boys boys boys

I've read all those little forwards on the internet about what it's like to have sons, and always thought they were just funny exaggerations of the joys of raising boys. WRONG. I guess I got a gentle introduction to the world of boys with Elijah, because he is not your stereotypical boy. He's gentle, sensitive, quiet, and thoughtful. Isaac on the other hand, is not. Twice in the past month he has set something on fire in the microwave, and watched in amazement then innocently asked "what happened?" when I frantically pulled him away and yanked the plug from the wall. Today he decided he wanted to play outside when everyone was supposed to be having a quiet rest time; so he hopped out his bedroom window and went about his business playing. Simply saying I love you always turns in to a contest of who can say it the loudest. (and if he thinks he's losing he'll tell you to be quiet because "the baby is sleeping") When we were at the fabric store a few weeks ago, Jeremy and I looked down the aisle and saw Isaac behind one of the little shopping carts they have there very very slowly creeping up on a lady. I don't know if he just wanted to get close and see her without her noticing him, but it looked more like he was going to try to run her down at .02 mph. Nahshon doesn't seem to be too far behind on the action. He already loves to wrestle, and will chase Isaac around trying to bite him. (he only tries to bite Isaac though, no one else) I can only imagine what life is going to be like with Isaac, Nahshon, and Micaiah running around! I must say though, I'm extremely grateful God has given me such a good sense of humor when it comes to my kids. Without that, I think I would have lost my sanity long ago.

Thank you God!

Like all kids, Genna has areas of strength and weakness when it comes to her studies. Math has always been an area of weakness for her. Genna and math just don't click. Last year we used Horizons math, which did not work for her at all. Fortunately, we are lucky enough not to be bound to one curriculum or a schedule, so we can figure out what works best for her and go at our own pace. After HOURS and HOURS of curriculum research, I decided to try Singapore math this year. So far things had been going well with the new curriculum, just very slow. We have been working on very simple subtraction, but Genna just was not getting it. She gets so frustrated and overwhelmed that she starts over thinking the material. Finally two days ago the light bulb went off! She whizzed through 19 pages in her math workbook in one day!!!! Yesterday we started a lesson on ordinal numbers. I know from past experience that she has had great difficulty with these, so I decided to do the lesson on my bed where it would be quiet and she could be as comfortable as possible. We worked together slowly through the first couple pages, then I encouraged her to do that last two pages on her own. By the time she got to the last page she said "this is getting really fun!" It is so amazing to watch your child go from tear-filled eyes to pure joy because they finally understand something! I pray often that God will direct me when instructing my kids so I can be the best teacher they need me to be, and clearly God is listening! So to that I say thank you GOD!!

So good, so true

Mandi posted this on Facebook, and I thought it was great and wanted to share with all of you

sorry about that!

Our computer crashed completely last week on Thursday, but we are now up and running again with a new system. (thank goodness for Craigslist!) Now, if anyone could tell me why my dishwasher suddenly stopped working last night.........

memory making at midnight

Not too long ago Jeremy was talking to me about how he feels like he doesn't get enough quality time with the kids. I reminded him that one of the many joys of homeschooling means that we don't have to keep a traditional schedule, and we can set up our lives any way that works for us. Last night Genna was having trouble sleeping, and was too restless to read a book or watch a movie. Jeremy decided it would be fun to teach her how to play Monopoly. (we got a neat Disney edition a while back, but hadn't really taught the kids how to properly play yet since it was a bit above their level) She and Jeremy sat down to play at 11:45pm, and played until after one in the morning! I sat at the table sewing while they played, listening to their silly competitive banter, and thinking how wonderful it is that our kids are at home. Genna had no where to be this morning, so it didn't matter one bit to me if she stayed up late and slept in a bit today. These moments are what make life GREAT.

midnight snack anyone?

Just making himself a little something to eat

(I know it's blurry, but you get the idea)

My little bucket head

Don't know why, but Nahshon thinks he's hilarious when he walks around with a bucket on his head.

Be careful, or you'll catch it too!

