Bed Time Update

He did awesome last night! I am so pleased! I hope tonight goes equally as well. Here is what we did.

6:40pm - Set the egg timer for a 5 minute warning for bath time.

6:50pm - Got him in the bath and set the timer for 10 minutes. (He was very cooperative, which is unusual - getting him in and getting him out.)

7:00pm - Set the timer for 10 minutes while we put jammies on and ate bed time snack, all the while counting down the minutes to book reading time.

7:10pm - Read three books and said family prayers (specifically asking special blessings for Liam to sleep and go to bed and listen to his Mom and Dad).

7:20pm - We explained if he sleeps in his bed without getting up, he'd keep all three of his cars. We'd take away a car each time he got up. 3rd strike would mean closing the door. He opted to sleep on our floor without his cars (this is a first). He went to sleep no problem, no car clanking, no fuss.

I guess I'd rather him choose where to sleep and stay there then changing his mind 10 times before he actually settled down (all the while clanking and playing with his cars). We'll keep the no car rule if he sleeps in our room and see how that goes. He's never slept without his cars the past few months. These are his "friends":

Bedtime Battles - Suggestions Welcome

Bedtime is the pits at our house.

We are feeling pretty defeated by our child.

We try to keep a routine and get him to bed around 8pm every night. On average it takes 90 minutes for Liam to actually go to sleep somewhere.

We start in his bed... then he decides to lay on his floor... then he decides he NEEDS Daddy's side of the bed, then Mom's side, then, then, then, then... and sometimes he ends up on our bedroom floor.

The foot is down the first hour, then we start to not care and get frustrated and finally say,

"SLEEP SOMEWHERE! Just close your eyes and do it anywhere you choose! Just sleep!"

THEN... between the hours of midnight and 3am he wakes us up by, 1) trying to come sleep with us or, 2) needs comfort as he whines and throws fits from his own bed.

Sometimes we are so exhausted that one of us will give up our spot on the king size bed for Liam and go sleep in HIS bed!

It's absolutely ridiculous! (Though we know a lot of this is typical toddler stuff, it's still about to drive us insane.)

One thing I suggested to Ian was shutting the whole house down at 8pm and going to bed at the same time... then Liam would know he wasn't missing our after hours party. (Yeah, that probably won't be happening.)

Today I read this article. Ian is going to go pick up an egg timer and we are going to try some different methods tonight.

We know we are not alone. Some of you may have 2 or more kids that have done this to you. Please comment and give us as much advice you can think of. We may have tried it before, but any input is appreciated. We'd like to get out of the bribery. Our child is very spoiled with the constant bribes. We've got to break that cycle and fast. Thanks in advance for your help!

P.S. Shutting his door is not an option... he's been scared crazy of his door being shut since about May. We have to accommodate that fear for now.

Old Post to keep you busy

I have not been in the mood to journal. So go check this old post out and have an old laugh about it.

I'll be back soon.

Oktoberfest at Snowbird

My parents were in town the latter part of September. Mom always wants to do something outdoorsy, so I planned on taking them up to Snowbird for Oktoberfest. We also hoped to ride the tram, alpine slides and zip lines. There was a bit of moisture coming and going so they never opened the alpine slides or zip lines, but we did get to ride the tram and later experienced some German cuisine.

While we waited for the tram ride, we shopped a bit. Grandpa bought Liam a crocheted winter beanie hat and Liam was so tickled with it!

As we were loading the tram to embark on our ride the summit of the mountain (11,000 ft.), Grandpa started acting nervous. He wasn't so sure the tram wouldn't break or malfunction... and summitting a mountain was all of the sudden scary! I couldn't help but laugh as I continued to reassure him it was going to be worth his while (and not dangerous).

The ride was beautiful! Grandpa's anxiety continued, but once we got to the top and he got on solid ground, he was amazed. The temperature dropped 30 degrees in our short trip and the weather was sporadic. It started to hail for 30 seconds, then it stopped, sprinkled, stopped, then it was just windy and cold. We had 20 minutes to take in the views. It was just breathtaking up there! Grandpa was glad he went but had his fill of the "outdoors" on this trip.

