Weekend Activities...

This weekend was a very chilly weekend here in New England. VERY CHILLY!

We had no major plans so we took advantage of the low-key, lazy weekend. However the low-key weekend did not help with the lack of napping on both Saturday & Sunday!

On Sunday, Mimi & Papi came over to visit. He was so excited to play & show his new trucks and trains. Alexander & Mimi also decided to go "grocery" shopping around the house - he got to drive, pick out groceries, pay the grocery man. They also went outside and looked for pine cones!

And after some resting time, we did some playing, had dinner, took a tubby. A pretty nice, relaxing weekend.

To Nap or Not To Nap...

That is the question...

And I think it's being answered for us. I think someone else is deciding whether or not we wean naptime.

This is now the 2nd weekend in a row where he fought nap & ultimately didn't end up taking a nap. Not only that, he fought naptime both Saturday and Sunday this weekend. We are naptime-free in this house. And not for a lack of trying and for a tired little boy.

Saturday he came in & out of his room a few times, played with trucks and then finally just kept running around. So Mommy went upstairs and we laid down in Mommy's room to rest. If we weren't going to nap, we were at least going to rest.

Then Sunday, it was the same situation however this time he wanted no part of naptime and I think that's because he knew Mimi & Papi were still downstairs. So after trying to get him to rest in his bed, he came downstairs & rested with Mimi on the couch for a bit.

We'll see what next weekend brings...

Letter M...

Today we were making a card for Papi ("hope you're feeling better") as he had knee surgery a few weeks back. Alexander was coloring the card with markers and making circles and all sorts of designs. He even helped Mommy write his name.

Then he decided he wanted a new color marker. He takes his marker and then proceeds to write the letter "M" and then says "look Mommy M". I was so impressed that he made the M all by himself and even knew what letter he wrote.

A little Mommy pride showing through...Here's the proof (I circled the Letter M)

Bonding Time...

Alexander & Daddy are slowly building a new little bonding time place since it's too cold out. If Mommy has plans during a school night and Daddy has to do bedtime, Daddy & Alexander will go out to dinner together. They go to Burger King. It's similar to Mommy & Alexander's visit to Target.

They went on Friday night and this time Alexander came home with a crown. He loves it!

Photo Recap...

Photo Recap (Monday, January 18th, - Sunday, January 24th, 2010)

Photo Recap...

Photo Recap (Monday, January 18th, - Sunday, January 24th, 2010)

Weekly Glance...

Weekly Glance (Monday, January 18th, - Sunday, January 24th, 2010)

• Did very well with sleeping through the night in his own bed, every night!
  
• He had a very good week at school - one teacher even commented they see a lot of growth & maturity even since coming into the Preschool class
• Some days he does really well with listening and then has other moments where he gets frustrated and freaks out/screams
  
• Had two incident reports (see separate post)
• On Thursday, went to Target with Mommy to see our friend, and have our hot dog & milk
• On Saturday, went with Daddy to visit uncle Matt & Laura
• Played in the snow with cousin Michael - loved going sledding
• Crazy napping/sleeping schedule on Saturday but after being up from 9pm-midnight, slept until 5:45am
• Sunday morning, Mommy & Alexander ran errands (grocery shopping, Target to get a new vacuum)
• Fought going down for a nap on Sunday - got out of his bed a few times. Even when he woke up he got out of his bed by himself without calling for one of us for the first time
• Low key Sunday afternoon (after nap), then family dinner & tubby time
  
• Least amount of pictures taken in a week EVER but pictures taken every day
  

Saturday Edition: What Happened?...

What happened to cause such a crazy sleeping schedule??? As we know, Alexander had a good/solid week of sleeping.

On Saturday, Daddy & Alexander went to play with cousin Michael. They were going to go sledding, play in the snow, have some lunch & just chill out. The boys had a great time sledding and going down the hills. And I don't know if it was the crisp New England air, but it zonked out Alexander.

He went down for a nap later than usual (probably because he was overtired). Half way through his nap he woke up crying in his sleep. I tried to calm him down or wake him up but nothing. So I picked him up and he was fine. When I tried to put him back in his bed, he screamed. So napped in Mommy's room for what I thought would be the rest of his nap.

I woke up at 6:30p surprised that Alexander was still out cold! I let him sleep for a bit wondering if I let him sleep through the night or wake him up. I woke him up but he asked to go into his room to sleep more. Okay! About 15 minutes later (now 8:45pm) he woke up wanting to get up. I figured let's get him up for a few hours, give him some food, and let him crash late which would then allow him to sleep through the majority of the wee moments of the night.

