Really, really TWO

As you may have read in the past, I thought Daniel had already come into his "twoness" completely. I believe I was mistaken. Recently, we're having trouble getting him to nap and to bed. In addition, he refuses to participate in our usual extra-curricular activities such as KinderMusik and swimming. Last week was the first week back at KinderMusik since December and he'd been talking about it excitedly. When we arrived, he refused to go into the class area and sat in the foyer the entire class. At swimming tonight, he cried for 15 minutes before Matt finally gave up and brought him home. Now this could all be related to a general lack of sleep - he fights going to bed so ends up falling asleep between 9:30 (his bedtime) and 10pm and then wakes up once at night -- sometimes at 1am and sometimes at 5:30am. I tell him it's still sleepy time and leave -- he doesn't fight but it's not clear how long he's up. Then he's up by 7am. When he doesn't nap, he's a disaster by early evening -- he fell asleep on the floor under the kitchen table one afternoon... But with the two kids, I can't spend 1-2 hours trying to put him down for a nap. Bathtime is torture every night regardless of naps. You moms out there -- any ideas?

Kyra's growing a lot and very funny. She flaps her hands together and against her stomach. Her way of clapping and waving. She IS sleeping. Of course, we're heading to Phoenix on Wednesday where everything will change for her... so we'll see how she holds up. Hopefully better than our little adventure to Mt. Baker.

As for these pictures, Daniel is a "spaceman" mimicing his favorite show "Max and Ruby". It was pretty creative and very funny. We can't get him to nail down a Halloween costume and I know as soon as I buy one, he won't want to wear it. Still haven't decided for Kyra yet but know I need to get my act together... Enjoy!

A Night Away

For some reason, this didn't post on Sunday as it should have...

Well, things have improved somewhat with Baby Boot Camp kicking in. Both kids are sleeping better although Daniel still gets up once per night. He tries to get out of his room, realizes it's (still) locked, and goes back to bed. It's amazing how much of a light sleeper I am -- I guess kids do that to you.

We took the kids to Chase's Pancake Corral for breakfast on Saturday. Chase's always has about a 1/2 hour wait on weekends but when both kids are up around 6:30 and you can get to Chase's by 7:45, guess what? There's no wait. Daniel enjoyed his strawberry pancakes after getting over the surprise of the strawberries and whipped cream all over the top of them and Kyra enjoyed a sampling of everyone's meal (pancakes, sausage, potato pancakes -- no strawberries or egg). Kyra enjoys food and still really prefers feeding herself. It was a very enjoyable meal. Afterwards, we toured the wine bar location which is coming along nicely -- walls are forming where they should be and the space is becoming more defined.

Matt and I had our first night away from the kids last night. We attended a friend's wedding at Willow's Lodge in Woodinville, a very nice setting and decided it would be nice to spend the night out there. So the kids stayed with our nanny and did beautifully -- neither woke up -- and we had a nice time at the wedding and reception and what should have been a full night's sleep at a very nice resort. But... the bed was uncomfortable (both of us thought so) and I could hear traffic crossing a bridge just outside our room. Plus, a lot of wine made us get up for water and bathroom breaks in the middle of the night. Anyway, we both woke up feeling somewhat refreshed but hit a wall mid-morning.

Sleepless nights

Kyra's 8 months old... Here are some pictures of outdoor play yesterday. She puts everything in her mouth but grass is one of her favorites so I have to watch her carefully. She also gets red bumps on her legs when she crawls in the grass... I'm not sure why. And, of course, keeping her from doing so is not easy. A couple of things to note: 1) Daniel wanted to wear the swimcap and 2) Daniel has learned to take off his Pull-Up diapers and prefers to play out back without them -- I did not post a picture of this, though.

Daniel had an awful cough over the weekend and was waking up a couple times a night and then staying up coughing for an hour or so. Not much seemed to help the cough but it seemed to be worsened by his thumb sucking. When he wasn't sucking his thumb, he could sleep fine but he'd wake up, start sucking and then begin coughing uncontrollably. Anyway, the cough seems to have subsided but he's still waking at least once per night and he's also regressed in that he wants us to stay with him at bedtime and naptime until he goes to sleep. We had cured him of this with "Baby Boot Camp" last November -- meaning we said goodnight and let him cry. It took three nights of him crying and begging but overall not too bad. We have decided it's time for "Baby Boot Camp" again and last night was not as easy. He cried, screamed, banged on the door with his fists, books, head, yelled that he needed a hug, please come get me...the works. It was heart wrenching. But then again, his need to have us there every time he's going back to sleep is not manageable right now. He finally went to bed after Matt went in and sang to him again. We had pretty much the same scenario but not as violent at 3am. He was up until 4am. I was up until 4:30am. Kyra woke up at 5:30am -- and due to mixed up schedules yesterday, she didn't even go to sleep until 10pm. But she was up and ready to go. So she'll be cranky today -- along with the rest of us. It also appears that she might be teething -- she has the two bottom teeth and I don't see the top ones coming in yet but she's chewing on everything and fussy as can be. So tonight we do "Baby Boot Camp" again with Daniel and pray that it only takes 3 nights!

Has anyone else had similar experiences with toddlers waking at odd times? Does this go on forever or do they eventually sleep (I mean before the age of 13)?

We are going to a friend's wedding on Saturday and spending the night at the hotel there which should be very nice. I have joked a bit about skipping the reception altogether and just sleeping for 12 hours... Who knows how Daniel will react when he wakes at 3am and finds our nanny here instead of us?

Denim kids

Here's a cute picture from yesterday afternoon. I had forgotten to mention here that Daniel does a very nice rendition of the Notre Dame Fight Song. I vividly remember that my freshman year roommate's little sister (who was 2 at the time) sang the Fight Song and it was so cute. Now Daniel does it and it really is still so cute - even if a little over the top. He loves to sing and memorizes things so well, it didn't take much. Now he wants to hear it during the game, too -- we tell him he has to wait until we score a touchdown -- fortunately, that was pretty often yesterday! Go Irish!

Long Time

Things have been hectic in our household recently and I apologize for no recent posts or pictures. Kyra turns 8 months old next week so I promise pictures. Actually, I should be taking video because she is truly darling these days. She's full of smiles and is trying to clap her hands. She is still very adventurous and determined. She crawls around finding things that interest her -- usually things she shouldn't have in her mouth -- and also pulls herself up on everything. And is so proud of herself! It's adorable.

Daniel is doing great, too. He is so conversational and so excitable about little things -- his favorite things are still desserts. Even in make believe, he's baking cookies and making cakes. We did play "postman" for a long while the other day after reading "The Seven Little Postmen" a Little Golden Book a hundred times. Of course, the reality of the postmen is different now than the 1960's story suggests but Daniel didn't care. He was getting the bag of mail and throwing it on the hook for the train to grab as it came roaring by. His bunk beds serve nicely as trains, trucks, etc. He loves climbing up to the top bunk -- with supervision, of course. He's become quite the climber and is improvising with whatever he can find as a "step stool" to reach things.

We went up to Mt. Baker with friends for the long weekend - 4 adults and 4 kids 2 years and under. It was risky. Unfortunately, given the arrangements, Kyra didn't sleep at all so we came home a bit early. We did really enjoy our daily hikes, though, and the beautiful scenery. We visited a trail called Artist's Point which had wonderful views of the mountains and had a picnic up there as well.

The Restaurant and Wine Bar are coming along -- as Matt pointed out yesterday, 2 1/2 months until opening! Wow! August was a great month for my business, too, and September looks promising.