August 29th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
(Bed Time, Damien, New)
For quite some time now Damien had a rocking chair in his room. The idea being that we could rock him back to sleep if he woke during the night. Once Damien was in his toddler bed he took the initiative and would climb into the chair to rock himself to sleep.
Being Damien he wouldn’t rock gently, he would rock back enough to lift the rocker partially off the floor (sort of like leaning back in a chair), and when he rocked forward the rocker would come down with a Thump!
On the plus side Damien stopped bothering us at night, because he would rock himself to sleep. On the down side we would have to listen to Thump Thump, Thump Thump, Thump Thump, sometimes until 3:00 AM.
When Damien would go back too far there would be a Thump THUMP!
Which is when I would run into his room to find him rocking like a hurricane in the chair, with a sleepy grin on his face, and I would tell him to rock gently.
Only once did we here a Thump Thump, THUMP! BANG!
When we checked on Damien room, the rocker was on its back, on the floor, and Damien was in his bed trying his best to look innocent.
With Sergey and Damien sharing the room, the rocker was a nice distraction for Damien when he couldn’t or wouldn’t sleep, he would rock but he would leave Sergey alone, and Sergey had no trouble sleeping through it.
Damien started sleeping in the rocker, and then he started sleeping only when the rocker was moving. So he would wake up several times during the night to get the rocker moving again so he could fall back to sleep.
Last week (after the floating shoes incident) he was rocking himself to sleep while half asleep. Some how he had rotated the rocker (it’s a swivel rocker) so it faced the wall rather than the room. He must have dozed off while on the edge of the rocker because he tumbled out the rocker and hit his bed and the register.
That was enough for me so while Olya comforted Damien I moved the rocker out of the room, and noticed that he had shaken a bolt loose from the underside, hmmmm. I replaced it with a cushioned non rocking chair.
I wasn’t sure how the new chair would go over with Damien who liked to rock to sleep.
I didn’t have long to wait, shortly after putting the new chair in, Damien climbed in and immediately began to try and rock the chair, gently at first, then when that didn’t work, really slamming his small body into the back of the chair.
After a few tries with the chair not moving at all, Damien looked at me and said “Chair broken”? That is when I used the traditional parenting method used to calm and sooth children through out the ages. I LIED. “yes the chair is broken” I said.
He took it really well, “night, night” he said as he went back to his bed.
Now when we here a Thump in the night, we are never sure what it means, though usually it is from Damien climbing into Sergey’s crib, usually.
Comments
August 21st, 2007 at 2:34 pm
(Bath, Damien, New, Sergey)
I gave the boys a two in one bath (both boys in one tub) last night.
Damien was playing with his shoes, not on his feet. He was using them as cars and loading dolls (like the handmade Easter chick from Great Grandma) or other toys (such as an empty bubble solution bottle that used to contain Cereal, but that is another story) into them. Sergey was trying to take the shoes and or their occupants away from Damien, a trick he probably learned from Damien, but I still stop Sergey on principle.
As usual Damien protested and claimed he did not want a bath, but Daddy is wise and know that in his heart of hearts Damien doth long for both tub and water and to sit there in. So I marched his butt to the foot of the stairs while carrying Sergey. Once there, Damien climbed up on his own, and went into the bath room to look longingly at the empty tub.
I turned on the water and went with Sergey to get their towels. When I returned the shoes had made the transition from cars to boats and were floating in the tub. Snatching the shoes out from the tub I noticed that they were mostly dry their all rubber sole had mostly protected them and their cargo I put them in the sink to dry and hid the yarn chick from Damien’s view, because it is not really a water toy, hoping for out of sight out of mind.
This didn’t fool Damien though (dam object permanence), and he called for a “duck” which the yarn chick did resemble, but I was feigning ignorance. Both boys were naked and in the tub already. They both LOVE the tub, even though Damien originally complained about taking a bath he complained when I started undressing Sergey first (how dare I) and started to climb into the tub fully clothed, so I relented and undressed him first.
With both of them in the full tub with about 2 inches of water, I can’t really leave the bathroom for very long, even though Sergey can stand up on his own (even in the tub). Making sure neither was fighting, I went across the hall to their room looking for a rubber ducky, all the time I made sure I could hear Sergey’s voice and paying special attention for any loud splashes or blub blub type noises.
Seconds later I am back in the bathroom, and the boys are as happy as can be, that is until Damien realizes that I don’t have a “duck”. At this point he has a tantrum in the tub, which of course freaks out Sergey who tries to climb out of the tub.
