And the Skies are not Cloudy All Day

We're going through some "sleep" trials and tribulations with Noah these days. Being a three-year-old, he's that perfect age to wreak total havoc....old enough to independently decide what he wants for himself, but still young enough that reason and logic don't go very far.

Every time I think we get a step farther, we end up going another step backward.

It started with random refusals to go to bed, or horsing around when he got up to bed and resisting actually climbing into bed. We were able to combat that fairly easily, resorting - if nothing else - to threats to take away his "bo-bo" (think Linus's security blanket) if he didn't get in bed. There is still the occasional time he'll try to get out of bed, but for the most part he gets ignored and its his job to get himself back up to bed and tucked in. Doesn't always work though -- one night this week, when Ben and I went up to bed, we encountered a passed out Noah curled up on a step halfway up the staircase.

Then came the demands for a drink or other random needs. This was combated by making sure such needs were met prior to going to bed.... and if he didn't take advantage of it then, too bad. For a while here he would come downstairs three, four, five times a night until we got that corrected.

Next came the complaints of it being too dark. This can be solved by either a night-light or by turning the hall light on and leaving the door cracked -- but the problem is that Noah and Travis rarely agree on how they want this addressed. At one point, we were taking turns between leaving the door open or cracked, and leaving it shut. This is rarely an issue anymore.

The complaint these days is the "bad dreams in his bed". This is solved by a two-step method. First, I give him a pretend vacuum cleaner for him to use to suck up all the bad dreams. Then I give him an invisible Backyardigans dream and similar Wonder Pets dream as replacements. If I don't do this as I put him to bed, I invariably have to do it minutes later, as soon as he realizes we forgot it.

We've also started playing a kids music CD in their bedroom when they go to sleep. There are about 20 songs on there, so it lasts about 45 minutes or so. It serves well as a distraction, and works wonders for Travis, who usually falls asleep within about 10 minutes.

Lately, however, Noah has been coming downstairs after the CD is over and asking for it to be started again. Occasionally he's come down twice, meaning he's laid through two full rounds of the CD and still hasn't fallen asleep. He now knows how to start the CD over himself and we've encouraged him to get out of bed and start it over if necessary.

So, last night, I noticed that he started the CD over once after his 8:30 bedtime. Then, when we went upstairs for bed at 11:00, we heard the CD playing again. Wow. Okay, then I woke up at 4:30 a.m. and, lo and behold, the CD was playing.

I was drifting in and out of sleep by this time, and marveling in my near-dreamlike stance about how much Noah must have been awake during the night, when I came to a realization.

It was the same song, playing over and over again. Home on the Range, to be exact.

So, at some point in Noah's expedition to restart the CD, he had actually selected "Repeat". And that song played over and over again, all night long and into the morning, and made its way into my subconscious such that I was singing it in my head all day today at work. But I am relieved to know that little Noah was likely only awake for an hour or so after bedtime, and not necessarily repeatedly all night long as I had feared.

The other thing we're dealing with is the occasional nightmare, and sometimes, night terrors. A few weeks ago Noah was in bed screaming something awful, and when I went up there to check it out, he was a sweaty mess and was not to be consoled. He was still somewhat dreaming, definitely disoriented, and I could not provide any comfort. He screamed about needing "that!" while pointing at a picture of Travis hanging on the wall. He wailed all sorts of pitiful cries that made no sense and could not be resolved. Ben brought out the video camera and tried to replay it for him to see if that might knock some sense into him, but to no avail. Eventually he settled

down and went back to bed without incident.

Here he is in his pitiful, sleepy, inconsolable state. Don't you just want to give him a hug?

Me in a Bag

On Friday, Travis's teacher sent home a note about this week's project, called "Me in a Bag". It is essentially the evolution of Show & Tell. Travis was to fill up a bag with things from home that helped the other kids to learn more about him. There are 16 kids in the class, and they divided them up so that 3-4 kids were assigned to each day. Travis's day was today, Monday, meaning he was one of the first to go.

So, we gathered some stuff up this weekend for his presentation. He says it went well. Today after school, I made him go through it again so I could record it for prosperity.

His teacher said he could use any kind of bag: plastic grocery bag, backpack, etc; but whatever they bring had to fit inside that bag. Travis insisted that it be 'a bag he liked'. We used the drawstring athletic bag we'd bought for soccer camp this year.

Item #1: Slinky Dog from the movie Toy Story. My boys have quite the collection of Toy Story characters, but ol' Slink is Travis's favorite. Travis said the teacher asked who in the class had seen the Toy Story movies, and he said everyone raised their hands.

Item #2: Colts shirt, because his favorite team is the Colts. Apparently, the same is true for Loki and McKenna.

Item #3: Swim trunks; because he loves swimming, like we just did at the beach, or when visiting grandma and pa-pa at the lake. He's wearing them on his head here; I don't think he did that at school.

Item #4: Picture of him and his brother and sister, because "I love my brother and sister!"

Item #5: Yellow chicken hat (with autograph from "The Chicken"), because a) he likes the Silverhawks and b) he likes being silly. Travis said everyone but McKenna laughed when he put on this hat. I asked him why he thought McKenna didn't laugh, and he said it was because she wanted something else to be funny. Hm.

