Weekend Update

Not with Kevin Nealy.

Sonny and Eleanor had a short in their house which finally blew a circuit.  On Tuesday, an electrician came to the house, and DJ was nothing less than completely engrossed with what he was doing.  Along those lines, DJ loves it when Sonny or Daddy pull out tools to fix something.  He want to see exactly how the tool is fixing something.

On Thursday, as I was putting Elektra in her carseat to leave Eleanor's DJ ran back to Eleanor and gave her an unsolicited "I love you, Nory!"  AWESOME!!!

Elektra played with playdough with the big kids during the week.  Eleanor sent a picture (thanks Eleanor!):

Apparently, she wants to do everything that the big kids (DJ and Grace) do, and gets really upset when she can't.  For example, Sonny took the kids to the grocery and Elektra wailed that she couldn't go with them.  She expected to go with them!!


Friday night, the kids came down with colds.  Elektra had effectively no afternoon nap, so she melted down at 6:45 and was in bed and waving and SAYING bye-bye to Daddy before 7.  Around 1 AM, she started wailing.  I went in to find her with a 101 fever, so I gave her some Tylenol, settled her down, and she went back to sleep.  At 6AM, DJ woke up wailing, he had 100 temperature, so Daddy gave him Tylenol.  We got to sleep until near 8AM, and then the craziness really started.

Both kids have runny noses, coughs, and fevers.  We were planning to take the kids to my parents' house so that we could test nap time there, but decided to cancel that to avoid getting my parents sick.  Instead, I took DJ when I went to get my car's oil changed at the Jiffy Lube ("Close those garages, Mommy!" "No, the workers need them open today, DJ."), we went to the bank to make a deposit, we went to Target to get a birthday gift, and then to the grocery store for our weekly run.  He's such a good companion that way!

Both kids in bed for naps by 2pm, and I left the house to go out quickly while the kids were napping.  I hadn't gotten 10 minutes from the house when Steve called me that DJ had vomited all over the bed and himself.  Yuck.  When I got home, I had to rinse all that stuff before I could put it in the washer.

Elektra has a fever still, but DJ seems to have kicked his.  He's still coughing and both kids have the open faucet also known as runny noses.  Elektra's been awake only 2 hours today, and she's already back down for a nap.  She's miserable today despite the Tylenol, and a lump on the back of her head isn't helping things!

Elektra is saying "sish" (goldfish, the cracker), "buckoo" (buckle), "-ck-" (sock but without the "so" part of sock, just the 'k' sound), "Nunny" (her white Bunny), "diapoor" (diaper), "fowa" (flower) and "up-pa" (up!).  Sonny says she can say her own name, but I haven't heard it yet, unfortunately.

DJ is just a magpie.  Everything he's thinking he says.  Today, he was playing "picnic" with us, serving us a delicious meal with his new picnic tray from Nouna and Nouno.  He's also been starting to put the train track for his train table together, even learning how to put the overpass pieces together.

Lots going on!

When your children don't let you go to sleep...

....it means it's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay past their bedtime.

Although this post isn't exactly the converse of when DJ got up on his dresser and played with his car magnets and dry erase marker, it's similar.

Last night, Steve took DJ to bed and about half an hour later, a flustered Steve came out of DJ's room.

"He's nowhere close to being asleep," Steve declared.  Apparently, DJ was running on his second wind and was doing everything BUT calm down to go to sleep.  That's when Steve told him, "Ok, DJ, then you're going to sleep by yourself!" and left the room.

Usually, if DJ is still awake when we leave his room, he gets out of bed (despite numerous repetitions of "when it's dark in your room, you don't get out of your car bed") and knocks incessantly on his door.  Of course we can't break that habit by ignoring it because we're afraid he'll wake up Elektra doing it. 

So since Steve had left his room with DJ clearly still awake, I expected to hear knocking any minute.

Half an hour goes by, no knocking.  At this point, I'm suspicious.  As I walk down the hall, his room his quiet, but the overhead light in his room is definitely on as I can see it from under the door.  Ah-ha... that's why we didn't hear any knocking; Steve didn't turn the light off by the pull chain so DJ used the button and turned it on.  DJ was contendly and quietly playing on his bed.

