Teeny has launched into a new behavior in the last two weeks, and it's wreaking havoc on our lives right now. For some reason, he's decided to boycott his nap while at daycare. He goes to daycare three days a week, is watched by his grandma (S's mom) two days a week and is home with us on the weekends. When he's with us or his grandma, he sleeps fine. And until two weeks ago, he napped well at daycare, too. But - something has changed.
After lunch, the teachers at Teeny's daycare put down cots for all of the kids, give the their loveys (Teeny has his beloved bear, Boo) and the kids sleep for a couple of hours. But - even though everyone else is asleep - my son now just lays on his cot and plays for two hours. His teachers have tried separating him from the group, rubbing his back, singing to him, all to no avail. He doesn't start getting sleepy until everyone else starts waking up, and at that point, it's too noisy and chaotic for him to sleep.
The problem is, he definitely still needs his nap. At home, he usually sleeps two hours in the afternoon. On the days he doesn't nap at school, he's a mess when I pick him up. He's defiant, whiny, difficult, and obstinate - all normal two-year old behaviors, but not normal for him. By the time I fight him into his car seat to go home, we're both exhausted. He then falls asleep so hard in the car that he usually doesn't even wake up for his dinner. That can't be healthy.
It happened again yesterday when I picked him up, but this time with a new twist. As soon as I got him strapped into the car seat, he started crying "I don't want to fall asleep in the car! I don't want to fall asleep in the car!" over and over again. Until he finally fell asleep in the car.
Boy, I hope this is just a phase. I miss having my nights with him. I only get a couple of hours a day to spend with my little guy on work days, and I lose that time when he falls asleep in the car and goes straight to bed. Come on, Teeny, please take your nap. I miss you!
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
And the elephant went "Pfffft"
Teeny was an elephant for Halloween this year, which is his very favorite animal. He got a lot of use out of his costume, too. We had trick or treat in our neighborhood the week before Halloween (a weird practice in our city is to not have trick or treat on Halloween, but on the weekend before, instead). Then he went with a group of his daycare buddies the following day (a Sunday). On the actual day of Halloween, he got to dress up again and trick or treated both at school and at S's and my place of work. The kid collected enough sugar to feed a small country.
It was a lot of fun taking him trick or treating for the first time. His first Halloween, he was only three months old, so I just put him in his leopard costume, strapped him into a front carrier and had him help me hand out candy. He pretty quickly slumped forward and fell asleep that year, but he was quite a hit with the hundreds of trick or treaters that came by (yes, I said hundreds. Our neighborhood is crazy on Halloween!) Last year, when he was just over one, I dressed him in his costume and brought him outside with me while I handed out candy (yet another oddity of my neighborhood. Everyone who hands out candy sits outside in front of their houses to dispense it). He got to run around in his fun dinosaur costume, but didn't yet get the full trick or treat experience. One of the funniest things about Halloween last year was his trick or treating technique at S's and my office. He'd go to people's desks, get a piece of candy to put in his pumpkin, and then put a piece of candy back into the person's candy bowl. It was very cute.
This year was different. At two, Teeny was ready for the full blown Halloween experience. And he really got into it - he loved saying "trick or treat," getting a pumpkin full of candy and most of all, he loved being an elephant! He kept pulling on his trunk and trying to make an elephant sound, but what came out was "Pffffft" and a lot of spit. It was pretty funny. And messy. He lasted about an hour before he wanted to go back home, at which point he helped hand out candy. Some of the kids were hesitant to let a two-year old stick his hand in their candy bags, but he really loved passing out treats. I think he liked it as much as he enjoyed getting them! Don't tell him this, but we actually recycled his pumpkin - we dumped all its contents into our treat bown and redistributed it to the neighborhood kids. When you get over 300 trick or treaters, you run out of candy fast and must be inventive.
Halloween was a week long marathon here, between the weekend of trick or treating before Halloween and actual day itself. I was pretty burned out with Halloween during that week, but now I'm a little sad to be putting the elephant costume away. It was a lot of fun seeing my little guy thoroughly enjoy a part of childhood I had loved so much, too. And I guess that's part of what makes parenting such a cool adventure, isn't it?
It was a lot of fun taking him trick or treating for the first time. His first Halloween, he was only three months old, so I just put him in his leopard costume, strapped him into a front carrier and had him help me hand out candy. He pretty quickly slumped forward and fell asleep that year, but he was quite a hit with the hundreds of trick or treaters that came by (yes, I said hundreds. Our neighborhood is crazy on Halloween!) Last year, when he was just over one, I dressed him in his costume and brought him outside with me while I handed out candy (yet another oddity of my neighborhood. Everyone who hands out candy sits outside in front of their houses to dispense it). He got to run around in his fun dinosaur costume, but didn't yet get the full trick or treat experience. One of the funniest things about Halloween last year was his trick or treating technique at S's and my office. He'd go to people's desks, get a piece of candy to put in his pumpkin, and then put a piece of candy back into the person's candy bowl. It was very cute.
This year was different. At two, Teeny was ready for the full blown Halloween experience. And he really got into it - he loved saying "trick or treat," getting a pumpkin full of candy and most of all, he loved being an elephant! He kept pulling on his trunk and trying to make an elephant sound, but what came out was "Pffffft" and a lot of spit. It was pretty funny. And messy. He lasted about an hour before he wanted to go back home, at which point he helped hand out candy. Some of the kids were hesitant to let a two-year old stick his hand in their candy bags, but he really loved passing out treats. I think he liked it as much as he enjoyed getting them! Don't tell him this, but we actually recycled his pumpkin - we dumped all its contents into our treat bown and redistributed it to the neighborhood kids. When you get over 300 trick or treaters, you run out of candy fast and must be inventive.
Halloween was a week long marathon here, between the weekend of trick or treating before Halloween and actual day itself. I was pretty burned out with Halloween during that week, but now I'm a little sad to be putting the elephant costume away. It was a lot of fun seeing my little guy thoroughly enjoy a part of childhood I had loved so much, too. And I guess that's part of what makes parenting such a cool adventure, isn't it?
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