Oh and if you are wondering about the bandanna or hanky around Liam's neck... that is my new way of saving his shirts. He now wipes his nose and mouth on the hanky instead of his collar! A must for an allergy nose year round (and definitely for meals).

2 years, 11 months

Dear Son,

You've had a tough week.

Last Sunday you had a 101º fever. My parents were here visiting so Grandpa and Daddy gave you a blessing.

Monday you seemed fine. We went to Kangaroo Zoo and you jumped and slid to your heart's content. Grandma and Daddy were just like little kids too, following after you and playing non-stop!

Tuesday you weren't yourself... ornery... and dare I say rotten.

Wednesday you were sweet and obedient.

Thursday seemed normal.

Friday you had sores in your mouth so we knew for sure you had been suffering from hand, foot and mouth. I stayed home with you.

2am Saturday morning was the beginning of 5 bouts of vomit. So all of Saturday you were lazy, clingy and exhausted. We hung out in bed for a few hours watching movies and playing with your aquadoodle. You brought a puzzle in and once you got it together, you fell asleep for a couple hours. Your day was a boring one until I went to the R.S. Broadcast and you were left in Daddy's care. He and Uncle Drew took you fishing and you caught your first fish! We were all so proud of you!

Today you slept in until after 10am! You let me hold you for an hour or two while you slept. It was nice to laze, doze and enjoy having you nuzzle close. You've seemed back to yourself after that good sleep... though you still aren't eating.

All ills aside, things have been typical toddler life. Another 4 weeks of learning and growth has passed us by. You are very strong willed and becoming a bit of a sass lately. We are sometimes found speechless as to how to respond to your stubbornness and bossy demands. Yet another stage that we hope will soon pass. And when it passes, we hope the begging for treats all the live long day will too.

In the meantime (during the non-boogery moments), you love... singing made up songs, anything made of sugar, the book Daddy Kisses when Daddy reads it to you, saying "holy moly" over and over, dinosaurs, puzzles, saying hello to strangers, bump-bumps in the road, WATER, Lightning McQueen gummy vitamins, jumping on and off anything, slides, saying good night to the moon and good morning to the sun, your tricycle and going faster than the monsters who are soooo slow.

You are my cute little cowboy! Living life without you would be boring.

Love you always,
Mom

Resource - 94 ways to keep 'em busy

I found this post and had to bookmark it here for me to find later... lots of ideas to keep little ones busy busy.

Costume in the making

Two years ago, my sweet mother in law made Liam the cutest lion costume.

This year she is making him another costume... I can't wait to see the final product. We got a sneak preview last week when she was visiting. He's going to be a little Bat Man! And the cape is probably going to be used on a regular basis for years to come. Every little boy needs a super hero cape!

A Good Day

Liam was so well behaved all day long yesterday!

When I dropped him off at the sitter, he gave me about 20 consecutive kisses and hugs and happily let me go to work.

When I picked him up, Kate, his sitter, was raving about his awesome behavior all day long!

I was hesitant that it would last much longer than the ride home. Since dinner time through bedtime has always been the witching hour(s) for him since birth...

Liam proved me wrong!

He played nicely and stayed out of trouble. He listened to us for the most part! He was even okay with going upstairs to take a bath early! He didn't drown the bathroom with water! He got out of the tub in a timely manner. He let Daddy put on his PJ's rather quickly. He didn't ask for more books after the agreed upon total of three. He was reverent during prayers. He fell quickly to sleep at 8pm (on the nose) as I rubbed his little back.

Heaven.

I then went to bed to read my book and promptly went to sleep at 10pm (two nights in a row for me).

Back on Track

Well I finally finished Breaking Dawn last night! Finally! I take a long time to read books. I am a slow reader and I only read after Liam has gone to bed and after any other tasks are done around the house or whatever... And I don't stay up past midnight much anymore. So this book took me a little over a week. Molasses compared to everyone else I know that read it in 24 hours. I loved the story. I think Stephenie Meyer did an awesome job on this one. Other than Bella's naming conventions, she finally had it together in this book! Finally!

