Cuteisms and More

Yesterday Olivia and I were at gymnastics. (She does so great, such upper body strength it's crazy!) I got to talking to a mom who I've seen there and our church, but had never talked to before. Her daughter is in third grade and is named Olivia as well. After class, the girls came out and (my) Olivia said, "Mom, there is another girl here named Olivia!" I said, "I know, we were just talking about that isn't that cool?" She said, "Did she pick her name too???" We laughed and laughed. So cute!

The other day I put the movie Indian in the Cupboard in for the kids to see if they would be interested at all yet. I have it because it's a book I do with my seventh graders and we watch the movie after. Well, I forgot this is an older movie and Boone, who is a plastic toy cowboy come to life, sticks a cigarette in his mouth. Olivia wasn't paying attention, I was glad. Braeden goes, "Mom, he has a sucker!" Oh the naivete! :) We took the movie out. :)

Not so cute - Little One is exhibiting some anger issues of late. Great, a 13 month old with anger problems. If he gets mad over anything, someone taking away something he just had to have - lint, you name it - he hits his face or grabs his arms and pulls hard or bangs his face in the floor. What fun.

He's also been having a lot of sleep-related issues the last few weeks or more. I can't even recall. The first couple weeks he was waking every so often, crying, and then would go back to bed. Then Olivia and even Braeden, who usually sleeps through most of it, were waking up during this and not getting a lot of sleep. After the "honeymoon" period I like to think of it now, he then began waking and crying for long periods. At this point I couldn't just let him cry it out because of the others. So for a few nights, I went and picked him up. He was instantly fine, I would lay him back down, and he would go to sleep again. It then morphed into me picking him up and the crying continuing at other points. After a few nights of this, I took him up to my bed the second time I went down. He lay down and instantly was asleep the rest of the night. This then continued a few more nights. He would wake around 3am, I'd let him cry/moan for 30-40 min, then get him up and put him in my bed. Sleep "like a baby" - for him, not me. Sunday night I had the bright idea of bringing up the pack n play and putting it next to my bed. If he woke and cried again, I thought I could put him there, he's right by me, and I won't worry about him falling off. He woke at 2am. I let him moan/cry for 40 min, then brought him up. I lay him in the pack n play and let him know I was right there, soothing voice, etc. At 4 am, in the midst of heavy crying, I lifted him up to my bed. Right to sleep. I knew he really needed to relearn how to get himself back to sleep during the night. And to do that he needed to cry it out when he woke. But with two others??? So, Monday night I put the pack n play in the farthest corner of my room. I decided to put him to bed there for a while. I could deal with little sleep longer than the kids. I put him to bed in my room. A few min of crying, then not a peep all night long. Same thing Tuesday night. Last night he did wake for about 30 min of crying around 9:30, but then slept the rest of the night. We'll see what tonight brings. I can't figure out why he's ok to sleep through in my room in the pack n play, but not his? It isn't like he even knows I'm there. I'm not there when he goes to sleep. No idea.