We had some cereal, played Thomas the Train, ran around with trucks, did some coloring, watched some Sesame Street youtube videos and finally headed upstairs. We read 4 books in Mommy's room and after books, he asked to go lay in his bed. After rubbing his back for a bit, he was asleep by midnight...and slept until 5:45am. Crazy, but workable wake up time!

Sleeping...

After months of waking up during the night and coming into bed with Mommy...we have had 5 consecutive nights where he slept the whole night through...and in his own bed! It started with Sunday night where he crashed hard because he did not have a nap and then slept for 10 full hours in his room.

The rest of the week he slept through the night but did nap at school, so my original thought of the nap is throwing it off is still wishy-washy. Weds, Thurs & Friday of this week he woke up at 5am but I'll take that as opposed to waking up around 1:30am and then both of us getting a rough night of sleep.

Let's hope it continues for everyone's sake!

Cowboy...

Alexander galloping around on his horse in the Wild Wild West (aka - bedroom).

Monthly Update...

We are nearing the 3 year mark - can you believe it?!

This past month, we moved to a big boy bed! And he's done really well, without any major issues. Our main concern was that he would get out to fight bedtime or to play. There has only been one nap time where he got out of his bed a few times but when he realized I wasn't on the other side of the door he went back in his room, closed the door, and went back in bed. He also hasn't done much moving around either.

As for the past month, he's been doing really well in Preschool. One teacher commented that she sees growth & maturity even since changing rooms. His vocabulary is also improving as the weeks go on. There are times he shows laziness with words/letters (F & S) but if you ask him to sound it out, he does it no problems.

He knows his ABCs, count to 20, and even is adding more books to his list of ones he can read to you. I think we're up to 5 books that he can read on his own.

We were in a very long phase of Alexander waking up once a night and coming into sleep with Mommy. (Not to jinx it...) However as of late, he's been making it through the night. Keep those fingers crossed.

He loves Thomas the Train (it's everywhere), trucks (of all kinds), his vacuum/broom, and his doctor kit. As for shows, he loves/will watch: Thomas, Mickey Mouse, Little Einstein, Curious George, Sesame Street, Handy Manny, Imagination Movers, Tigger & Pooh, & a new Disney show called Chuggington.

Eating is interesting. Sometimes he will only eat the same things over & over. Other times he'll be adventurous and try new foods. Lately he's tried & liked: peppers, cucumbers, celery, bagels with cream cheese. Some times he'll like a food and then we'll give it again and he wants no part of it...try, try again!

Padawan

Alexander is a Padawan learning how to become a Jedi Knight.
-Padawan means a Jedi-Knight-in-Training

Incident Report...

This week we received not one, but two Incident Reports.

The first one was at the end of the day on Thursday...nothing serious. Alexander was playing in class and ran by one of the tables. As he ran by he scraped his back on the corner and got a scratch.

The second one was on Friday. They were cleaning up toys and Alexander had a toy that he was cleaning up and a friend (Sean) wanted the same toy. Alexander wouldn't give it to him, so Sean got frustrated and bit him on the back. There was only a little mark.

With all these incident reports, I could make a book!

Special Bulletin...

We interrupt the normal Monday posts to inform you that not only did Alexander get a good night sleep BUT:
- He got 10 FULL, UNINTERRUPTED hours of sleep (almost unheard of for him)
- He spent those said 10 hours in his room, in his bed, ALL NIGHT!

This is a glorious victory for all!

Photo Recap...

Photo Recap (Monday, January 11th - Sunday, January 17th, 2010)

Photo Recap...

Photo Recap (Monday, January 11th - Sunday, January 17th, 2010)

Weekly Glance...

