Ever since Adam was a baby I have been saying “Here..comes..the..kissing monster!” and showering him with kisses on a regular basis.
Just recently he started saying “It’s not the kissing monster! It’s Mummy!”
Too smart for me…
Category Archives: Adam
What I Have To Say About The New TV Study About Under Threes
And how much ‘screen time’ a child should have.
Feck.Off.
He’s my son. I’ll decide what’s good for him.
End Of The First Week Of School
One missed day due to fever.
Welcome to my son and new children’s germs.
Sigh.
When You Walk To School…
You get to see the men unloading trucks in front of Iceland and get to watch the lift on the back of the truck go up and down.
You get to see a train at the train station and get to watch it leave.
You get to see how many front doors you can count.
You get to jump into puddles.
You get to say hi to lots of dogs.
You get to carry an umbrella.
You get to point out all the flowers and berries you see.
So who would want to drive?!
And So School Begins…
And Adam had a very wet walk to and from school today. But we did it. More importantly, he did it, with really no fuss. Despite being soaked by the time we got home. And cold!
Although I gave us an hour to go the 1.3 miles to school this morning, we did it in my actually predicted time of 45 minutes. So we’ll leave the house 10 minutes later tomorrow, giving us a bit of a cushion, just in case.
Of course, that 45 minutes includes the million years (hyperbole at it’s best) it takes to get a green light at Finaghy Crossroads. We probably actually walk for about 35. I kid you not.
To be fair, we have three lights to wait for, but the one at the Crossroads definitely takes the longest!
The nice thing about the walk to school is that it’s mostly down hill.
Which, obviously, means the walk home is mostly up hill.
But we made it home in about 45 minutes as well.
Including the 10 million years waiting at the Crossroads…
Making A Hard Decision…
So for the past two weeks or so I’ve been sleeping really really badly. Nothing in particular is going on, just my weird brain chemistry that once in awhile sends me into early morning wake ups. As in 0400 and earlier.
Adding to that is the fact that Adam has been having some mild nightmares. They are so mild that, although he cries out in his sleep and disturbs me, he doesn’t even wake up. But once I’ve heard him, I’m on red alert until I am sure he’s back to sleep. Which means I am up for sometimes an hour, or more, as I resettle myself again.
There is also the weird thing that he seems to have these just as I am managing to drift back off after a ridiculously early awaking. And then I have to resettle me to get back to sleep. And then the alarm goes off…
So I made the decision today to turn off the baby monitor once I’m in bed.
I have agonized over this decision. Simon and I agreed, long before Adam was much more than a lump in my tummy, that we’d never leave a baby to cry. We agreed that it was mean and just not worth the agony. When a baby cries, it needs something. And sometimes that thing is just it’s mummy and/or daddy.
It’s been a tough 3 years of bad sleep for all because of this decision, but at this point Adam more or less goes to bed on time and falls asleep on his own, in his own bed. He has wobbles, he’s 3 after all, and sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night asking to sleep with me. And I do.
But for the most part he sleeps and sleeps well.
Except for his disturbed dreams. Which seem to pass quickly. And then he’s sound asleep and I’m wide awake.
So tonight the monitor goes off.
I’m still not exactly sure how I feel about it…
Quick add now that I’ve seen a comment…he can’t come get me. His door is gated as he can’t be trusted to come and get me and not just go downstairs on his own and do who knows what. Also, the doors in our house are really hard to open when closed and I can’t sleep with my door open. That’s why we’ve had the monitor so long!
After More or Less a Full Day in Bed
I feel much better.
Well enough to make apple muffins with my son, even.
Some how we wound up with a ton of apples. So I found a recipe and we set to work.
Adam, as always, was eager to help, grabbing his step stool and getting right to work. He, as always, is chief in charge of stirring, button pushing and scrambling eggs. He’s a pro at all of these things. Here you can see him getting ready for the next step. He’s already put the liners in the muffin tin.
You many note the Cars 2 plaster on his head. That’s because he managed to fall twice in 3 days, landing on the same place on his forehead each time. It’s mostly just a long scratch, but there is also a lovely green bruise.
In any event, after he put the liners in the tin, he got ready to stir!
He is a fantastic stirrer. Here he is mushing butter up before we added the rest of the wet ingredients.
At this point, we got too busy for Mummy to keep snapping, so you’ll just have to take my word that next we incorporated the dry ingredients and then he helped hold down the button on the mini-chopper to get the apples into nice small chunks.
And here you can see the finished product!
I’m not 100% happy with the recipe. I think it needs more sugar and more apple and more cinnamon, so I will adapt in the future to make it better.
But Adam and Simon think they are quite good.
And, most importantly, Adam and I had fun.
I’m Not Doing Very Well…
Adam has been having nightmares, which he seems to sleep through, but once I hear one I can’t resettle to sleep until I’m sure he’s moved through it so I wind up awake for at least 20 minutes, sometimes an hour.
We think something is going on at his daycare, although they say there isn’t. He’s only there for 5 more sessions and then it’s child minder and school so we’re just going to plow through.
Anyway, lack of sleep is making me sore and grumpy and not feeling like doing anything except sleep and eat. Really great for the eating plan, no?
So there you go. Now you know why no updates.
Hopefully I’ll get some sleep this weekend.
I’ve Been Feeling Really Well
Which is nice.
And then Adam became three. Seriously. Over night. My sweet, co-operative little boy turned into a difficult, disobedient tyrant.
Otherwise known as a three year old.
No always, of course. He still is mostly a sweet little boy. I wouldn’t call him co-operative, though.
And bedtime is a nightmare lately.
But…
This too shall pass.
The Question I Always Hesitate To Answer
There are, always, a million threads on Mumsnet and, I’m sure, other parenting sites asking ‘at what age did you child sleep through?’
I never know if I should chime in or not.
On the one hand, if your child is 6 months and you read ‘Well, consistently and on his own, in his own bed? Around 2.5’ you may cry for days. On the other hand, if your child is 2.4, it might give you hope!
Because that’s the true answer around here. Adam was just around 2.5 when he began truly sleeping on his own, in his own bed, all night long.
And even now at 3.1? Sometimes it doesn’t happen. Sometimes he wakes up at 4am and gets brought into bed with one of us. Sometimes he wakes up at midnight and settles back in his own bed on his own.
But most nights? He sleeps 715 – 630.
And it’s pure bliss.