Whack-A-Mole Kids

Sometimes I feel like in having the boys, I gave birth to a couple of whack-a-moles.  As soon as we take care of a problem with one, the other one pops up with the same problem.

I'm sure everyone is sick of hearing how Michael gets up at 0-dawn-hundred (or earlier) every morning.  What I probably haven't shared, is that at least 2/3 of the time, Leon gets up then too.  Michael is not a quiet guy in the morning.

When we take walks in the morning, Leon is always half slumped in the wagon looking very much like he could use that first pot of coffee of the morning.  His eyes are baggy, his hair is crazy.  He sits up slightly and smiles when we say hi to a cat on the next street, but he stays pretty quiet.  Little did I know, he really loves this time.

Suddenly, mercifully, Michael started sleeping a little later this week.  I think he is worn out from my parents' visit.  Or maybe he has just had enough fun during the day lately that he doesn't feel the need to start it in the wee hours of the morning.  Whatever the cause, he slept until 6:40 Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  For him, this is huge.

However, by the third day, Leon realized they had been missing out on the morning "fun."  His sibling alarm clock wasn't waking him up, so at 5:00 Thursday morning he woke up crying.  I got him up, and he pointed to his bedroom door, indicating he wanted to go out.  He likes to drink cold water from the fridge, and I figured that's what he wanted.  I carried him to the kitchen, and when we got there he pointed to the garage door and said, "Go!  Go!"  I told him, no, we wouldn't be going anywhere yet.  The sun was still sleeping.  Defeated, he sat with me for a few minutes on the couch before asking to be tucked back in to bed.

This morning he got up at 4:00 and we went through the same routine.  It was actually a little cool in the house (by "cool" I mean not blazing hot), so when I took him back to bed, I tucked him in with one of his blankets.  At 5:15 he got up, gave me a big hug and told me he was "Done!" sleeping.  (Unlike his brother, at least Leon tries to kiss up by hugging and cuddling.)  This time I took his quilt, which is heavier than the afghan he drags around, and we cuddled under it on the couch.  I tucked him around him when I put him back in his bed.  He was finally warm and cozy and slept right through Michael's moans at 6:15.

Wake Up Call

This morning instead of waking up to the usual moans of Michael, I woke up to the sound of Michael in his crib calling "mom?  Mom?  MOM?  Moooooommm?"  I hustled out of bed to get him before it turned into moans.  It was a nice way to wake up, especially since we "slept in" until 6:23.

Last Night

Ree wants me in her room when she goes to bed, but she now tucks herself in every night.  Last night I noticed all of her blankets were wadded up on her pillow, so I moved them towards the foot of the bed.  She quickly panicked.  "Mom, you're de-STROY-ing everything!"  I said I was just moving them so she had room to sleep.  She tried to patiently explain,  "I can't jump on the bed if you move my blankets."  I reminded her that she was not supposed to jump on the bed.  I got an eye roll and she said, 'I don't do it when GROWN UPS are around."  Like, duh. 

At least she's honest.

My Helper

I am tired of being tired and out of shape, so since the boys started actually sleeping at night last week, I decided that this week I would get up 30 minutes earlier this week so I could at least get in mini workouts before work.  I'm sure you can guess what that means - the boys have NOT been sleeping this week, but that hasn't deterred me from working out.

Amazingly, I got through most of my workout on Monday and all of my workout on Tuesday without little helpers.  Not so much today.  The boys slept better last night, but that meant Michael was up at 5:15 checking on me.  I tried tucking him back in, but by 5:45, he was up for the day.

I wasn't going to let that deter me.  I dragged his high chair to the living room so he could watch me, and gave him some toast and milk.  He liked that for a few minutes.  But he really liked the DVD I was doing.  He kept shouting "Kick!  Kick!" and kicking his tray.  It wasn't long before he exclaimed "Done!" and wanted down to join in the fun.

I can't say I got in much of a workout this morning, but Michael and I did have fun.  He thought it was the best dance party ever.  He actually did a remarkable job of imitating what was happening on the TV, especially the big arm movements.

When the workout ended, he and I sat on the floor, and I read him a book before rushing off to get ready for work.  As I was getting ready for work, he got all moany.  By that time, he had woken up Jeff (going to the side of the bed and asking, "Dad?  Dad?  Dad?" combined with the moaning will do it), and Jeff asked him if he wanted to go back to bed.  He said, "Yeah."  So I went to tuck him back in bed.  We stopped at the refrigerator on the way so he could have a sip of cold water.  That's when he spied the leftovers from last night's dinner and started frantically pointing at them.

I made a Mexican casserole last night, and Michael was not going to sleep without first filling his belly with it.  So he had black beans, tomatoes, onions, corn, and zucchini for breakfast.  With a little dry cereal on the side.  Unconventional, but I really can't complain.  (And he's not alone.  One day last week Leon spied leftover shrimp gumbo in the fridge and he made it clear that NOTHING was going to happen until he ate it.  He would eat no other foods, he would participate in no other activities.  He wanted shrimp gumbo RIGHT THEN.)

Eventually, I made it out the door to work.  Later Jeff told me that shortly after I left, Michael went and sat down in front of his bedroom door, and repeated, "Done!" over and over until Jeff picked him and tucked him in bed.  I guess Michael had completed his mission.  He had entertained Mom and kept her company all morning, so now he could relax and get some sleep.  Stinkpot.

SLEEP!

Everyone in our house slept all night last night.  Wait.  Let me say that again.  EVERYONE in OUR house slept ALL NIGHT last night.  The kids, the dogs, Jeff, and me.  No one needed a drink or had a potty emergency or had inexplicable insomnia.  The last sound from the kids was around 9:30 and then it was quiet until almost 7:00 this morning.  Even Jeff and I were in bed by 10:30 and slept until 6:20.  Who knew this was possible?

Of course now I have hope that this could happen again...