Bedtime

I need to rant for just a minute.  It's just a little rant.

I dread bedtime in this house.  Not the time AFTER the kids go to bed, but the time when the kids are supposed to be GOING to bed.  You'd think that after 11 years of parenting we could get this right.  I think it's getting harder as our kids become more and more spread out in age.  We just can't seem to stick them all in their rooms at the same time and get them to sleep.

Kelsey really needs an early bedtime, but she shares a room with Olivia who has a hard time falling asleep.  So to compromise we have told the girls bedtime is at 8:30, but they can lay in bed and read for 30 minutes.  It hardly ever happens that way.  Most nights when the light goes out at 9pm there are a few trips made to the bathroom by both girls (how many times can you really have to go, ladies?!?!) and then there's the subsequent chatter and sometimes bickering after lights out.  Kelsey wants to sleep with Olivia, Olivia lets her and then feels crowded because Kelsey sleeps like a crazy monkey girl and then Olivia has to boot her out of the bed so she can sleep in peace.

And Connor.  Don't even get me started on Connor.  If he naps, he's up till 9:30 or 10:00 fighting sleep, and if he doesn't nap he's unbearable to be around after 5pm.  And he'll often crash early somewhere he shouldn't which results in him NOT going to bed when he should.  So he obviously needs the nap, right?  And whether he has napped or not he REALLY wants me with him, so as a compromise I usually go in and check on him every 5 or 10 minutes until he falls asleep.  He just needs to know I'm there.

Maddox can usually be coaxed to sleep by his father and a bottle.  But sometimes, like tonight, he stays up too late.  Tonight we had company so our bedtime routine was off.  Connor was still awake when Maddox had to go down (also awake), so we just stuck them in the room together and hoped for the best.  I was glad there was no crying, though Maddox did make a good many other noises before falling asleep.  I assured Ben that Connor was involved in those noises, even though we couldn't hear him specifically.

Ben just went to check on the boys before going to bed.  He came out and asked me, "Were there any toys in the crib when you put Maddox down?"

"Nope," I said.  "What did you find?"

"Well, I just went in and pulled out Connor's baseball bat and the wheelbarrow."

I told you so.

P.S. I went in this morning when Maddox woke up to eat at 4am and also found: an extra blanket, part of a car track, a book, and an extra-large stuffed animal that Daddy apparently either missed, or were added in the middle of the night...

Table Talk

I am a firm believer in family dinner.  Most evenings around 6pm you will find our family sitting down together at the table.  We have some of our best conversations there.

For example.

Today I accidentally burned Kelsey while we were baking.  During dinner she started talking about getting an air bubble on her hand.

Mom: "A what?"

Kelsey: "An air bubble."

Mom: "Oh!  You mean a blister."

Kelsey: "No, an air bubble.  Like you get when you touch something hot.  There's air in there."

Olivia: "Kelsey, it's not just air in there.  One time I was licking this thing on my hand and I didn't know it was a blister and something came out.  It tasted salty and Mom told me it was pus in there."

Mom: "No, it's not pus - not unless there's an infection.  It's just a fluid."

Olivia: "What's it made of?"

Mom: "Oh, probably mostly water and salt."

Olivia: "Yes, there's definitely salt.  I tasted it."

Mom: "Yes, you did."

Olivia: "Well, it's not like I did it on purpose."

And then Connor (who had remained completely silent and appeared uninterested in this entire conversation) came out with his two cents without missing a beat.

"Yes, you did."

Something Sweet

The other day Maddox got a hold of a nice, ripe, juicy red plum.  Thinking he couldn't do much damage to it with only 2 small teeth, I let him play with it.  Boy, was I wrong.

Eventually I stuck a bib on him and put him in the high chair.

He loved it.

Octo-Dogs

This is what you get when you put your 11-year old daughter in charge of lunch 3 days a week.

And this is what you get when you aren't eating the shells and cheese and forget to specify that you would like a bun.