldn't get back in.  So we put him back in his crib last night, rail up.  As a precaution, however, I put the baby monitor back in his room.  I couldn't turn it up very loudly because his humidifier was on, too, and that white noise is LOUD over the baby monitor. 

At 6AM, DJ was awake.  I heard him start talking.  I thought, "Ok, good, I can hear him just fine despite the humidifier noise.  Apparently, I fell back to sleep because the next thing I know, Steve is scrambling to get out of bed saying, "What was that bang?!"

I thought, it's just DJ throwing toys at the ceiling fan in his room (which he is known to do) and/or the plastic toddler bed, or anything else that becomes his target. 

Yeah, was I ever so wrong.  DJ was in the living room, banging his toys around.  Steve says he'd been in the living room for a bit of time because other things had been "destroyed"i.e. moved around, but probably not very long.

So now the question is, when I went in to check on him last night before I went to bed, did I latch his door when I left?  I know I shut it, but I don't think I latched it.  If, in fact, he can turn knobs (and we think his proficiency at this is improving - he's gotten doors open with prolonged effort and/or luck), then we need a Gnome Despot trip to start buying hook-and-eyes to start latching doors (e.g the basement, bathroom door) shut. 

Guess we'll find out at nap time today!

Where's DJ?

Not in the crib...!

This morning, Steve walked into DJ's room to get him ready to go to Eleanor's and paused.  He turned to me, as I was standing in the kitchen, and his jaw dropped open.  I looked beyond Steve to DJ's crib, and DJ definitely was NOT in it.

DJ was playing in his room, but mostly trying to figure out how to get back INTO his crib.  In fact, the first words out of DJ's mouth this morning were, "go back in crib?"  So Steve obliged him and put him back in his crib but naturally, DJ immediately cited that he wanted out, "Ready to get up!"

So now we have a dilemma.  Do we move him to the toddler bed tonight?  Do we let him stay in his crib where he's comfortable but leave the rail down so that he doesn't get hurt climbing out?  On top of all that, how do we further baby proof his room??? 

It's not like we didn't see this coming.  I've walked into DJ's room and found him with a leg over a rail. I've just nonchalantly told him to not do that, and kept going, hoping that by not making a scene, he wouldn't continue trying.  And I do think that's worked as this has been going on for months.  But now, he's figured it out, so I'm sure there's no stopping him.  We just have to make sure he doesn't get hurt.  It might be time to move the baby monitor back into HIS room!

The sniffles

The fateful October head cold has arrived to both kids, and also to both of their parents.  DJ and Elektra have been sneezing and coughing, running very low fevers, and having a constant stream of mucus coming out of their nose since Thursday. 

Elektra's cough is yucky wet; you can see that she is bringing up mucus, but of course she doesn't know to just spit it out and just swallows it.  At least it's not green, so I'm not running for the antibiotics yet.  DJ's cough is more intermittent and not as wet as Elektra's.  We've been running humidifiers in their rooms when they're sleeping, so we're hoping that helps!

Luckily, it seems that Elektra's appetite is unchanged, but DJ is definitely not much for eating.  He's spending his time playing with his food or the plate/cup/utensils.

As for sleeping, they're both sleeping well at night but not having the best of naps during the day as a general rule.  The first night Elektra was sick, she woke up 2 hours after she went to bed and wanted no parts of going back to bed until midnight.  She woke up again at 3:30AM and then again at 5:30AM... rough night.  She has slept fine at night since then, though. 

Hopefully they'll feel better by this weekend so that we can take them to a farm out in Frederick, MD with the Doyle family!