If you and I have ever talked about children sleeping then you know that Connor was a terrible sleeper as a baby. I didn't have this blog back then, which is just as well since every entry would have been titled "I'm exhausted!", so I can't go back and link to a very long post detailing all the intricacies of getting Connor to lay in his bed asleep. It was a feat, let me tell you. I would spend 45 minutes of the most precise movements to get him to lay down for a nap. And when that was done, I would sit in the chair in his room and wait. I knew that he would be up in about 15 minutes. There wasn't even a chance to go downstairs.
The only thing that got me through that time was knowing it would just be a little while longer. Just a few more months and he will start sleeping through the night. Don't lose it now! You can do it. This won't last forever. Thankfully, I didn't know the truth!
Don't get me wrong, there have been periods of time when he has slept through the night. I just didn't think I would still be having this conversation with myself. We've been through teething, we've made it through leaky diapers, we've found every lost pacifier, and we even survived the perfectly smooth blanket obsession. However, I really do think we are currently working on the last hurdle. Going to the bathroom alone!
I've been talking up the "big boy-ness" of going potty all by himself. I finally got him to agree, at least in theory. So then we worked out the lighting, hall light on. He knows what to do, we've been over it a couple of dozen times. Tonight was the first real trial. He called me up there at about 9:30. "Mommy!! I have to go paaaaaaaaaay!"
Now I don't think we are the only parents in the world who break out the good snacks AFTER the kids go to bed. They get a couple of pieces of Halloween candy, and we get to take huge spoonfuls of raw cookie dough into the living room. You know the drill. Anyways, so there I was cookie dough in mouth as I went up stairs to encourage my 3.5 year old son to go to the bathroom by himself. I told him I would wait in his room and he can go potty alone. He told me he knows how.
"You get out of bed." Hops out of bed.
"You walk to the bathroom." Walks like a robot out of the room.
He probably had commentary in the bathroom but I couldn't hear.
"And then you go back to sleep!" Hops back into bed and lays down.
I told him what a good job he did and leaned in to give him a kiss on the cheek.
"What's that smell?!"
"huh?" I swear that boy just smelled cookie on my breath!
"It smells like...." Please don't say cookies. Please don't say cookies. "muffins."
"mmm"
So the good news is that our secret midnight desserts are still safe. The bad news is that I have just a little while longer until I can sleep through the night. Right?
Larry had to work Friday night. I was planning on bringing Maddy over to Shaun's but he called at about 2:00 and ruined all my plans with news that his son might have Swine Flu. And since I don't feel like spending Thanksgiving in the hospital with my asthmatic daughter and her Swine Flu I decided to keep her home.
Which left me with visions of serious cabin fever and two stir crazy kids. So I decided to take them to the movies. As luck would have it, Planet 51 was showing at the most perfect time. 4:45.
I got Maddy off the bus at 3:40 and by the time we were unpacked and settled in it was time to go. I'm so out of touch, I was surprised that the movies were busy on a Friday night. Dur. Hey, what do you want? When was the last time I was at the movies at night(ish)? Sometime in 2005 I bet. Anyways, I walk up to the ticket window:
Me: "Hi, 2 kids and 1 adult for Planet 51, please."
Ticket Guy: "For 3:35?"
Me: looking at my watch in a confused fashion "No, 4:45"
Ticket Guy: "$xx.xx" (I don't remember the price.)
Ticket Guy: being confused and pressing buttons "What did you want again?"
Me: "2 kids and 1 adult" Thinking this was obvious since here I stand, one adult, with my two kids.
Ticket Guy: "Oh I gave you 2 adults and 1 kid, you can get a refund inside.... if you want."
Me: "I want."
Which wasn't a big deal, I went inside and they gave me back my $1.50. But as I will find out later the new kid's ticket was for the 3:45 movie.
We got our dinner... er, popcorn. And headed down to theater 10 as I was told to by ticket taker man.
