Bedtime milestone

Not long ago I realized Cordelia was two years old and still sleeping in a crib. I guess I was waiting for the time when I had to put her in a regular bed like the boys. Then I realized she was a girl and she may never try to scale the sides of the crib like the boys were doing at 18 months old. New beds for the boys were a necessity and for Cordelia it just hasn't been that way yet. Finally the other day I got her crib converted to the toddler bed. Cordelia loved her new bed and I was excited for her. Then it got close to bedtime and I realized what I had done to myself. No more "trapping" Cordelia in her bed. She was now free to get up at will. What did I do when the boys went through this milestone? I really had to think about it because it seems so long ago. Cordelia has always been pretty good about going to bed so I tried to lay her down and let her be. That did not work. Not even close. So I laid down next to her. She did toss and turn and talk some, but I was lucky enough to discover her weakness. I rubbed her back. Instant quiet. Tonight she was having a hard time settling down so I told her to rollover and I would rub her back. She rolled right over and again instant quiet and asleep within 10 minutes. Last night she did really good. I laid with her during halftime of the game, but when the 3rd quarter started I got up even though she wasn't asleep. Amazingly she stayed in bed and fell asleep by herself. I remember this being a real difficult stage (for me) when the boys got their own beds. Maybe Cordelia won't be as bad. The only problem now is that I wake up with an extra little body next to me in the morning.

Aladdin

On New Year's Eve I let the boys stay up late and watch a movie. I knew they wouldn't make it to midnight and besides I wouldn't want to deal with them the next day even if they could. They still thought it was quite a treat to stay up late and have candy like at the movies. The boys picked Aladdin to watch, which is one of my all time favorite movies. I still know it word for word and could still watch it over and over. I'm not sure if Torii has ever really sat down and watched it so this was really the first time he's seen it. I've never viewed the movie from a five year old's eyes, but I never realized that Aladdin is a little "violent". Torii got a little anxious that Aladdin was stuck in the cave. "Are they going to get out of the cave?" "Are they going to die?" Then after Jasmine asked about Aladdin: "What's beheaded mean?" I started to think about what else was coming up that Torii was going to freak out about. Nice, one of my favorite movies and it was going to give him nightmares. He was fine, but the next day he was asking about the genie.
Torii: "What can't you wish for?"
Me: "You can't wish to kill anyone (great more violence), you can't wish to make anyone fall in love with you and you can't wish anyone back from the dead."
Torii: "Who would you wish to fall in love with you?"
Me: (ummm, Jon Hamm) "Your daddy."
Torii: "But he already loves you."
Me: "Then my kids."
Torii: "But we love you."
Me: "Then I don't need to wish that."
Torii: "Who would you wish dead?"
Me: "Nobody."
Torii: "Me neither. Who would you wish back from the dead?"
Me: "Nobody."
Torii: "I'd wish for Winnie and Tigger." (two of my parent's cats)

Gifts from the kids

I'm a little behind in my blogging and haven't gotten around to posting what the kids bought me for Christmas. The boys picked out what they thought I would like without any help from Fred. Rion said I would like some Diet Coke for Christmas. That suggestion made Fred laugh so Rion wanted to pick something else, but Fred told him that was a good idea and that's what I got. It really was a great gift because I woke up Christmas morning really wanting a Diet Coke only to realize I forgot to buy some. Torii got me a game because I like to play games with him. He got me a kids game in which you have to catch fish. So really it was a gift for himself, but it's the thought that counts, right? Cordelia, with help from daddy, got me some pajamas. They were all very nice gifts and it was fun just to see what they picked for me.

Yahtzee

Tomorrow the kids are back in school and no doubt the big topic of conversation will be, "what did you get for Christmas?" I'm hoping Torii leaves out the fact that he got Yahtzee for Christmas. It's a great game and we've had fun playing it, it's just that Torii can't get the name right. I don't know if he just keeps forgetting the name or we've just had too much Indiana Jones around here, but he keeps calling it "Nazi". I didn't know what to say the first time he told me he wanted to play Nazi. So I'm hoping he doesn't tell his classmates and his teacher about his new game Nazi and how much he likes it. He has also told me he's really good at playing Nazi. I keep correcting him, but it's just not sinking in. So hopefully he gets it right or just doesn't talk about it. Or else I hope that's the phone call Fred gets from the school.

