Odd Bedfellows, Part 2

Not to be out done, Ryan has his whole host of characters he retires with nightly.

(from L to R) Monkey, Froggie, Mousy, Bee, Franklin, Mama Kanga, and Baby Kanga.

FROG-ie, Baa, Pooh, Tigger, Fren-cie (AKA old puppy, Vizzy, Bleu-zy, and what ever it is tomorrow when he wakes up) and Polar Bear.


Of course the others are just supporting cast, these five, well, you don't want to be around here at bedtime if these guys aren't in bed. Snoopy, Nakey Snoopy (he tends to run around with out his ribbon on) Mamma Puppy, Baby puppy, and Kitty.

Happy 4th of July

We had a really fun 4th of July. The day started with a trip to Old Poway Park for "An Old Fashioned 4th of July" The boys got to ride the steam engine, do some fun arts and crafts, and more importantly, pick up some American Flags.

We saw some "black speakers" and the band that was playing through them. We had snow cones, and visited with some friends. We were present when the American Flag was raised, and when the National Anthem was played. We were up too close and personal when the 21 gun salute went off. We also were on one of the Train Robbery/Gun fight trains...now we are having gun fights in the family room. (great)

After naps we went to our friends Dylan, Tyler and Colin's house for a barbecue. It was so fun. CRAZY fun. There were 3 sets of twin boys, all born just a few weeks apart. That's 6 three year old boys! Throw in a 2.5 year old girl, 9 month old boy and a 2.5 month old boy, and there were A LOT of kids!

It was so fun, the kids ran through the water, the house, the yard. There was streaking, by the kids only I swear. There was sharing, and taking of turns. There were very few tears, and really, no fights! The kids were so great. There was hugging and laughing, oh the laughter, is there anything better?

We decided that we would play staying up for fireworks by ear. If the boys were happy, and doing okay, we'd try and let them stay up to see the fireworks. They were happy and really having a great time. It was just us and our hosts left at this point, we were reading books, the kids were in jammies, and then the switch was flipped. Ryan was done. "I want to go home and go to bed!" "I want to go home" "I want to go to sleep in my bed" Evan, was game for anything. "I want to see the fireworks!" Tyler he was on a brownie induced sugar high and was doing his happy dance also ready for anything. Dylan, was cool as long as he was sitting in my lap and I was reading.

After asking Ryan if he was SURE he didn't want to try and stay up to see the fireworks, and getting "I want to go to bed!" in response, we honored our childs wishes and took that poor kid to bed. Seriously, what is wrong with this kid, given every opportunity to stay up well past his bed time, and he wants to go to bed! I love that about him. When he is tired, he is tired. He's not going to push himself, he just wants to stay on schedule.

Fortunately for Evan, he was able to see some fireworks from the car windows on the drive home. We even took a quick trip past the high school so they could see a few up close. Ryan, still wanted us to go home.

Everyone had a really nice time. It was such a pleasure to watch the kids play so nicely, have some grown up time, and enjoy great food! (Thanks again guys!)

We came within a half hour this year, maybe next year I can talk Ryan into staying up past his bed time, AND maybe I can convince him that ice cream is yummy.

Kids these days, geesh.

Odd bedfellows

This is what Evan's bed looks like. I swear I don't know how he sleeps in that thing. There are 3 pillows, 6 blankets, including the "Lady Bug and Flower" blanket that we cannot sleep without. (top right)

Of course we must have the three Ringos. (L to R: Other Ringo, Soft Ringo and Ringo Ringo) Don't even try to go anywhere, or attempt sleeping without all three.
Little Beetle Friend. (new to the mix)

Lady Bug. (Another must have or all is lost. Which is a problem since its really no bigger than a half dollar.)


Lightning McQueen.


Football, Soccer Ball, Basketball and Lady Bug Ball.


A crab and a shark.


Three Sea Stars.


And Six flowers.

No wonder he won't even consider sleeping in a big boy bed...there might not be enough room for everyone!

Christmas Past...and so is New Year's and at this rate this post will be finished around Valentine's Day.

We had a very busy holiday week. Our 500 mile car trip was, let's just say, not pleasant. In the past we have made the trek in the evening and late into the night. The boys have their snack and are off to dream land. The transfer from car to bed has been made with varying levels of success, however the trip is usually filled with lots of sleep and peaceful time for the adults to read, listen to music, or gasp have adult conversations.

The last few trips have seen a sharp decrease in effectiveness, leading up to this year's disaster. Okay, I exaggerate, not really a disaster, but a trip, leaving me shaking my head, covering my eyes, and begging for children to fall asleep.

We had short naps and then, at about 10:30 we woke up and were raring to go. Evan has become quite a motor mouth. Talking about everything, anything and all the time. He was quite the instigator in the mayhem that filled our Odyssey. We were treated to about 3 hours of the little drummer boy, sung at full voice my Evan, with harmonizing vocals from Ryan. We also had several hundred renditions of the ABC song, A few choruses of Jingle Bells, and the singing of every kind of truck that passed the windows.

About an hour from our destination, the debates started. It went a lot better than the Vice Presidential Debates of 2008, everyone stayed on point.