I know we have several ducks but they are down stairs in the great room and I can’t leave the boys for that long, I also don’t want to carry a wet Sergey around the house looking for a duck, so I do the most logical thing. I send Damien to get his own duck. Damien demands that he take along three other toys with him so his hands will be full, and refuses a towel or a toweling off, probably because he associates that with the end of the bath and it is too early to stop having so much fun, so off he goes naked, wet, dripping, with his toys in his hands, yelling “DUCK DUCK” as he goes down the hall. God Speed Damien.
I use the interim to clean up the Sergey, so when Olya arrives with a wet Damien and a ducky we can switch kids. This is a necessity because Damien is having a renewed tantrum when he gets the ducky which is NOT the “duck” he was looking for. Since he is already complaining I wash his hair which he hates (I just pretend he likes it, that way I don’t feel so bad).
It doesn’t take long for the happy Damien to reemerge and we spend the rest of the bath playing with the water. When we or I am done, I ask if he wants out of the tub, knowing the answer is “No”. Damien says “No”, (see I told ya), “OK, but I am going to let the water out” I tell him, and I wait for him to get cold. I know it’s mean but trust me it is way more easy this way.
there is more but that will have to wait for another post
5 Comments
August 20th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
(Humor, New)
Most problems can be
Ignored. The more difficult
Ones can be slept through.
Comments
August 14th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
(Dan)
Apparently I had a cerlebity sighting while visiting my brother Dan in NY NY see NY NY 2.
I was with Dan and somw of his friends at a Cafe, after wathcing the movie Manhattan.
When Andre J arrived with a guest and sat two tables away.
In retro spect the lavender body suit should of given it away.
Dan found a picture of Andre J, which will save me the trouble (and it would be a trouble) of having to describe what Andre J looks like.
Here is another view.
Yes they are both wearing high heals.
Yes they are both HeShe.
For more information you can go here.
Which One Would You Hit?
1 Comment
August 7th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
(Humor)
Cartoon about miscommunication building a tree swing
http://www.linuxkungfu.org/images/fun/geek/project.jpg
2 Comments
August 2nd, 2007 at 12:33 pm
(Damien, Food, New, Parenting Tip)
Well this morning was hectic with me trying to get to work by 7 AM to mend a dying server.
I didn’t need an alarm though because Damien woke me up this morning, at 5:30AM (some times its 4:00 AM so I guess I am lucky). Not by screaming or crying but by saying “Down stairs, want down stairs”, now I would normally sleep through that but he was also tugging on my arm as he said it. Which is odd because Damien usually sleeps in another room with the gate closed, so he is not normally in our room?
When walking him to his room to change him, the gate was still closed, not sure if he
A) Just climbed over it (slightly problematic).
B) Open and closed the gate (that would be annoying because he could also let Sergey out).
C) Gate was left ajar and he just closed it (he likes to keep gates closed, it what he does).
D) He was invited to sleep with us because he wouldn’t shut up (very possible).
My memory is fuzzy here because I am still tired, but I think I took him down stairs to feed him breakfast, and then went back up to take a shower. When I came back to the kitchen Damien had dumped his cereal on the table (this is why I give him dry cereal and give him milk in a sippy cup) and was sorting the pieces by shape.
While I like his creative use of cereal as an entertainment device, I didn’t want to have to clean up after him. So I told him to pick up all the cereal and put it back in the bowl, and left to prep some things for work. When I came back into the kitchen a short time later, he had picked up ALL of the cereal on the table and put it in the bowl. Damien was crawling out from under the table with the last piece of cereal he could find on the floor, and put it in the bowl as well. Awwww. 
2 Comments
August 1st, 2007 at 1:34 pm
(Damien, daycare, New)
When I dropped Sergey off in his room, Damien started walking to his room on his own, he didn’t look happy but he was going.
When I caught up with Damien (I was delayed collapsing the stroller) he was half way to his room, but he kept trudging on, without asking to be picked up (as he often does when he is upset).
We get to the room, and I tell Damien to say “hello”.
Damien is standing just outside the room, he looks at his teacher, bends over and spits on the floor.
Being a good Dad, I made him wipe it up with a paper towel, he did require help but he did do it.
After that he seemed fine, it was an odd moment, perhaps he felt his vocabulary was inadequate to describe his feelings.
I’ll be glad when he moves to a new room next month.
1 Comment
August 1st, 2007 at 12:02 pm
(Humor)
Men like receiving compliments because they think it means that you are going to have sex with them. This can make complimenting a man awkward, no matter how straightforward you are about your intentions.
He’ll reach this same conclusion if you (a) say “good morning” to him, (b) smile at him, or (c) ignore him, so you might as well go ahead and compliment him if you want.
From: How to get through to a man
http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/personal/07/30/how.to.man/index.html
3 Comments
