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Bug is celebration obsessed.

Parties
Holidays
Surprises
Vacations
Movies
New snack foods... doesn't take much.

Lately we have begun Advent, so we are on Christmas Story hyperdrive.

As I type she is walking around with a baby doll tucked under her Snow White dress, acting out every Christmas song that comes on Pandora, and pretending to be "Mary, the mother of Jesus."

She has been telling me about a party they will be having at Sunday School, the week before Christmas.
There has been a lot of hype surrounding the event; announcements in the church program, reminders to the kids every Sunday.... they were not going to get this celebration past her.  Apparently there was going to be a "real live baby dressed up as Baby Jesus" and it was going to be Baby Jesus' birthday party.  Three of her favorite things: babies, dress up, and birthdays.

Imagine the surprise when I told her that we were not going to be in town for Baby Jesus' birthday party:

ME: Well, we won't be in town then.  We are going to be visiting our family and meeting our new baby cousin that weekend.
Bug: (*instant tears*) WHAT?! NOOOOOOO!  There was going to be a REAL BABY there dressed as Baby Jesus!  MOM!!!!!
ME: (*really trying not to laugh*) But we are going to be with all your aunts and uncles and the new babies and your grandparents?!  Won't that be fun?
Bug: NO!  There won't be a baby dressed as Baby Jesus! UGHHHHHHH.
ME: Can we just pretend that our new baby cousin is Baby Jesus?
Bug: (*eyes wide, tears to a halt, gears turning*) Well..... Ok.  We can pretend she is Baby Jesus, her mommy and daddy will be Mary and Joseph, Daddy, and Aunt Mimi and Uncle Ben are Wise Men......

She went on describing the scene, and how she is going to decorate, and what she is going to wear.  The whole time all I can do is picture my husband's family dressed up; including pets, awaiting their instructions on their Nativity roles, given with much authority from the 4 year old wearing angel wings and barking orders.  Not daring to break for a sip of coffee for fear of the tiny finger wag and eye roll

All that to say: Family, you have been warned.  We are all in this together.  I will try my best to derail the entertainment express, but come bearing patience and a sense of humor.... just in case I'm unsuccessful.

Restless Peanut

I'm in a dark hallway with my forehead pressed against a crack in the door so I can get the best possible view of the animal.  I'm praying and pleading with God to bring the beast to rest.  I'm watching so quietly and so intently, I almost forget to breathe.  When I do finally take a breath it is inaudible for fear that the animal will sense my presence and lash out with rage in need of immediate attention.  Two and a half hours pass and finally, the creature is asleep and I can sit brainless for a few minutes.... Until it is time to wake the wild one for an afternoon snack.

Not a nightmare.  This is a glimpse into the last week of afternoons I've spent training Peanut "in the ways she should go" at nap time.  She still desperately needs a nap; otherwise I would not be so vigilant about my nap time control.  She is literally jumping or running or chasing at every waking minute of her day.  She will break for Diego and some times PBS; although even her TV watching is done while she jumps and sings along.  My happy little ball of energy has been begging me for over a month now to "Please please sleep in big-gul-bed Mommy?!"  Her big girl bed has been set up in her room in our rent house, since we moved to town in June.  I mostly set it up because I was hopeful we would have family visitors and we would need an extra bed.  I never dreamed I would let my two year old, 13 hour sleeper (with a 3 hour daily nap) move from her cage, to the wild open spaces of her giant bedroom; left to her own devices.

Call it a moment of weakness or curiosity... I call it Divine Intervention.  I let her do it.  I let her sleep in her big girl bed; for a nap.  Sleep is really not an adequate term for what was going on in that room.  I explained the rules; the same rules that worked with Bug when she was two and moving to a big girl bed.
1) Stay in bed
2) If you get out of bed 2 times you will get a spanking
3) If you get out of bed 3 times you will get a spanking and have to move back to the baby bed

Lord help me.  After 4 spankings, 2 baby bed moves, and one extremely desperate attempt to sing her to sleep; I gave up!  The first trial of big girl bed sleeping was an absolute bust!  Not only did I not stick to what I said about her moving to the baby bed, I let her "get up" early!

Peanut: 1 Mom: 0


Day two went slightly better.  Only 3 spankings and she actually went to sleep after 90 minutes.  I was left with a lovely 90 minute break and an indention on my forehead from pressing my face against the door frame, watching her get in and out of bed, uncover, recover, sing songs, talk to her loveys...... and so on.

Day three left me in tears.  The good kind.  We went through our 1 book, 4 song routine.  I tucked her in with all 4 of her favorite loveys, reminded her to stay in bed, and stood there for 30 seconds with my eyes closed praying for sanity, wisdom, peace, and REST.  I went to my post to observe.

Not 15 seconds after the door shut, were the covers thrown of and she was sitting at the edge of her bed.  She assumed her "get out of bed routine".  She inched her hiney closer and closer to the edge, her little toes reaching for the floor.  She stopped for a few seconds to look around and she put her finger to her lips and said "shhhhhh. twiet."  I was too furious to see any humor there.  She set her feet down and stood up, so proud that she made it out of bed, again!

