Strong Willed Matthew

So the past couple of weeks Matthew has decided to make nap time and bed time a challenge for mom and dad. This week he decided to make it impossible. Before we even go to his room he says, "will you lay with me for one song"? I tell him I will and then after the one song, everything starts to go down hill. The crying, begging, and pleading begins. Wednesday night he woke up at 11 and was up and down the rest of the night. Drew and I took turns laying on his floor and I'm not sure he ever fell soundly asleep until about 5:30. Until yesterday, I have been able to leave his door open and he has stayed quiet but not napped. I know he needs a nap because if go anywhere in the car, he's sound asleep. Yesterday I had had enough and decided it was time to "re-ferberize" him. I laid with him for one song told him I loved him and it was time to go to sleep. He SCREAMED for about 5 minutes and then he was relatively quiet. The next thing I know, Molly is screaming! What in the world? I go upstairs and somehow, Matthew has managed to quietly climb out of his crib and go into Molly's room. Oh man! I calm Molly down and lay her back down then put Matthew in his room kicking and screaming because his genius plan did not go as planned. I sat outside his door for 35 minutes while he wailed and finally he was quiet and asleep! The poor kid woke up very hoarse and not happy with me. I tried to warn him not to mess with me. It continues to amaze me how irrational 2 year olds are. I promised him a new truck, his obsession, if he went right to sleep without crying. Bribery? Yes, but I was desperate. Last night the crying lasted 25 minutes and he slept through the night! I feel like I have a 4 month old again.

Despite Matthew's sleep issues we have had a fun week. Tuesday we had Allison and her kids over to play. The kids played inside for a while and then we took a trip to the pond to feed the ducks.

Tuesday night I had a great dinner with my friend Annie. It was so nice to catch up with her!

Wednesday, we took a trip to the library and then I had another girls dinner that night. Lucky me! I went to Sugo's with my bible study girls to celebrate my mom's birthday. It was a great restaurant and reasonable.

Thursday I dropped Molly off with my mom and then the boys and I met Allison and her boys at the zoo. We got there as soon as the rain stopped and it was a great zoo day. My boys are always obsessed with the train. We had a talk on the way down that the zoo is to see animals so that is the main focus. I told them we could ride the train but once it was over we would not talk about the train again. Luckily, the train was the first thing we did and they were pretty good about focusing on the animals after that. We rode the carousel and looked at lots of animals. It was so nice to be there with just the boys and not have to worry about Molly getting to hot or bored. Thanks mom and Allison for a great day. Of course the boys fell asleep before we even left the parking lot and woke up when we got to my mom's to get Molly...oh well.




Friday we had a really fun playdate with a bunch of Andrew's Little School friends. One of the mom's invited everyone over to play. (How brave is she?) Of course we always cause a scene. As soon as we got there the boys wanted to play in the basement. I took them down, then brought Molly back up to chat with the other moms. As soon as my foot hit the top step, I heard Matthew start screaming. He wasn't so sure about being left down there with the other kids. I tried to calm him down while holding Molly so one of the moms offered to hold her, at which point we discovered he had pooped. So I changed Molly with my big helper Matthew and then we were all good. Matthew warmed up and ventured away from me a few times to find trucks. Andrew of course was no where to be seen except to eat lunch. Then when I went to find him to leave, I discovered Superman instead!