Anyway, I didn't report our trip to Idaho yet. It's been over a week since we got back so here goes... We had a nice stay with Katie and Josh. Alli was out of town with friends, so we missed her, but Isaac, Jacob and Liam had a blast together! Liam was particularly fascinated with Jacob. I am not sure if it's because he has another favorite friend named Jacob in our neighborhood or if it was because Katie's Jacob was such a patient and loving "big brother" to him while we were there. I didn't have to worry about Liam at all during our stay. Jacob seemed to have it covered. All I had to do was change diapers and bathe him.

I really enjoyed the twins during this visit. I haven't had that connection with them since they were babies and living across the street from us. Every time we've gone up to visit, they were at a stage where they took a bit to warm up to "strangers" and the time we had was so short. This time, I just couldn't get enough of those sweet 4 year olds! They were sooo adorable and thoughtful and smiley. Katie is one lucky mama! I know she is happy to have them in the 4 year old stage. We had a few conversations about the 2 and 3 year old stages and how difficult it can be. I look forward to the day Liam gets better control of himself. I am enjoying him the best I know how for now. He can be a total sweetheart, but he can also be a defiant monster. Good thing I love him so so much! And good thing I have Ian to offset the times when I do lose my cool.


Back to the Idaho fun... Saturday night we went to the fair and rodeo. Liam held tight to Jacob's hand most of the evening. The three boys played in the rocks for awhile before the rodeo and then they all did pretty well sitting in the stands eating junk and watching all the animals and cowboys.


We sat with Katie's family at the rodeo. It was fun to watch Jayci. I think I had my eyes on her more than the rodeo. Just a sweet little baby girl she is! Kari was so nice to let me hold her and take photos of her darling face.



Katie, Kari, Judy and I went and stood in the Elephant Ear line for awhile before the rodeo ended. Once we got those massive scones back to the stands, and even with the guys' help... Nobody could finish their Elephant Ear. They were just so BIG! I think all of us had our fair share of too much fried fair food that night, so we just couldn't pack away any more grease. It was all so yummy though!


Overall, we had a nice weekend. Katie took me out to lunch on Monday before we left town. She was so sweet to see I was a little stressed with Liam's grumpiness while our men were out golfing that morning. She called a sitter and we took off - alone! Sweet peace! Thank you, Katie. It was so nice to spend some alone time with you.

Oh I guess I should report that Ian's first 24 hours in Idaho were not fun ones. He had something irritating his eye and had to go to the ER a couple times and then to an Ophthalmologist Saturday afternoon. He was just miserable for a bit there... We were all glad that the doctors could help him so he could still join us at the fair and rodeo Saturday night.

Here he is trying to hide his eye patch. He still looks cute to me!

MIA

Sorry I've been ignoring Liam's blog and everyone else's. This past week has been a busy one. We went up to Katie's Private Idaho over the long holiday weekend and enjoyed our stay with them. And while Ian drove to and from Idaho, I read Breaking Dawn. I am still reading it and so that is my real excuse for not uploading and organizing my photos to share with you all. You'll see some reports and photos in the next couple days though. Hang tight.

2 year, 10 months

Dear Son,

Here we are again and you’ve grown another month more…

We shared a birthday yesterday. You were so excited when I told you it was my birthday so you replied, “It’s my birday too!” You were correct since you are now only two months away from turning three! As tall as you are getting, it’s odd to be calling you a two year old at all. The way you’ve been eating the past week or so, I think you are due for another growth spurt, so you may be looking like a four year old by the time you are three!


The past month has been one full of change. You started day care a little over a week ago and are adjusting well to it. You don’t take naps there so you seem more tired than usual, but you always have good things to report about your time away from us. The first day I dropped you off, I could barely fight back the tears. Though I was comfortable with the caretakers, it hit me hard that nevertheless I left you with strangers. It hurt again the next day and then I was fine with it though I missed you so so so much during my long work day. We had a nice weekend together so yesterday when I dropped you off, my heart sunk again. I didn’t want to let you go.

