Ethan has been in his big boy bed for over a week. We started two Fridays ago, but we gave in to the crib at 10:30 pm, when Ethan was still awake. Saturday night, though, he did sleep in his bed. It's just been a week of adjustments for all of us. Sunday and Monday, he did not take naps at all and played in his room the whole time he should have been napping. Although when I came in to get him after his non-nap, he did look me in the face and lie, "I just woke up, Mama." Little rascal. Those days he didn't sleep made the nights easier, though, since he would fall asleep while reading for bedtime. On Wednesday, I left him alone for nap, and after 15 minutes or so, he was in bed asleep. Success! Will's been leaving him at night, too, and closing the door, but he's taking a while to get settled and has been up until 9 most nights. We adjusted our schedule a bit and started putting him down earlier last night, which helped since he was asleep by 8:15. He's been up in the middle of the night most nights this week, though, which we've had to get used to. (He has fallen out, despite our safety rails, twice!) When he's up, we're having to stay in his room until he's back asleep, which can take a while some nights. And the biggest adjustment is that he's been up at 6am every day but one. Ugh! It wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't also up at night, but I'm used to going in to his nursery around 7:30 to get him. Now that he can get up by himself, he comes running into our room yelling, "Good morning! Good morning!" It would be cute at 7 am. 5:45? Not so cute. We need to fix his door, which gets stuck, so we can close it all the way easily. We can do it while he's still awake, but we've been checking on him before bed and then we don't close it all the way to avoid waking him up. Plus, we are having to unplug his light at night or else he will just turn it on or off or, worse, pull the plug out of the outlet. It's been a week of discovering how to make his room the most safe, and least fun, to assure that he can be in there without us. I don't know if other people have these kinds of problems, but our kid is very curious and mischeivious. Really, besides the new wake up time, which is probably good for me to get used to less sleep, I'm pretty happy with how the transition is going. After the first couple of days, I thought it would take much longer. He hasn't asked about his crib at all and knows now that he sleeps in his "nyoo yoom." I know that soon he will sleep a little later (I hope!) and that he will stop getting up in the night, so I'm just trying to stay positive. I'll post pictures of his new room soon, as soon as I have time to get it back in order. We've rearranged things, and taken things out, most every day, trying to make it has boring/safe for him as possible.
Other than the new bed, we've just been getting used to being inside more as we've had a lot of miserable weather lately. We did have a few nice days early last week and over the weekend, but then the cold rain returned. And since Ethan is no longer going to school, we have four days a week with nothing definite to do. We have playgroup Monday mornings and that's it. I signed up for a couple of Park District classes that start in November, so that will be good. I've also started going to Lisa's about once a week to hang with the cousins. Ethan has a great time there, and we discovered I can even have him nap there if I want since the two older boys don't nap during the day anymore. No need to have a pack 'n play anymore, and there's two big comfy beds to choose from! Lisa and I really want our kids to grow up together since we were so much older than our little cousins.
Most people who see Ethan lately comment on how much he's talking. He really does talk a ton now (non-stop), and it is very fun. Here are a few of his great stories from lately:
*Ethan has two favorite songs: "Hey Yo (Snow)" from the Chili Peppers and "Poker Face" from Lady Gaga. Every car ride, Ethan requests "Hey Yo," and while I try to resist for a while, I usually end up turning it on after 10 minutes of "I want Hey Yo!!" coming from the backseat. The other day, we had a longer ride, and I think we listened to it five times in a row. Thankfully, we don't have the Lady Gaga cd, so we just have to sing that one from time to time. He has taken to singing it, as well, and there's nothing funnier than a two year old singing "Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa -pa-pa-pa-Poker Face." I have to sing it before naps, too, since he interrupts my lullabye and requests "Poker Face." What can I say? My kid is ahead of his time.
*Another favorite song of Ethan's all of a sudden is the ABC's. We didn't even know he could sing the whole thing until last week, when he just busted out with it at dinner one day. He has a "microphone" he carried around with him and he asks Will and I to sing it for him. The funny thing is, while we sing it, he holds the microphone up to his mouth and lipsincs.
*One thing we captured the other day on video is Ethan's new saying, "I have issues." The other day during the news, Ethan asked Will what an issue was after hearing the word. Will was telling me this at dinner that night and I said to Ethan, "What's an issue?" He responded, "I have issues!" and then added "...in the garbage can." We laughed so hard. Then he said, "I need to throw them away." If only it was that easy to get rid of issues. Later, I realized he was thinking of the word tissues since his favorite pasttime is pretending to blow his nose and then throwing the tissues in the garbage can. Of course, because we laughed when he said it, he has started announcing, "I have issues!" all the time now.
*The first morning Ethan slept through the night in his new bed, he came out of the room around 7:15 (he only did this once) and literally bounced through the living room into the kitchen, where Will was eating breakfast. With each bounce, he said, "Hallo! Hallo! Hallo! Hallo!" Will said it was pretty funny, especially since we are not used to Ethan being able to get out of bed on his own. He really is waking up in the best mood - it's hard to be mad at him for being up so early.
And now for a ton of pictures I've been waiting to post.
My friend, Laura, had triplets in August. They are doing wonderfully (and their mom is supermom!), and I usually see them at least once of twice a week. This, I think, is Elizabeth.
Here's my friend Catherine with Anna.
And here is sweet little Kate, who slept through most of my visit that day.
Elizabeth?
Here's Supermom, Laura. She is eerily calm all the time!
Here's Ethan at Sonny Acres Pumpkin Farm. He didn't actually ride this because he freaked out when he realized we couldn't stay with him, but I snapped this picture beforehand.
Lisa and Matthew riding the slide.
Ethan loved this little obstacle course - I think he did it three times, which only cost us $6!
The Berkleys
Us - Did I mention how freezing cold it was this day? 
This is the first night we had Ethan in his bed. Of course, he didn't sleep in it this first night. :(
Last weekend, we went to Graue Mill in Hinsdale. Etha ground corn with an old man who called him Brad the whole time. He also made flour with a giant millstone. It will be fun to be so close to here when he's a little older.
Not sure I've mentioned the great fort Will made for Ethan in the beginning of the school year. He found this giant box and school and made Ethan a palace complete with windows, a skylight, and a doorknob. We got pictures of it recently because it was on its last legs and we wanted a record of it.
Poking through the window with the fort on its side. 
Ethan's been having a lot of fun in the leaves lately. 
I know, he needs a haircut - bad.
But he's so darn cute!
I love that you can only see him from the top up.
Here's Ethan asleep in Drew's bed this past Sunday when we were there for the Bears game. Proof that he can sleep in a big boy bed.
I LOVE this picture of the cousins. 
A family that dresses alike, well, they look like nerds. :) Just kidding.
This is a picture from a playdate with Ethan's bff Derek. They like to make a "beaver dam" out of the couch. It is very funny. Ethan kept asking, "Where'd the beaver go, Mama?"
1 comment:
I hope the bed adventures become less and less adventurous. Loved all the pics!! :)
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