I considered leaving him be, but it was 10PM already since we've moved his bedtime back to 8:30 from 7:30.  I tucked him in, told him to say "ni-ta-ta" to all of his toys and the car bed and his stuff tiger, turned off the light via the pull chain, and left his room. 

15 seconds later, KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.....

Back into his room I go, tell him that it's time to close his eyes and go to sleep.  I tucked him in, told him to say "ni-ta-ta" to all of his toys and the car bed and his stuff tiger, turned off the light via the pull chain, and left his room, again.

When I went in an hour later, he was asleep, the way I left him.  He didn't get a car magnet this morning because of his antics, but I am pleased he did finally go to sleep on his own.

When your children let you sleep in...

... that means it's too quiet.

And when it's too quiet, that means they're into something, likely something you don't want them to be doing.

When I opened the door to DJ's room, I saw...

...DJ sitting on his changing pad (which is on top of his dresser), playing with his car magnets and the dry erase marker on the dry erase board. 

So I surveyed the room and discovered how he did it.

 He had pulled the chair that we use to read books before bed over to the dresser, piled all of his blankets on it, and climbed from there.  Obviously, this was the last thing he had done because the rest of the room looked like this:

That picture doesn't really do the toy-pocolypse any justice.  The room was trashed.  There are toys in his closet, in his bed, on the floor...

Surprisingly, he left the wipes alone (notice the container on the end of the dresser next to his humidifier) as he's usually a wipe fiend. 

Obviously, I called Daddy to get the camera and before we got the picture (and therefore I could take away the dry erase marker), he got some on his pajamas.  Oh well.  The whole situation was enormously amusing, though, even if only because DJ wasn't hurt.

Is there a parrot in the house?

Steve was in the midst of changing Elektra's poopy diaper when he decided to tell me about his Poopy Diaper Creation Theory (dissertation coming soon!).  I was in the kitchen preparing a chicken for tomorrow night's dinner when I heard,

"Honey!"

And then not 2 seconds later, a little, higher pitched voice...

"HONEY!"

I hear Steve laugh and then say,

"I have a Poopy Diaper Creation Theory!"

Again, not 2 seconds later, the little, higher pitched voice...

"Poopy Diaper Crayshun Tee!"

And when I yelled back that I couldn't hear him, I heard that little, higher pitched voice yell progressively louder,

"HONEY!  HONEY!!  HONEY!!!"

At that point, we knew that the DJ Parrot has officially made his roost in the house.

Weekend Update on the kids

Elektra busted out a couple of words this weekend:  Cracker, Vroom (as in what a race car does when it goes down our toy track), thank you (tha-oo), and peas (please).

DJ promptly told Daddy yesterday morning while I was gone that I was not only to go to the grocery store, but I was to buy "groceries" and "pumpkin bread". 

We also made sure that DJ could say "TOUCHDOWN!" and "Go Ravens!"  While the game was on, he would spontaneously say, "Go Ravens!" 

We're so proud.  :-)

Puppy!

Isn't she adorable?!

No, she's not ours.  We aren't that insane to get a puppy.  We are puppy sitting for Carole (Steve's mom) while she's away at a funeral in Georgia.

This dog is VERY sweet and a smart little girl.  She's learned very quickly where to go potty (pee pads).  She has made very small some potty mistakes on the kitchen floor, but those are our fault, of course. 

She slept 6 hours last night, and wailed this morning to be let out of her little area to play.  We gated her into a small area with her crate and pee pads.  After I fed her breakfast and let her play with our two doggies, I put her back in the gated area so that I could go back to bed.  She WAILED.  That's when I kicked Steve out of bed to go get her. 

Naturally, he brought her back to bed with us.  She crawled around, let us pet her, we cuddled her, rubbed her belly, and then she found a spot at the foot of the bed where she settled down until the kids made it well known that it was time to pay attention to them!

The kids have loved her presence.  DJ, in particular, loved watching Napoleon and Cocoa play (read: establish dominance... more on that in a minute).  He would squeal and screech in delight as the dogs would chase each other and bark.  He wanted to chase with the dogs, but we didn't let him.  I sat him in my lap so that we could watch but let the dogs play safely.  Meanwhile, Elektra would stand in one spot and turn in circles watching the dogs run around her.  She loved petting Cocoa's soft curly hair.