Item #6: Football. Reason is obvious.

Item #7: "SuperFriends" book because he likes to read and he likes super-heroes.

Item #8: Mario and Luigi. He loves Mario and Luigi. I asked him if anyone else in the class liked the Super Mario Brothers, and he said all the boys did.

So that's that. I think Travis did a good job of representing himself in a knapsack.

There were two other boys assigned for today, but one of them was sick. So the only other kid that went today was Travis's little buddy, Evan. I asked Travis what Evan brought. Here's what he said:

1. 2 video games

2. A video game controller

3. A little piece off of his Wii

4. A book

I kind of laughed and sarcastically asked, "was it a book about video games?" And Travis responded, "Oh, right! Yes, it was a book about the Spiderman video game and how to beat it!" Sounds like a well-rounded kid.

(Just kidding, we like Evan, he's a very nice little boy. He is just apparently very into video games right now. We went to his birthday party this summer and I happen to know that he also likes Toy Story, and Spongebob. So he's not all that one-dimensional.)

Oh, and here's Sophie, playing along:

Total Coincidence

This morning, Ben and I were getting around, packing up the truck, and getting the kids ready to drive up to St. Joe, Michigan for a trip to the Curious Kids Museum and the beach.

As we're loading things up, I get a call from my sister. As it turns out, she was calling because they were planning a family trip up to St. Joe themselves and wanted to see if by chance we'd be interested in coming along. So, we met them at the museum and made a day of it. The kids love the Curious Kids Museum, but enjoyed it even more today since they got to spend some quality time with the cousins.

Fun trip. Pictures below. I'm too tired to write anything else.

Sophie, Travis, Anastasia, Noah, Xanthi, Anesti

What do you know??? I actually got a fairly decent picture of all 6 kids, for the most part all looking at the camera (or at least in that general direction), no hair-pulling, no screaming, no bunny ears. I'm still a little in shock.

Twin news anchors. Literally.

Xanthi at weather and Anastasia handling sports.

Travis watching over things in the control room.


DJ X

Sophie The Collector

If you know Sophie at all, you know she's not happy unless her arms are full. Mostly, she gathers stuffed animals -- but she doesn't limit herself. She'll collect any darn thing she can find. Case in point......


Little toy screws from the construction zone

Livestock from the farm playroom

"Dinosaur food" from the dino room

And of course, stuffed jungle animals from the rainforest

St Joe FD, Fire chief Travis

Driving to the scene, with some stowaways

Feeding the dinosaurs

At the 'practice 911' desk -- Uncle Tom freaks Noah out a little bit.

Sophie in her natural habitat..... water table

One of the biggest hits of the museum.... the giant bubble:

Anastasia in a bubble

Noah pops the bubble!

Bubble Boy Noah

Anesti

Travis

Even Sophie got in on the action. And Elmo.

Sophie cuddling with a giant teddy.

Goofy mirrors

More water table fun

My monkey nieces

Sophie wants to be like the big girls!

Sadly, this picture didn't turn out too well. The kids loved the pin wall. (Okay, the adults kind of did too.)

Anastasia, Xanthia, Noah, Travis, Anesti, and that's Sophie way up at the top.

To the Beach!!!

Chillaxin

Sophie's idea of fun... getting sand anywhere and everywhere.

Ha! Travis was excited!

Water is fun!

You'll note Sophie is carrying her favorite stuffed animal, Rascal the raccoon, with her into the lake. She insisted on taking him with her everywhere.

Rascal had a tough day.

Sophie got kind of tuckered out at the end of the long day. Didn't we all.

And that's all, folks.

Okay. I give in. Kindergarten pictures here.

Travis started Kindergarten today. At first, I did not think I would be all that emotional. It certainly didn't tear me up just thinking about it, as it appeared to do for so many of my Facebook friends that are sending their kids off to Kindergarten (and beyond). I started to wonder what on earth is wrong with me that I just don't see this day as some heartwrenching emotional thing. Not that I don't understand those people and the reason for their emotional reactions. I just don't seem to be in that same place.

But, I'll admit, I did get a little lump in my throat as I left my little boy in the Kindergarten classroom. Parents were invited to attend a little gathering at the church before school, and then accompany their children to the classrooms.

Ready for the day!!!

With Noah and Sophie (who is impatient to leave already!)

"Happy first day of school!"

Blowing kisses to each other

Spidey lunchbox!

In the car.... the sun got in his eyes. He borrowed my sunglasses.

At church

Mrs. Campbell, Travis's teacher

On the way in to class!

At his seat, looking thru his box of supplies. He sits next to McKenna, a little girl he knows from last year's Pre-K class.

Listening to the teacher!

And, just for old times' sake, here's a picture of Travis at almost one-year:

He is doing all-day Kindergarten, he just did half-day last year, so this will be a bit of a change for him. He will do great. He's such a terrific kid. He's reading like a fiend these days, and he really loves being with other kids, even if it takes him a little while to get comfortable. I'm very proud of him.

So now, I'm home, with just my two little ones. And life goes on.