Happy New Year

I am currently waiting for the clock to strike midnight. Fred is at work and the kids are asleep. The boys and I watched a movie and ate candy from the movie sized candy boxes. They thought it was cool staying up past their bedtime and eating candy so late. I could go to sleep, but I thought what the heck, I'll stay up until next year. So, I was fooling around with the computer and I learned something new tonight. This is my first hand painted picture. I think I may have found a new obsession.

December Fools

The very short background story to this post is that Torii wanted a new winter jacket from Santa. I was going to wait until next year for new jackets, but Old Navy had a very excellent after Thanksgiving sale so I picked up two jackets. I was just going to give the jackets to the boys, but realized that Torii really wanted a jacket from Santa. So I hid the jackets with the rest of the gifts. On Christmas Eve as Fred and I were taking out all the gifts, I placed the jackets on top of one of the laundry bins. Then I started doing my Santa business; wrapping gifts, stuffing stockings, and hiding all the clues that led them to their Wii. After that was all done, Fred and I ate the Santa cookies, drank the milk and headed to bed. Christmas Day was great. The kids all liked their presents and we spent the day enjoying each other's company as we stayed in, surrounded by snow. The next day I decided to get off my butt and do some cleaning. The house was a real pit of new toys, empty boxes and bits of wrapping paper. I also decided I should get some laundry going while I cleaned. As soon as I walked in the laundry room I saw the two jackets still sitting on top of the laundry bin. Once again I thought about just giving the jackets to the boys, but I thought up a lie and I thought it up quick. I took the jackets to the boys and asked them where these jackets came from, because I didn't buy them. Where did they come from? Do you suppose it was Santa? The boys concluded it was Santa and he forgot to put them under the tree. Torii, for some reason, was talking about April Fools Day earlier in the day so he said Santa did a December Fools on us! I found the perfect jackets for the boys. Torii got an all black one that looks really good with his favorite Steelers hat and scarf.

Rion wanted a "fluffy" jacket like his former one. I found him the ultimate fluffy jacket. He loves it.

Christmas

Today we were housebound as a major storm blew through. There is no travel advised in pretty much all of North Dakota. The interstates and highway 83 are closed. While the weather is frightful, it is kind of nice for us, because Fred doesn't have to go to work tonight. It's unusual to have him home on both Christmas Eve and Christmas. He usually has to go in for one or the other. The weather probably messed up a lot of people's plans, but fortunately we had our family get together last night. We went to my parent's house and enjoyed some good food, family and for the kids-presents. Today we had no plans but to stay in and play with all our new toys. The fridge is filled with leftovers and snacks and the kids were entertained by all their new things so we didn't mind the blizzard. Now it needs to clear up so my sister and her fiancee can make it here and it'll all be good. The kids decorating sugar cookies, which is always a fun mess. I use my mom's tip: Cut out lots of bells and stars. They are the easiest to decorate! I also found a couple of extra large Santa and snowman cookie cutters which I used. They used up a lot of dough so we didn't have a whole lot of cookies to decorate. The only problem was that the kids picked out two of the big cookies for Santa. After eating all evening I really didn't want to eat them, but I would have felt bad just throwing them away.
Cordelia got a stroller for Christmas, which Heidi was insanely jealous over. Kelly-I guess you know what to get Heidi for her birthday!

Rion spent most of his day playing with his new Lego set from Santa. He helped put much of it together, which should help with his fine motor skills. He didn't need much help from me. He just has a mind for stuff like that. He's a builder.

Between the Wii and Torii's Bakugan video game Cordelia didn't have any TV time. She got a new SpongeBob DVD so I let her watch it on the portable in her room. She also got the cat in the picture from Santa.

Torii playing his new Bakugan game. Now maybe I won't have to play pretend Bakugan Battles with him.

We had a very enjoyable Christmas and we hope everyone else did as well!