It’s interesting how connected we are and how hard it is for me to let someone else take care of you. You, on the other hand, are fine with kissing me good-bye and sending me on my way. It’s certainly a blessing that you are an extremely social little boy. When I have you back in my arms again, you are excited to see me and tell me about your day. At bed time we’ve been reading books and snuggling… I love how tickled you are with that time alone with me. You are so sweet to give me kisses and hugs, more than once. The “I love you’s” are passed back and forth… and then you reply back to me that I am the best after me telling you that you are the best. Sometimes you agree and say, “yes, I the best” instead and I love that too!

Savoring you is sometimes a challenge, but I am trying so hard to make my time with you count more now that I have less time. In the working hours that I am away from you, I am grateful for this journal and all the photos I’ve collected of you. I am able to take a break and stare at your beautiful face, tilt my head and think “awe… I am so lucky”… then go back to work! I miss you so much during the week days.

Thanks for making me laugh.
Thanks for saying you are sorry.
Thanks for minding your manners.
Thanks for brightening my days.
Thanks for always loving me.

“Between the innocence of babyhood and the dignity of manhood, we find a delightful creature of a boy.”

Loving you always,
Mom

Dinosaur Museum

We met up with Kara, Joslyn and Jered at the Dinosaur Musuem. The admission was only $2, so it was pretty crowded. Uncle Drew came with us too. It's always fun to have him with us. Liam loved all the exhibits and was very interested in the water table, but it was so crowded he couldn't play. We decided we'd pay full price another time so he could enjoy it fully.

More Harvesting

Just a warning, I can't get enough garden veggie photos of Liam. I just love how excited he gets over this almost-daily activity! So here are more for now and there will be more to come well into the fall.

Here he is on Friday evening...


And here he is after church today searching out "Liam's matoes"... His are the yellow pear tomatoes. He knows when they are ready and eats them all while still outside!


Mom's lesson of the day: White shirts don't survive a forest of tomato foliage. His shirt now looks like a full tie-dye of grass stains.

Liam a year ago...

I found these clips on an old memory card last week. I had to post how small he was and how little he spoke! Such a different kid a year later!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Wednesday Harvest & Thursday Horse Feedin'

Wednesday night we three went out to the garden and found A LOT of treasures! Liam was so excited as he took each one into the house... well the first three things. Then he told me he couldn't do it anymore, so Ian helped me get everything into the house.

Thursday night I had a goal to take Liam to see the horses down the street. I have seen other people feeding carrots to them and I've been told that they are friendly horses... so before I had to go visiting teaching, we packed up some cucumbers and carrots and triked/walked down the street. Liam was so tickled with the whole experience... mainly watching me do all the feeding. But before we left, he took the two carrots he was snacking on and held out his hand flat to give them to that needy-eyed horse.




Notice in this photo that he had tried to feed this guy carrots for the first time and got freaked out and dropped them.

New Bedding

I painted the twin size headboard and the shelf that is in Liam's room. Both were an almost white beach wood, so the manly espresso was a welcome change.

Then last week the new bedding came in the mail and Liam immediately helped me put it on his bed. He was thrilled with the pillow sham mainly, but ever since that day he's welcomed anyone willing to come up to his room to see his new bed!

Oh and I had forgotten I bought a fish pillow for him months ago and put that on as the finishing touch. I am shooting for a nautical theme... He was so grateful for the fish pillow and thanked me profusely for it!

League Night

Well, not really, but we did take our friends to the bowling alley last Tuesday when we found out the roller rink was closed.

Liam used his muscles once again to lift those heavy bowling balls. After a few rounds using the ramp, he decided that was for the birds. He started tossing the ball down the alley, sending it into slow motion. He got a couple strikes and a few spares with both methods though. A better score than his mom.

(I had some priceless video of him trying to throw the ball and falling to his knees each time, but I accidently erased my whole memory card and was only able to recover a few photos.)