Weekly Glance (Monday, January 11th - Sunday, January 17th, 2010)

• Lowkey yet crazy week
• Still waking up once a night and coming in with Mommy even if I try to let him cry it out - he doesn't get out of his bed. He'll just sit there calling "Mommy Mommmmmmy"
• Got sick during naptime at school on Tuesday - threw up about 7-8 times (half of those on Mommy)
• Tuesday afternoon, cuddled & laid low at home with Mommy and then had a rough night of sleeping Tuesday night
• Stayed home with Mommy on Wednesday - we were sick free but still feeling cuddly
• Went to dinner with Daddy on Thursday night (loves his cheeseburger & fries)
• Friday night, went to Target with Mommy for our weekly visit...he helped me pick out birthday presents for Carly & Matty, our neighbors. He was very excited.
• Saturday morning the roofers came to fix our roof - he was excited to see the dumpster in the driveway but then freaked out when they started banging and removing the shingles. He got even more freaked out when they covered the windows with the blue tarps.
• Thankfully we didn't stay for the whole roof-job because I don't think Alexander would have been able to nap but we left early anyway to go to NJ to visit with Grandma & Poppop.
• Had a very nice visit at Grandma & Pop-pop's house
• Played with Charlie the horsey, playdough with Grandma, made cookies & got to play the piano
• On the drive home, he did very good until the last 35-40 minutes or so (we now know his driving threshold)
• Although he did not nap on Sunday, he was fairly well behaved (with a few little moments here & there)
• Asleep by 7:20pm (that includes bubble bath, teeth brushing & reading books)
  

Weekend Activities...

This weekend we had a post-holiday visit to New Jersey to visit Grandma & Grandpa in NJ ...otherwise known as 'Gan-ma' and 'Pop-pop'. It was nice to have a post-holiday visit as Alexander was able to spend more quality time with them and without chaos.

We got down there in time to have lunch and then play around for a bit. Pop-pop brought up a old-fashioned ride 'em horsey for Alexander to play with - which he loved (and named him Charlie).

After a good & needed nap, there was some piano playing, horsey riding and then dinner. We did a lot more horsey riding which by the end of the weekend he was an expert of getting on & off without any help.

He insisted that Gan-ma read books and help put him to bed (he also insists that she change all of his diapers whenever she's around). So Gan-ma with help from Daddy put him to bed. After waking up at 2am & coming into bed with Mommy and then waking up again at 3:50am wanting to know where he was and then screaming to go home, he managed to fall back asleep (in a very uncomfortable position for Mommy) until about 6am.

Alexander & Gan-ma had a very nice morning together where they had cereal, looked at some pictures, played with playdough. And after Pop pop got him a cowboy hat to ride with the horsey he was allset. We packed up and then tried to time the ride home so he would take a nap. Overall it was a very nice weekend.

Cookie Monster...

While visiting Grandma & Pop-pop, Grandma had a special treat for Alexander! She had some cookies for him that they could bake together as we all know how much Alexander loves to make cookies! He was very excited to help. He put them on the cookie sheet and then when they were done baking & cooled - he helped her put some red icing on!

Here they are...baking cookies with Grandma

Little Sickie...

Tuesday afternoon, I got a call from Miss Lindsay saying that Alexander got sick during nap. I headed to school to pick him up and I could hear him crying from the door, poor guy. He was sitting with Miss Alexa and had just gotten sick yet again. Miss Lindsay mentioned that someone else got sick too so it might be a stomach bug going around.

We headed home and the poor guy got sick TWICE during the car ride home. I felt so helpless as he was scared & had no idea what to do or what was going on. I had to tell him to spit it out because he didn't know what to do.

We got home and I got him changed into some PJs. I called the doctor and Nurse Lee did say there was a 12 hr stomach bug going around and the fact that he's gotten sick so much so quickly is probably good that he'll go thru it. She said not to give him a lot to drink as that will set it off (which she wasn't kidding!)

We cuddled in bed but then he got sick and didn't want to throw up in the bucket, only a towel. So then after getting changed, we headed downstairs for some more cuddling. We headed up to bed earlier than normal, and after a couple of books, he got sick again. He just couldn't get comfortable - whether it was on his bed, in my lap, on my shoulder, on the floor, sideways, upside down. This lack-of-sleeping went on for the ENTIRE night. When he would finally fall asleep he would wake up screaming/crying for water. Of course every time I gave him a drop, like clockwork, he would throw it up.

It was a long night for everyone because he felt awful & couldn't get comfortable and then when he finally did, he would wake up screaming for water only to get sick again.

Wednesday, Mommy & Alexander stayed home and rested. Thankfully the vomitting didn't carry over and we had a cuddle-filled, lowkey day. Plus he took a nice 3 1/2 hr nap! However by the time Daddy got home, he was ready for someone else.

Here is my little sickie as we cuddle on the couch on Tuesday...

Photo Recap...

Photo Recap (Monday, January 4th - Sunday, January 10th, 2010)

Photo Recap...

Photo Recap (Monday, January 4th - Sunday, January 10th, 2010)