Pause:
There has to be a better design to movie theaters than the one they currently have. First you talk to a person with a microphone through bullet proof glass. Then you go inside and have your ticket ripped in half and be told what theater your movie is in. This seems kinda ridiculous. I have an issue having to talk to people on microphones. I don't think that is the best way to treat your customer. And the bullet proof glass? Not necessary. I mean, banks don't even use that anymore. And just because they are outside is no excuse. There are lots of places that take your money outside and don't feel the need to protect themselves behind 2 inches of plexi-glass. I would think some kind of set up like they have at the zoo would be better. Little booths where you talk to a real person, face to face, pay and then you go inside.
Play:
So I'm carrying my 115 oz drink, purse, sweater, 2 gallons of popcorn, two cardboard trays so the kids can have their own popcorn, AND trying to hold Connor's hand. I make our way to theater 10. We start to go in and the movie is already playing. Now, I KNOW we are not late. So I loudly and disruptively back everyone out of the theater and find a bench to put down all my stuff. I dig my ticket stubs out of my pocket and see that one ticket says theater 10, but the other two say theater 7. Ah. Ok, load back up and drag the kids over to theater 7. Phew!
The movie was ok. Only two bathroom breaks, which is fine. The story line wasn't all that. I could have written it myself. In fact it very much reminded me of the movie Space Chimps, if you've had the benefit of that fine film. I did have a full fledged panic attack half way through where I checked the time every 15 seconds for about 10 minutes. But other than that, it went really well.
By the time we got home it was practically time for bed. So that was perfect. I gave the kids a sandwhich because I think they were suffering from "popcorn tummy" (and you know what I'm talking about if you've ever had popcorn for dinner). Then off to bed!
The movies: a perfect way to kill an evening without actually having to spend time together.
Nothing really going on over here. Same ole'. Same ole'. Maddy went to the zoo today with the Girl Scouts. So cute. She's getting so big. Her troop leader is a trip. She's just enough scatter brained to be fun, and just enough organized to get it all done. I don't know how she does it. My head would explode. Just going to pick Maddy up at the end of her meeting is enough to give me a panic attack.
I only have another month of school. I'm really hoping things calm down after this semester is over. I'm still taking two classes next semester but I won't be going 4 days a week. Just two. So I think that schedule will be less chaotic. Hey, positive thinking is what motivates me to sign up for this torture every six months.
We got our new sleep number bed this weekend. Aw yeah. I've only slept on it once so far, but I think it's going to be good. I was way to excited. I know no one else cares that I got a new bed. But I couldn't contain myself. I love to sleep. It was almost more exciting than getting a new car. I think I was more excited than when I got the van. lol.. that's just wrong.
We had a very Halloweenish weekend. On Friday after lunch Connor and I went to the a little roadside pumpkin patch. We picked out some pumpkins but when we got up to the front to pay I found out they only took cash. So Boo. We had to leave without our pumpkins. I never carry cash. Then later that night Larry and Maddy went to a costume Father-daughter dance. Totally cute. I didn't have a costume for Maddy so I improvised and she went as Dorthy from the Wizard of Oz. She wore the same dress she wore to my brother in law's wedding, which means I have now gotten 3 uses out of that dress. It's a blue and white plaid and we got her little basket that she carried a stuffed little dog in. It was pretty cute. They had a good time. Larry was a pirate.
Then on Saturday we went to the farmer's market down the street. They have a cornmaze, or a corn jungle as Connor calls it. That was fun. Connor really liked it. They also had a barrel train and a bounce house. They had animals too but not a petting zoo. Which I was happy about. You could reach through the fence and pet them if you really had to do that. Connor pet a pig. We ended our day at the farmers market and got some pumpkins and desert honey. Mmmmm.
Today I skipped my first class so that I could go to the library and work on my Math homework. I worked for about a half hour and realized I had some major questions. So I decided to sit in on the class before mine. I knew we were going over the homework and I figured two sessions in a row would probably do the trick.
Pause that story, while I talk about the hot dog guy....
There's a guy at my school who sells hot dogs from a little cart. That's a killer gig, I would assume. I've only seen him a couple of times because he parks near the library and I don't usually go that way. The first time I saw him was a couple of weeks ago and as I walked by I overheard a conversation he was having with a student. I don't remember the whole thing but I left with the distinct impression that the guy was the owner of the cart. Expected.