As for who won pack leader position (dominance): We think Napoleon won, but it took over 24 hours!  She put up a good fight and gave Napoleon fits!  Napoleon would chase Cocoa around the train table, and although Napoleon is faster, Cocoa turned the corners like a a little go-kart (then hide under the table) and Napoleon would continue going straight.  Napoleon barked and barked and barked, and we were happy to see him get some exercise. 

After a round of that kind of play, Cocoa was wiped out.  We'd put her back her in her area, and she crashed out in her crate for a couple of hours.  Rinse, repeat.  :)

 IO, well, he is still low dog on the totem pole, and we think he knew it.  He never re-challenged for pack leader.

Meanwhile, Aunt Sue picked up the little sweetheart to care for her while we're at work tomorrow until her Mommy gets home.

Movies

Most of you probably read this blog via emails that you receive. Unlike pictures, the videos that I've posted with the blog don't come across in email, so you have to go to the blog's site to see the videos!

At the bottom of the email, you'll see something that says:

--
Posted By Verve to The Steaks at 1/02/2010 07:49:00 PM

or something along those lines.  Click on "The Steaks" in that email, and it should take you to the blog.  If it doesn't, the link is:  http://faststeak.blogspot.com/.

From there, you should see the video embedded in the blog post.  Click and enjoy!  Let me know if you still have trouble viewing them!

The Strider Bike

DJ received an orange Strider Running Bike for Christmas.  For those of you who don't know what a running bike is, it's a bike without pedals.  Basically, a kid will Fred Flinstone it, if you will... pedaling with his feet.

We had been considering a running bike since Steve (with DJ in toe) had ventured to REI for something, and another customer (a father, who's boy was looking at a pedal bike) suggested a running bike to Steve for DJ.  The running bike at REI was made of wood, and reviews weren't favorable in terms of its durability.  So Steve looked into finding a more durable (read: metal) version and thus, the Strider Bike.

We hadn't decided to buy it, though, because we weren't sure if DJ would be interested in it.  We saw a great opportunity to gauge his interest when we went to the Kennedy Kriegar Festival of Trees on Thanksgiving Weekend.  There was a local Strider vendor there, and had bikes onsite for kids to try.  DJ, however, showed zero interest.  In fact, he pushed away from me and said "No!"  Apparently, he wanted to go on the carousel more...  Even though DJ wasn't interested in trying it at the time, I was glad to be able to see it in person.

About a week later, DJ asked Daddy where the bicycle was.  He mentioned it 2 or 3 times, and that's what convinced us to get the Strider Running Bike for Christmas.

DJ effectively ignored the Strider bike (and his dinosaur-covered blue Bell helmet) from the day he saw it.  So we let him ignore it.

About 2 days after Christmas, he picked it up long enough to move it. 

About 4 days after Christmas, he turned it over to play with the wheels.

About 7 days after Christmas, he walked along side with it for about 2 minutes.

Then yesterday, he picked it up and really started riding it (via walking, of course).  And Daddy caught it all on film.  As always, this can be watched in HD!




For the record, this is my first attempt at using iMovie in iLife '09 (Steve gave me it for Christmas).  Admittingly, this isn't a quality production but for something homemade, this was absurdly easy to do.  I used GarageBand '09 to edit the song so that it would fade out at the end of the movie but if I'd had 4 minutes of video, I wouldn't have had to use GarageBand at all.  Then, from inside iMovie, I uploaded the finished product to YouTube and voila!  Enjoy!

The Chair

Today, DJ wanted to sit in his chair, but Elektra was in it already! So he decided to take her OUT of the chair by picking her up and moving her! I was going to stop him, but Elektra was compliant with DJ's wishes to move, and moved on her own.

However, DJ didn't sit immediately in his chair, and Elektra sat back down in it, much to DJ's dismay! This time, DJ tried to sit ON Elektra. Elektra would have none of that and pushed his back with her hands to push him off of her. DJ, not to be out done, moved to the side and tried to push her out of the chair.