I opened the door and put on my best angry Mommy face.  We had a chat about staying in bed and acting like a big girl and I told her that she would get a spanking the next time.  She said, "yes Mommy.  I love you Mommy." and I returned to my post.  Again, 15 seconds into her solitude she was up and at the edge of the bed.  I stood there praying "PLEASE Holy Spirit come and give her self control!  I do not want to spank that child again!"  She sat there for about 2 minutes shushing herself and staring at the floor.

Suddenly, she sat straight up, turned around and climbed under the covers.  I watched in disbelief as she fell asleep after 10 minutes of laying down.  I was so thankful and exhausted after three days of standing at the door and watching her be defiant that I cried; but only for a minute because I realized I had time to shower AND eat lunch!

I know what you are thinking.  "Why is she making such a big deal out of nap time and getting in and out of bed?!"  First I will tell you, I am sane because there is nap time, and I worked very hard to get to our beloved 3 hour nap schedule.  Also, I didn't have to do this with my first.  Bug had one spanking one time for getting out of bed too many times and that was it.  Even now, at 4 she is in her room on her bed playing with dolls; simply because it's rest time and she knows she has to be on her bed.  Peanut is different.  Truer words have never been spoken: Give an inch and she will take a mile.  Already at 2 years old, I can see that my parenting must be consistent and constant; backed by prayer and wise counsel.  She will leave me weary and wild eyed, but she will also leave me laughing and with a sweet squeeze around my neck as she says, "you a silly billy Mommy.  I love you Mommy."

Now we are a week in and she has been sleeping in her big girl bed through the night for an average of 13 hours a night.  Nap times are still touch and go.  Today was good.  No spankings and asleep after 15 minutes.

Stay tuned.  I'm sure her school years will be a serious page turner.

A Penny for Her Thoughts?

As can be deduced by my lack of blogging I have been preoccupied.  Said preoccupation can be blamed on any number of things.... however, I mostly blame Pinterest.

It has been a month since I blogged last.  I was reviewing my posts and realized it has been a bit heavy around here lately.  "I'm too busy" "I didn't like the new doctor"  Woe is poor lil ol me!

I was going to share about my most recent battle with the stomach bug....
-both girls got sick
-2 hour plane flight in the midst of it all
-so much laundry and sanitizing
-hand washing
-prayer
-blood sugar and Ketone dramas
-extremely helpful parents
-survival

That just about sums it up and saves us all from the details that I am so desperately trying to forget.


Instead, I bring you drama of a different flavor.  My 4 year old, Bug, is a walking after school special.  She is constantly pretending something and verbalizes everything.  I've mentioned before that she's like a modern day Shirley Temple, but with straighter hair.  She can be quoted as saying, "Gosh, Mom!  I really am glad you fixed me meatloaf and brussel sprouts for dinner tonight.  It's too bad my sister won't eat hers!"  Seriously.  If only she would wink, and pause for a dramatic close up!

She does have her moments of grouchiness and defiance; which she will of course inform you of, "I'm grouchy because I didn't get what I want." OR "Look at me.  I'm not doing what you told me to do, Mom."  But those moments are rare.  She reminds me to check her blood sugar, asks if she can go take a nap, and has stood next to me while we watch Peanut throw a fit and said, "It's ok, Mom.  She'll quit eventually if we just ignore her."  At this point I'm starting to think she could babysit her sister and run into the grocery store for me to get bananas.  I would never!  But don't think I haven't thought about it.


One of my favorite recent moments:

We were on the soccer field during a game and I kept having to ask her to quit playing in the net.  Of course she informed me that the goal made a really great pirate ship and she was just playing pirates; I should have guessed.
 
We had just seen Mulan and Bug was so impressed that Mulan was so fast and tough, so I told her to just pretend to be Mulan on the soccer field and run fast and get the ball from the bad guys: The Green Dragons.  Two minutes later she was running as fast as she could and she looked over at me and yelled across the field, "LOOK AT ME MOM!  I'M PRETENDING TO BE MULAN! I'M SUPER FAST!"  She was right, that is the fastest she has run, to date.

She says things in such a way that you want to believe her every time; even when you know it's not true or right.  The past few months she will use a word we've never heard before and she will then turn to us and say, "that just means....." and give us the definition she has made up.  So matter of fact.

Here is a running list I've been keeping of her "homemade definitions".  I did my best on the spellings; they are mostly phonetic.

"Sploosh": To stop playing soccer when there are too many people trying to get the ball at one time
"Underrate": Beating someone, like winning the game, with your sound
"Fink-all": Getting in a fight
"Burkle": A collection of something
"Jimleff": Someone who ties an old jump rope to a dog leash and swings it like a lasso
"Desetiss": Great
"Scineray": A small part of a picture that you draw
"Bloulce": One B, two L's.... A little scary but also fun, like dressing up for Halloween
"Meaning Time": The time when you kiss during a wedding, right before you go eat.
And my all time favorite
"The Believe Fairy": I will become the Believe Fairy and go to see people while they are asleep and I will make them believe in Jesus.

The last one had good intentions and of course resulted in a 30 minute conversation about why we can't just make people believe in Jesus.

Her brain is constant and I am doing my best to keep up; fielding questions like "what does the word "almost" mean?" and "will I be able to open my eyes when I'm in Heaven?"  I would say, "what will she think of next?"  But quite honestly, I'm not sure I'm brave enough to ask!