The sewing bug that is. I was having tons of contractions the past couple days (always happens when I hit 28 weeks), so I took a break from my quilts to just lay around and rest. Since the sewing machine was sitting quietly, Jeremy decided to try his hand at making some curtains for our living room. We actually took our old curtains down when we painted in August, and never put them back up because we wanted something different. The problem is that despite looking everywhere, we never found anything we both liked at a price we wanted to pay. Jeremy found the perfect fabric at the fabric store, and spent two days making our curtains. He put so much thought into how to cut them based on the print, ironed everything before he sewed to make sure it would come out nice, put a really nice trim on them..... the works. They look fantastic! I'm so proud of him. I can't post pictures yet because he thinks he wants to do one last thing to them, but I will post pics in the next couple days when he finally decides they are finished.

a tip for husbands

If your wife is pregnant, make sure you are putting away your shoes, books, or any other little thing you may leave on the floor. Chances are that if she can't see her own feet, she's not gonna see your junk either and you'll just make her mad when she inevitably trips over it.

Doesn't everyone sleep like this?

Despite being built like a mini linebacker, Isaac is incredibly flexible. When he was a baby, it was not uncommon to see him tapping his ears with his feet. He was having a tantrum the other night, and exhausted himself with crying. Rather than get up and go to his room, he just folded himself over and went to sleep.

You know you have a house full of boys when.........

You buy Neosporin in bulk at Costco

Sorry hun, but it's funny

The other night around 4am, Isaac was bugging Jeremy about wanting something. Jeremy couldn't understand him and kept trying to convince Isaac to go back to bed. Exhausted and annoyed, Jeremy decided to get up and figure out what Isaac was asking for. The only problem; IT WAS ALL A DREAM!!! Jeremy was dreaming that Isaac was standing at the bedside asking for something, but ended up waking up and getting up because he thought it was all real. Isaac was actually sound asleep the whole time. I felt bad he actually got up for nothing, but not bad enough that I didn't have a good laugh!

Learning to sew

I used clothes pins to hold the fabric together so she wouldn't have to worry about straight pins


the shell of the pillow



Let the stuffing begin!


Stitching the top closed

TADA! All finished!

On our first trip to the fabric store to pick out the majority of the fabric for the girl's quilts, I could just see the creativity wheels spinning at full speed in Genna's head. I told her to walk along the wall and pick out her favorite fabric quarter, and we would do a craft with it. I really didn't have anything in mind when I told her to pick it out, but later decided she was old enough to learn to hand sew. She was a little nervous with the needle at first, but she did a great job and ended up really enjoying herself. I'm very proud of her, and she can't wait to get some more fabric and do some more projects!

Here we go!

Thanks to Kerry and the beautiful quilt she is making for her baby girl, I've decided to give it a try. I've had my sewing machine for a year, but have only sewed a few items, and I am still very much an amateur. However, I find sewing to be very relaxing and I'm learning to have more patience with this type of stuff, so I decided to just jump in with both feet. Jeremy helped me come up with my own pattern; we took some ideas and inspiration from about 4 other patterns that we had seen. I have cut most of my fabric, but need to head back to the fabric store to pick up just a little more to be able to do the design I have decided on. Since I am making quilts for both of my daughters, and being pregnant makes it hard to lean forward for long periods of time, I know this is going to take a while. I'm excited though to see how this is going to turn out. Stay tuned for pictures!

Another old one, but it still makes me laugh

I don't know what made me remember this story, but it cracks me up looking back on it, so I thought I'd share. One evening when Isaac was about 3 months old, I had him laying in the middle of my bed while I cleaned up in my room. The TV had been left on from a show I was watching earlier, but I wasn't paying any attention to what had come on once I started cleaning. Suddenly I heard Isaac making all kinds of happy baby sounds. I looked over at him and he was smiling, laughing, and wiggling all over the place. (before I go any further, it's important to know that at this time I was still nursing him) I noticed his gaze was fixed on the TV, so I looked up to see what was so interesting to him. Imagine my shock when I realized my baby boy was going crazy watching a Hawaiian Tropic Bikini Contest!! I guess he was hungry and thought he was at a buffet.........

pregnancy update

I finally made it in to see my Dr. today. (missed my appointment in December because of all the snow, then just got too busy and forgot to schedule on in January) Baby is doing great. He is measuring right on schedule, heart beat is nice and strong. I have to go in for another ultrasound in 2 weeks though because my last ultrasound showed my placenta laying extremely low. It wasn't low enough to be considered placenta previa, but they need to see if it has moved up at all. Please pray that things will all shift around where they are supposed to be, and that this baby will be born healthy and strong come mid-May.