Evan: Evan First
Ryan: Ryan First
Evan: Evan First
Ryan: Ryan First
Evan: Evan First
Ryan: Ryan First
Evan: Evan First
Ryan: Ryan First
Evan: Evan First
Ryan: Ryan First
Evan: Evan First
Ryan: Ryan First
Evan: EVAN FIRST
Ryan: RYAN FIRST
Evan: EVAN FIRST
Ryan: RYAN FIRST
Evan: EVAN FIRST
Ryan: RYAN FIRST
Evan: EVAN FIRST
Ryan: RYAN FIRST
Evan: EVAN FIRST
Ryan: RYAN FIRST
Evan: EVAN FIRST
Ryan: RYAN FIRST

You get the idea...this went on with "Evan go with Daddy/Ryan go with Daddy" and several other phrases, for the rest of the trip. Now, had it not been 12:30 AM, a good 5 hours past their bed time, it would have been pretty funny. (Even so, it was pretty funny.) I was getting more and more concerned with the lack of sleeping. Knowing full well that Evan was sick, and Ryan was due to catch it any second, knowing that we had a lot of activities planned, and knowing that they would not sleep in at all the next morning, and knowing that I was already exhausted, I knew this was going to be a long, long week.

There were several activities that made the highlight reel for us. The first requires that I mention that we are now members of two train museums 500 miles apart. Yes, with our two trips in one week, and the trip we took over the summer, we've paid for the membership (0r would have had we purchased the membership over the summer)

The second exciting activity was the trampoline place. It was amazing. There were trampolines all over the floor and the walls. The boys and their cousin Madison had a blast. So much so I had to take Evan back for another visit. (He is still asking to go back to the trampoline place.)

Oh, and yes, I only took Evan back. That day the boys couldn't agree on one place to go. Ryan voted for the Train Museum, and Evan the trampoline place, so we split them up. It was really fun. Each boy got our undivided attention, and they got to do the thing THEY wanted to do. I love this and I think we will make an effort to do things with them separately more often. Plus it's a piece of cake with only one kid! ( I found myself trying to parent random children I had so much extra time on my hands.)

We also went to the Zoo, "World Famous" it is not, but it was great fun. There was a ride on train, that of course, we rode on, and it was a manageable place where the boys could walk the entire time. Next to the Zoo is Fairytale Town, a fantastic place for little ones. Slides, things to climb on, play on, all based on Fairytales and children's stories.

More important than the places we went, was all of the time we got to spend with family. The boys loved having time with their Aunts and Uncles, Grand Parents, Great Grand Mother, and Cousin. For us, it was really wonderful to "show off" our little guys. They constantly surprise and amaze us, and it's nice to see other people's reactions to all the things we see everyday.

This age is so amazing, everything is absorbed so quickly, remembered and stored in those sponges they call brains. I'm so glad we are storing some great memories in there.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The trip home wasn't as bad as the trip there. Except no one napped, and Evan talked the ENTIRE way home. I swear I don't remember what about, just that Scott and I laughed that he would be hoarse the next day. He wasn't.

Days 3 and 4: I don't want to sleep in bed

Ryan has only climbed out of his crib once each of the last two nights.
I think we may have (knock on wood) fixed this problem.

Day Two: I Don't Want to Sleep in Bed

After last nights hysterics and knowing that tonight Ryan couldn't get out of his room and find his way out of the house and on to the busy street outside our house, I slept in bed. Scott took over Ryan duty, from the couch.

Ryan woke up on cue at 10, caught him on his way out of his crib and I coaxed him back to sleep, in bed. He slept there peacefully until about 3:30 AM when, as Scott reports he climbed out of his crib and was attempting to get out of his room. Scott put him back in bed, told him to stay there. There was crying for no more than about ten minutes and all was quiet.


This is what we found this morning...




For those of you that don't recognize it immediately on sight...he's reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. (or as Evan calls it, yell-ouw Pot-t-ter)

So, we assume, after realizing he couldn't get out, and we were just going to put him back in to bed, he settled himself down to read a little.

*I should have mentioned yesterday that in his antics of climbing out of the crib, he was very rarely alone. Sometimes one Snoopy joined him, sometimes two, sometimes it was two Snoopys and a Pooh.

How many calories do you burn...

...putting a 30 pound child back in to his crib?

I'm sure, when the number is somewhere between 120 and 1000, you burn off enough for an extra big bowl of sunshine, right?

Between the hours of 10 PM and 1 AM last night I picked up Ryan and tossedplaced him gently back into his crib about once every two minutes. I stood at his door while he tossed his leg over the side and hopped right out, and opened the door, for three hours. I slept (and i use that word loosely) on the floor outside his door from about 1:30 (give or take) until 6. (I'm tired)

He started this behavior while we were on vacation. He found out he could easily get in and out of the porta crib. So instead of self soothing, like he's done since birth, he's cried, and cried, and climbed out of his crib to come find someone. I thought he might not do it once we returned home. I thought wrong.

Sunday night I think Scott stayed in the room with Ryan after he climbed out for the fourth time. Last night I knew I had to nip this in the bud right away. Thus my vigil.

Today I stopped at the Depot and got two new door handles. I installed one on Ryan's door before naps. One should never try to install a door handle on a few hours of sleep. I had most of the original hardware off, when I went to work on the handle on the inside of the door. And the door shut. And the handle came off. And I couldn't get out. After a couple of panic filled moments I MacGyver'ed my way out of the room, installed the door knob, and now the boys are asleep. So far, not a peep from a VERY, VERY EXHAUSTED Ryan.

...and I'm looking for big boy beds.