We've Arrived

1. I am now officially annoying and embarrassing to my son. When I speak Spanish to him, sing along to Christmas songs in the car, stop him from doing something inappropriate...all of these things and more are cause for an exasperated, "Stop, Mom!" Wow! Are we here already? I think we have arrived.

2. Both kids are able to get out of their beds now. We took the side off of Anna's crib a few weeks ago making it a toddler daybed. We waited a long time, we know, but why in the world would you take a child out of a crib unless he/she was crawling out and risking injury? That was our MO, but then Anna asked for a "big girl bed," and we figured we'd give it a try and put the rails back on if she was getting up too much. However, unlike Noah, she stays in her bed, still sleeps all night, and waits for her alarm clock to turn green in the morning (7 am) before coming out to find us (sometimes she complains that she had to wait "forever" for it to turn green). Again, this is VERY different from the scenario with Noah. From the moment he could get out of his crib, which we quickly converted to a toddler bed, he has been waking up and coming to crawl in bed with us. This started before his second birthday and just stopped a few months ago (he's almost 5) due to a sticker chart and the reward of a toy after so many nights of staying in his own bed. Once again, Jon and I are sleeping alone...alone but together. We've arrived!

3. Together the kids will play on PBSkids.org for a good 20 minutes while I get ready in the morning. We don't let Anna play alone, but if Noah is with her they actually play nicely on there together. I know it's still screen time, but I like it better than having them watch TV because at least it requires some thought and interaction with each other. Having another option to keep them close to where I am (so I can keep an eye on them) and occupied while I get ready is great. We've arrived!

4. I can let them play unsupervised for 20 minutes and usually the only thing that happens is that the basement gets trashed. They do really well at getting into their own little games (Mary and Joseph, going to school, tying a jump rope to the banister and swinging off the stairs from it like they're jungle creatures swinging over a mud puddle--yeah, that's one I had to put a stop to) and aside from breaking a few things here and there, they play nicely together for longer and longer stretches of time. Now I can make lunch or supper in peace and feel fairly certain that they are not hurting each other or something too valuable while I'm out of sight. Mind you, I'm still listening quite carefully and checking in with a, "you guys okay down there?" every now and then. We've arrived.