That's when I suggested to DJ that we clean up the living room and by then, Elektra had gotten bored of the chair. DJ got into his chair, and everyone was happy.

The Chair

Elektra's 15 month check-up

This morning was Elektra's 15 month appointment with the pediatrician. As usual, getting out of the house was hectic but Papou was waiting for us at the doctor's office. Being that this was an appointment only for Elektra and DJ was totally fascinated with the elevators, Papou and DJ went to "inspect" all of the elevators available.

The doctor found Elektra doing wonderfully since her last appointment 3 months ago, as she weighed in at 22 pounds, 5 ounces (up about 2 and a half pounds), she is 32.5 inches tall (up nearly 3 inches!), and has a head circumference of 46 cm (up 1 cm). She is in the 65th percentile in weight, and 90th percentile in height. The doctor commented that the percentile difference was a little out of the norm, but clearly nothing to worry about! We just have a tall and lanky girl!

Otherwise, she's happy, healthy and we need to start letting her try to feed herself. Here comes the real mess at meal time!!

Some Kid Sayings

Steve was putting Elektra to bed last night. As he was laying her down in her crib and covered her with her blanket, she said, "Bye Daddy."

Elektra's new words: Shoe (when she sees her pink Robeez), Bye (as in bye-bye!), Up!, Down (this one has been around for a few weeks), Diaper, Woo-woo! (the sound a train makes), and imitates a whole host of words if you catch her at the right time.

This morning, DJ announced that his socks were wet, which they were (though we can't figure out how...). That's when DJ said, "Daddy, dry my socks? You have to put them in the dryer!"

Christmas 2009 - First Reactions

Since DJ doesn't fully understand when Christmas is and what it's about, we did not have a 5AM wake up call.  He was nice to wait until 7:30 to wail at his door.  I brought him to bed with us, and he hung out with us until we heard Elektra a little after 8AM.

After a quick bite of Cheerios, I let DJ loose into the living room from the kitchen, and Daddy was ready with his Christmas gift, the Kodak Zi8 HD camera.  The video is worth a thousand words, though.  (There is a button on the control bar of the video that allows you to go to HD mode to see the video in a clearer picture).



We were expecting to hear, "Whazzat!" (what is that?) but we got "YOOK!" (look!) instead. He was just so taken by the train table that he didn't know where to start first.  He was also very skittish around his running bike, but we think he'll warm up to the idea soon enough.  We have to let the idea of the train table wear off, first.  :-)

Meanwhile, Elektra received a Bitty Baby doll from Sonny and Eleanor, and she already loves it (video evidence):



Here are some other pictures I took with our nikon camera.

 

Duplo (LEGO) Scoop - on the train table!

DJ playing with his train table

I forgot to post pics from last night of the kids in their Christmas outfits.

More to come, I'm sure, as the day is only half done... and our little boy is up EARLY from his nap!!!  And as I finished writing this, I think I heard a little girl fuss... so time to go and get ready for the rest of our day!

Christmas Eve 2009

It's 11:36PM on Christmas Eve.  Steve and I have officially embarked on our first of many Christmas Eves where we put together toys for the kids.

This Christmas Eve, it was a train table and a running bike for DJ.

Before I get to the evidence of our labor, I must first "out" Steve.  Since DJ moved to his toddler bed, most nights we have to sit in his room with him until he falls asleep because he doesn't have the discipline to stay in bed otherwise.  In Steve's case, DJ asks Daddy to lay in his bed with him.  At least with me, I get to sit in the rocker...

About an hour after I went in to say goodnight to DJ, Steve still hadn't come out of DJ's room.  Steve has been so excited to start "Daddy Engineering", so I decided to go in and relieve him since clearly, DJ wasn't asleep yet!

I quietly go into DJ's room, and I hear deep DEEP breathing. 

It takes me nearly 30 seconds to get Steve to stir and then another 10 seconds or so to get him to open his eyes.

At first, Steve is MAD at me.  "Why are you waking me up?!"

"I thought you wanted to Daddy Engineer tonight."

That's when recognition as to where he was (cooped up, but apparently very comfortably in the toddler bed with DJ) dawned on him.  This was a priceless moment, no doubt.