Today I walked by on the way into the library and overheard that hot dogs cost $3 and he only takes cash. Then, on the way out I was wondering how much he makes from his little cart. Even if he has a whole dollar in costs per hot dog (which I highly doubt) he is making $2 per dog. I have no idea how many he sells each day, but I did think... if he was making good money he would have hired someone to run his cart for him. So it must not be that good.
Ok, so I went to the first round of Math. I've never sat in on this class before. It was kinda weird. It was my class... same teacher, same material... but it was filled with strange faces and inside jokes I didn't get. Anyways, so the girl sitting next to me turns around and asks the girl behind her "So, how did it go?"
The other girl starts talking about an interview she had with the hot dog guy! Seriously! I couldn't believe it. Turns out the hot dog guy makes $600 a day with his little stand. I don't know if that is sales, or profit, but either way... a killer gig. Just as I suspected.
Our across the street neighbor and their neighbor had their cars broken into the night before last. My across the street neighbor had her gym bag stolen and her neighbor had the window broken of her car and her purse was stolen. Sucks. The cameras on our house do actually have a view of their houses so I said I would see what I could see. Which isn't much since it was still dark out when the break-ins occurred. We can see them happen but the quality of the tapes is so bad that it's not really helpful.
First off, I don't know if I have ever really explained my neighborhood but I live on a cul-de-sac that has a grassy area in the middle. Starting from the left is a big area with landscaping rocks and some utility boxes, this is also the bus stop. Then my across the street neighbor who had their car broken into, then their neighbor, then 4 houses, then the idiots, then two houses, then us on the edge of the cul-de-sac.
On the tapes you can see see a white figure come from off screen on the left (the rocks) and walk towards my across-the-street-neighbor's house. He starts to walk by and then turns and goes up to her passenger side and looks in the windows. Then goes to the back and lifts her tailgate and steals her gym bag. Then he walks off camera on the right. He is gone for a few mintues and then comes walking through the grassy middle with the gym bag and walks just off camera on the left bottom. He immediately comes back into view on the left top without the bag. I assume that he put the bag down behind the utility box that is right there and then went to grab a big river rock to break the window. He then walks across and off camera on the right. He's gone for a few mintues and then walks back across and off camera again. Almost immediately on another camera we see a car coming down the street. It's a car that clearly doesn't live in this neighborhood. You can tell the driver is lost in our maze of cul-de-sacs. They drive in one cul-de-sac, drive around it, pull in to the next one and then back out, then drive into ours, drive around the whole thing, once having to back up because they drive in someone's driveway on accident, and then leave the cul-de-sac and drive off camera.
Strange. But it was fun playing detective for a couple of hours. The whole thing makes me want to invest in some better cameras and get some more of them. I wish I could see if that car picks up the theif.
Connor has found puzzles. We bought a 25 piece Mickey Mouse puzzle at the dollar store before we left for Disneyland. Thought it might keep the kids busy in the hotel room for a few minutes. Luckily we forgot about it because I see now that it would have caused a nuclear meltdown for everyone involved.
Puzzles are Maddy's thing. She has been whipping 25 piece puzzles together since she was 2. She was impressive with them, really. Connor has different interests. He has never shown any interest in any of the things Maddy liked to do as a toddler, puzzles included.
However, Larry got out the new Mickey puzzle for him yesterday morning and the two of them sat down and put it together. Connor was frustrated with it. Doing typical boyish things like forcing pieces together and then throwing them across the room. But he was also determined to get it. Him and Larry did the puzzle together several times, then him and I did it once. Then we were both tired of it and Connor worked for the rest of the day on it by himself. Seriously, he probably spent a good 5 hours working on this puzzle.
He did finally get it though! He isn't one to give up. He KNOWS he has the ability and he just can't let it go until he figures it out. He is obsessive about it. We went out while he was working on it and the second we walked back in the house he yelled "My Puzzle!" and went running over to the table. That determination pays off most of the time. But I can see that if Maddy had been around she would have wanted to do it for him... you know, to "help"... and Connor would have flipped out.
