Stall Tactics

Just this week T has turned up the bed time stall tactics. Monday night I got home from acupuncture just in time to put him to bed and made the mistake of telling him I was going to eat dinner. He immediately piped up and said he wanted to eat dinner. "I want some applesauce" ... "I'm hungry" ... so I let him get out of bed and have dinner with me. Apparently he'd eaten quite a lot before I got home and was likely NOT hungry, lol. The next night when I put him to bed I did not mention food, but he said he was hungry again. I'd been there for our regular family dinner and knew he'd eaten plenty, so I quickly told him it was bed time and he complied without further comment.
Wednesday night he took his tactics to a whole new level. After his bath we spent quite a bit of time playing his favorite after bath game where he dresses up in his monster towel and sneaks up on and scares whichever parent isn't carrying him around. The Scoot, T, and I spent quite a bit of time running around the house scaring each other. Then T and I spent some time hiding under the covers in "mommy's bed" scaring the Scoot by pulling the covers back quickly or being scared by him.
Eventually we got him into his PJs and talked about reading stories and singing songs. At that point, T decided he was going to put me to bed, so I played along. He took me to my bed and "read" (mimicking many of my reading expressions) three stories for me. Then he sang a vary abbreviated version of "Edelweiss" with his pacifier in his mouth. Finally he tucked me in, handed me the pacifier and then climbed out of bed to join Daddy in the family room. He is so cute and clever! It was hard for me to burst his bubble and put him to bed. After some very brief tears and protestations we started the bedtime routine all over - this time with me reading, singing, and tucking. What will he come up with next?!?

Prune humor

Me (eating prunes): Do you want a prune?
T: No thank you.
Me: It will help you poop.
T: I don't want to poop.
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T decides to try a prune and likes it so much he eats several.
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T (a few minutes later): It didn't poop me!

The Morning Routine

Getting ready for school is such a drag!

photos take 1/31/2013

Pistachios

T loves pistachios and so do I! I buy the big bag of shelled pistachios at Costco (yes, I'm that lazy) and often include them in the snack stash when we go out. One morning after baby circus, T was eating pistachios in the back seat so I asked if I could have one. At first he wasn't going to share, but a minute later he said "here mommy" and handed a pistachio over the seat. Right off I noticed that it was wet. I held it for a moment, trying to decide what to do with it when T said "I just licked it!"

Boogers

T wakes up a bit annoyed and begins wiping his nose.

T (annoyed): “I have boogers!”

S: “Let me get a tissue.”

S gets out of bed and gets some toilet paper from the bathroom. T continues wiping his nose with his hand.

T: “No! Not that one! The other one!”

S: “The suction one?”

T: ”Yeah.”

T whines. S gets the suction bulb.

T: “Mommy want to do it.”

S: “Mommy’s sleeping.”

S proceeds to suction T’s nostrils. Nothing comes out.

S: “Is that better?”

T: “No!”

S: “Nothing is coming out. You have a dry nose because you are dehydrated. There is nothing I can do.”

T whines some more.

T: “Do it again.”

S proceeds to suction T’s nostrils again. Still nothing. T whines.

S: “The only thing that will help is standing up and drinking some water. Should I get your water?”

T: “Yeah.”

S gets up and gets T’s water. T takes a drink.

T (excited): “It’s helping!”

T happily gets out of bed.

What my smell?!?

T (distress): "What my smell?!?"
Me: "Stinky Elephants"

Lily, the newest addition to the elephant family at the Zoo

Next we headed to the train. It was cold and T snuggled me to keep me warm. He enjoyed the ride, but the train whistle was really loud and it hurt his ears.
Later ... as we were walking around the zoo...
T (distress) "What my smell?!?"
Me: "Is it a good smell or a bad smell"
T (with conviction): "A BAD smell"
Me: "Stinky animals"

A little later ... still walking around the zoo ...
T (interest) "What my smell?!?"
Me: "Is it a good smell or a bad smell"
T (with conviction): "A GOOD smell!"
Me: "Cinnamon from the elephant ears"

We shared an elephant ear for lunch - one of my favorite zoo treats! Our zoo outing on February 23, 2013 was going to be a brief visit to kill some time on the way home from Baby Circus (downtown). We had so much fun we stayed for 4 hours!

Sleep Running?

Last night I woke up at 2am and heard T climb out of bed and start down the hall. I thought he would come into our room, but he blew right past. I listened for a bit and thought I heard him call "mommy" from the other end of the house so I got up to see what he was up to. He was standing between the kitchen and dining room when I came out in the hall. He waited for me to come and pick him up and then said in a very sleepy whisper, "I was just running down the hall." He was so groggy I had to ask him to repeat it. I don't think he was even fully awake, silly boy!