Although I never would have never put the toys together anywhere nearly as quickly as Steve did, I wonder if I just should have let my two boys sleep.  It was so cute. 

Meanwhile, here is a video we took just a few minutes ago.



Merry Christmas everyone!

Edit: this video was recorded in HD - so feel free to switch it to HD mode!

Behind the Scenes: NORAD's Santa Tracker

Just in time for Christmas, CNET posted and article about how NORAD's Santa tracker works, how it started, and some outrageous statistics on how many phone calls taken, web page hits, and things like that.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10418101-52.html

So on Christmas Eve, when the kids want to know where Santa is anywhere in the globe, we'll hit the Santa tracker... 

Ok, so I'm a geek, but I'm always a kid a heart, too.  ;-)

The Noreaster 2009 and the kids

This noreaster is almost as good as the one in 2004... when we reach 2ft of snow, it'll be as good.  Meanwhile...

At 6:30AM, DJ was up.  I heard him starting to destroy his room, so I went in and brought him (and Tiger, of course) back to our bed.  He hung out in bed between us, playing quietly with Tiger and talking to himself.  He was so good.  We even got another half an hour or so of sleep.  When DJ realized that I was awake and watching him, he said, "Mommy!  You're awake!  Get up from the bed?"  I told him he could and when he stood up, he could see out of our bedroom windows.  "-NO!  Look, Mommy!  'No!" ('no is snow.  he can't the S-N syllable)  And then he started describing everything he saw.  He was VERY excited.

We got the kids dressed and took them to see the snow from the kitchen's bay window.  Both kids were fascinated with what was going on, and Steve got some video of their reactions with his new-as-of-Thursday-early-Christmas-gift-from-me Kodak Zi8 HD video camera.  Eventually, I'll figure out how to post the videos... anyway. 

The kids ate a scrambled egg and the big kids ate eggs-over-easy english muffin sandwiches for breakfast.  This becomes significant later because we're down to one egg... 

After breakfast, Daddy went out to work on getting the snowblower to start.  That is it's own saga since we haven't run the snowblower in 3 years....  

Once Elektra went down for her morning nap, I took DJ out to romp in the snow and watch Daddy attempt to fix the snowblower.  "Daddy!  You're working!  You're working in the garage!"  DJ got to put on his new boots that light up (thanks Yiayia!), and out we went.  The snow was up to DJ's mid-calf at the time and he seemed to enjoy walking in it.  Then he bent down to grab some of the fluffy white stuff, and that's when he was reminded just how cold and wet the stuff is.  He immediately tried to wipe it off his hands and when he couldn't, he asked me to go back inside the house to wash his hands.  Apparently, that sealed the deal for him because he wanted no parts of being outside after that. 

Unfortunately, I failed to remember to bring the camera so I don't have any pictures.  Hopefully I can get some tomorrow.

Anyway, I took DJ back inside, warmed up, and that's when I heard Daddy get the snowblower started.  I picked up DJ and we went into the garage to watch.  "Daddy!  It's working!"  At first, DJ was very nervous about the snowblower and I think it's because it is VERY loud.  But once he saw how it throws snow, he was grinning from ear to ear, watching with rapture. 

We went back inside, and he got to watch Daddy using the snowblower from the living room's bay window.  "Daddy using the 'no-blower!  The 'no-blower is blowing the 'no!"  It took Daddy about 20 minutes to clean the entire driveway.  By then, Elektra had woken from her nap, and it was time for lunch. 

We made hamburgers for lunch and the kids shared those with us, too.  Nap came early for them both, thankfully.  They were both really tired. 

That's when I figured out that I didn't have enough eggs to make chocolate chip cookies.  So I took the opportunity to go to the store to pick up eggs and a few other miscellaneous things.  Yes, in this weather.  Yes, it was fun!

DJ woke up after 2 1/2 hours in a happy mood.  Elektra, on the other hand, I woke up 3 hours later, and she was really unhappy with me for waking her. 

We had a quick dinner - DJ pointed out that I had shoveled the deck earlier in the day with an orange shovel (and he's right!), and then Elektra showed signs of wanting to go to bed. 

Once Elektra was in bed, I put on my boots and coat to shovel the deck and the patio for the dogs.  Again.  This was the 3rd time today.  There is no weather that the dogs despise more than snow, and two feet of the stuff just totally freaks them out, especially when it comes to potty.  Anyway, DJ watched as I shoveled and said "Mommy!  Throwing snow!"  He and Daddy watched me shovel for 5 -10 minutes, and then DJ went to bed.

It was a long day, but the kids enjoyed watching the snow!  I'll take DJ out again in it tomorrow.

Hi Dinkbug!

For the last 5 months, we have seen an enormous infestation of Stinkbugs around the house.  Most of them have been outside, thankfully, but we've been seeing them more and more in the house.  At first, we thought it was because we were opening the back door to let the dogs in and out, and they were getting in the house that way.  After talking with my cousin George as he gets them in his house all the time, too, we're figuring they've gotten into the house via attic fans or something of that sort, and then crawl down into the house itself via the holes for the recessed lighting in the kitchen.  I read somewhere that they should all die once we get our first frost.  Unfortunately, we're still getting them, daily.

DJ has been keen on finding the stinkbugs that get in the house, and loves to point out, "Daddy, go get it!" when he spots one.  Today, during lunch, he spotted one from his high chair in the kitchen all the way in the far corner of the living room: "Hi Dinkbug!"  DJ's "st's" are not coming through yet... sound like "d's" instead, no matter what word he tries to say.  But the best part was that he said "Hi Dinkbug!" over and over again until Steve retrieved said "dinkbug" off of the ceiling. 

For The Birds

Today we decided to show DJ a couple of Pixar short animations that we have on DVD from the movies Monsters Inc and the Incredibles. 

Of the few we watched, he enjoyed Mike's New Car, but he LOVED For The Birds.  He laughs at parts, and even Elektra will sit still and watch it.  He has asked for it over and over, and I admit, it's one that I never tire watching... 

:-)

Woof Woof!

Elektra is fascinated with IO and Napoleon.

She loves watching them, and she loves to pet them when she has an opportunity.  When she's petting them, she'll say "do-oggie" totally unprompted by us.

Recently, she's been walking (yes, walking!!  She's choosing to walk more than 75% of the time now.) to the doggies' blanket and lifting it up to see the doggies under it.  Just as funny is that she doesn't just lift up the blanket, she covers her head with it so all you see her her shoulders on down to the floor. 

Then, she'll uncover her head, and say, "Woof woof!" repeatedly.  So cute!

Sick. Again.

As is standard, the kids have colds again.  I was hoping they'd get through the winter with only one cold, but we would not be so lucky.

Both kids have been going to bed early because they aren't sleeping great during their naps.  Elektra is sleeping great at night.  DJ, on the other hand, will wake up once or twice a night.  This morning, he decided that 5:30 AM was "time to get up".  Yeah, no... and I put him back to bed.  When I went in to get him at 7:15, he was crashed out hard with his head on Tiger.  I felt bad waking him up.

And with this cold, DJ's voice is squeaky sounding, so who knows what he's got in addition to the standard runny nose, sneezing and coughing.  This morning, he vomited his breakfast, scaring the begeezus out of Grace and himself.  Since then, though, Eleanor has reported he's been his normal mischievous self, so I didn't go pick him up.  Hopefully he's napping well right now...

Elektra, at least, is not showing any signs of this going down to her chest, and it definitely has not affected her appetite.  But she's been a little more cuddly than usual, not that we mind!!

No crying... there's pizza!

When it's time for a meal, our two kids are very different once they are strapped into their high chairs.

DJ is a very patient little boy, willing to wait for whatever it is he'll get.

Elektra, on the other hand, not so much.  If you don't have her cup and/or something she can stuff into her mouth the second you snap that tray on her chair, she will WAIL.

Last night, Daddy had strapped the kids into their high chairs, and Elektra started to fuss.  Meanwhile, DJ noticed the pizza box on the table.  "Pizza!"

As the seconds ticked by, Elektra's fussing became louder and more frantic.  That's when DJ turned to her and said, "No crying... there's pizza!"

I lost it.  That was awesome!  Naturally she didn't stop crying.  We discovered after we have her Cheerios that she completely ignored that it wasn't just that she was hungry, she wanted the pizza NOW.

As soon as I pulled a piece out of the box and started cutting it for her, she quieted down and promptly opened her mouth to feed her. 

DJ was right.  No crying... there's pizza!

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!

Adjectives

DJ is starting to make his sentences more complex as he verbalizes more complex throughts.  One of the ways he's making his sentences more complex is by describing everything as it relates to size.

"A big noodle!"
"See big houses?"
"Is it a big one?"

Ok, maybe it's not that it's size.  Maybe it's just that "big" is his favorite adjective by far, as just about everything is "big".  :-)

It's potty time!

Last night, DJ asked Daddy "to take a bath".  While DJ and Daddy were having a ball (from what I could hear), Elektra was crawling around in the kitchen getting into the plastic bags and other recycleables and pushing the chair across the floor as she practiced walking while I was cleaning the kitchen. 

Then I see Steve come into the kitchen, disappear into the living room, and then come back through the kitchen holding DJ's favorite books.  Ah, DJ must have requested them.  Two seconds later I hear,

"Honey, you have to see this NOW."

???

I dry my hands, pick up Elektra, and walk into the bathroom.  There is DJ, sitting on the big potty, and a line of urine on the floor in front of him.

Apparently, DJ had said to Steve when he got out of the tub that he wanted to sit on the potty.  Ok, great, Steve sat him on the potty.  Then DJ asked for his Mickey Mouse books (which were in the living room).  Then when Steve got back to the bathroom with the Mickey Mouse books, but before I got in there, DJ said to Steve, "Pee pee come out of DJ's noo-noo!" which is how Steve knew to look down at the floor (before he stepped in the urine himself).

After much praise for going pee pee on the potty, DJ was told to push down his noo-noo next time so that pee pee goes IN the potty.

Then I was glad I moved the bathroom rug last weekend out from in front of the toilet...!!

We obviously hope he continues to want to potty train.  Either way, though ,we'll let him pace himself.

Kisses and Sharing

Elektra has started blowing kisses!  Sometimes she'll make the motion with her hand in addition to making the sound, but mostly she just makes the sound.  This morning, Daddy had her in his arms, I brought DJ to him to give him a kiss and once DJ blew a kiss, Elektra started blowing kisses.  The kids were then blowing kisses to each other in the car on the way to Eleanor's.  :)

DJ, meanwhile, loves to share his meal with Elektra.  He will pull himself - fully strapped in his highchair - down the table towards Elektra's high chair.  "Sit next to 'Rektra?"  Once he's next to her, he'll start breaking off pieces of whatever it is he's eating and give her some.  In 99% of the cases, he can share with her, so we don't mind.  And naturally, Elektra is snatching it up immediately and thrilled that DJ gave it to her. 

Elektra's first steps!

Holy moley Steve, Granddad and I just watched Elektra take her first walking steps without holding on to anything!  She took 3 steps, from the end of the reclined part of the couch to the middle (corner) of the couch, throwing herself at the couch as she was losing her balance.  GOOD GIRL!!!

Of course, she hasn't done it again since (ok, so it's only been 5 minutes), but we are trying to encourage it... thus digging our own "grave" as it were.  We like to think it'll be man-to-man defense once she starts walking, but we know that in reality, we'll have to play zone!

DJ's pal, Scout

Elektra received Leap Frog's My Pal Violet for her birthday.  Violet sings songs, plays games, etc.  The cool thing about it is that it's programmable (via a USB cable and an internet connection). 

DJ took quite a liking to Violet, but would put her down when distracted by something else. 

So Daddy purchased the boy version, My Pal Scout.  Daddy programmed "David" for DJ's name, his favorite color (green... we don't know, we guessed), his favorite food (bananas... again, we're guessing here), and some specific songs like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star that he loves.  Now, when DJ turns on Scout, Scout says, "Hi David!" and DJ just beams.  That smile is so big that it's blinding.  The second that DJ heard Scout say his name, Scout became his favorite toy.

Violet has since been programmed to called Elektra "Princess" since clearly, Leap Frog isn't going to have "Elektra" in their database.  Her favorite food = cheese, color = pink, and has a few songs, too.  Elektra dances when Violet starts playing songs.  It's cute!

Elektra's 8th tooth

Elektra has cut her 8th tooth, the 4th bottom front tooth.  It is definitely through (ouch!), and she's enjoying the ability to "bite" into Cheerios with her front teeth.  It also means we can now give her things like rice cakes and other hard-ish foods for her to start learning how to bite things.

Eleanor thinks she's cutting her back 1 year molars because she's constantly got her fingers back there, digging.  We haven't seen any diaper rash yet (one of her major signs), and I stuck my fingers back there last night and I didn't feel anything, but that doesn't mean those big molars aren't coming!

Elektra "walking"

Elektra has been very active with her new found skill, "walking".  She certainly isn't walking by herself by any means but she's using us and her truck toy to help her learn. 

 

 

She's also been starting to stand from a sitting position without our help!

DJ sayings of late

DJ has had some interesting sayings lately.

Last Saturday, Steve had to go into work and as he was leaving (DJ was watching his car leave the driveway), DJ said, "Daddy come home to see Momma?"  My heart melted.

He's also been asking for wet paper towels.  At first we give him a dry paper towel, he asks for us to get it wet, "Put water on it?  Put many water on it?"

I was just out in the mudroom trying to discover what is causing an enormous stench in there (failed to find anything that could be the culprit).  While I was out there, DJ came to the door looking for me and when he couldn't see me, even though he knew I was out there, he gave the wingnut salute and said, "Where Momma is?"  The wingnut salute!!  That is hilarious!


Meanwhile, both children have colds, unfortunately.  They just look like runny noses and sneezing... no swine flu!

Binky (or lack thereof) Update

DJ has asked for binky at night (asked for the White Binky), but I have stayed consistent and said that Binky is broken.  As a result, he has slept three nights now without Binky.  However, he has been unwilling to give up Binky during his nap at daycare.  As this is the first weekend we've had without Binky, we'll see if he naps here....I'm hoping that White Binky doesn't have to come back.

Binky broken

Yesterday morning, I walked into DJ's room to get him out of bed when he asked for "white binky".

I replied, "Where's you're blue binky?"
He says, "Right there," and points to the crib. Sure enough there was blue binky.
"Here you go," I say as I hand it to him.
"Broken!"
"What? Where?"
"Right there," he says, and points to the part that he chews/sucks on.

Sure enough, that binky was chewed right in half. Then I started to panic... did he swallow it after he bit it off? I started to overturn everything in his crib, look on the floor and to my enormous relief, I found the other half.

"Yep, you're right, DJ. Binky is broken."

When it was time for bed last night, I forwarned DJ that Binky was broken while I was getting him ready for bed. He seemed to think about that and when it was time to go to bed, he didn't even ask for Binky.

And he slept all night.

Maybe, just maybe, the days of Binky are done for DJ. If so, I hope that breaking Elektra of the thumb habit will be just as easy.

Ya!

On Tuesday, I was home with the kids because Eleanor was having some medical procedures done. We drove out to Bel Air to have their portraits taken by Kathie Jones, the woman who took their portraits last year. DJ talked non-stop on the way out there and while we were there. Neither child napped that afternoon, and both went to bed early because of it.

Yesterday morning, as I'm driving DJ to Eleanor's, I hear from the back seat,

"See sky, Momma?"
"Do you see the sky, DJ?"
"Ya!"

Pause

"See grass, Momma?"
"Do you see the grass, DJ?"
"Ya!"

Pause

"See sheep, Momma?"
"Did you see the sheep, DJ?" (we pass a field of sheep)
"Ya!"

And it went on... "Are we going under trees... ya!", "Trash cans fall over... ya!", "Going over bridge... ya!", "See cars coming... ya!" all the way to Eleanor's.

The "ya!" is brand new... we've been trying to get him to say any form of "yes" as a word for 6 months now, and finally, he's saying it! Apparently, at daycare that day, he took it a step further and said "ya sure!"

So overnight, he decided to start verbally confirming with words! Yay DJ!