Look Dad, mom's feeling better!

When I was a kid there was a commercial on TV (for some sort of medicine, don't remember what) that would show a mom sick in bed, so dad would take over kid duty. The mom would take the medicine, start feeling much better, come out of her room looking refreshed, only to find her house in complete disarray and the father looking rather sheepish as a child announced "Look dad, mom's feeling better!". That was me today. Yesterday morning I woke up very early very sick. (we've had a stomach flu running through the house. The kids each took turns getting it, so I knew it would hit me sooner or later) I pretty much spent the entire day alternating between my bed and a warm bath. Jeremy was home all day, so I didn't even think twice about the kids. I woke up early this morning and was feeling like I was actually ready to eat, and walked to the kitchen completely shocked at what I saw. HOW? How is it possible for them to make this much of a mess in just one day? What in the world did they do all day???? I'm tired enough today just recovering from yesterday, I really didn't want to wake up to find my house in need of a complete scrubbing. UGH! As a side note about the flu: the flu is horrible at any time, but is even worse when pregnant. You know that lovely "just been beaten with a baseball bat" feeling you get with the flu? Pairing that up with internal kicking, punching, and squirming makes for a very long and painful day. I'm just glad it passed in only one day, now I'm off to clean.......

That's a way to keep it interesting

The other night the kids had some extra wiggles before bed, but it was too late/dark/cold to go outside for a last minute run around. Instead they decided to play red-light green-light in the living room. The problem is that our house is small and there isn't much room to run, so the game ends rather fast. Being the creative little people that they are, they quickly figured out a way around this little setback. They created an obstacle course that they had to run through, and the person calling out red-light or green-light had to speak only in Spanish! It certainly made for a fun time all around!

Did you really just ask me that?

Before you continue reading, it's important to know that Bella was standing completely barefoot in the living room when this exchange took place:

mom- Bella, can you please go unload the dishwasher?

Bella- Do you want me to do that with or without roller skates on?


HUH?

It won't always be like this

I was asking Genna the other day how she was feeling about being homeschooled. I like to get her feedback every so often to make sure she is still pleased with being home, find out if there is something she feels we are not doing enough of, find out if there is something in particular she wants to learn about that she hasn't told me yet, etc....... When I asked her how she felt about doing school at home vs. regular school she said "I love doing school at home, it's really fun. I love all my homeschool friends. But what I love most is that I get to spend so much time with you." What did I tell ya about this girl; sunshine and rainbows all the time. :) I'm sure there will come a day when she won't always feel that way, but for now I'm just gonna soak it all up and enjoy.

cover to cover

So, as part of my broad New Year's resolution to focus less on the world and more on God, I decided I would read the Bible cover to cover. I've never done it, and don't know as much about the Bible as I would like, so I figure now is as good a time as any. So far God has really helped me with my resolution. Over the past couple weeks I have lost interest in majority of the shows I used to watch on TV. (I don't watch TV during the day, but often would turn it on at night, after the kids go to bed, to entertain me while I waited for Jeremy to get home) I have ZERO desire to turn on Desperate Housewives or any of the other rather stupid smutty dramas that I used to put on. Since now I only like a very few shows, that leaves more time at night for more productive things. There was just one terribly embarrassing problem with my plan: I didn't own my own Bible! Now do not misunderstand, our home is not without Bibles. It's just that the last Bible I personally owned was a teen study Bible. Jeremy has a wonderfully put together study Bible, so after we got married I just always grabbed his when I wanted to read. We also have a kids study Bible that I use with the children, and a good handful of Bible story books for kids as well. I just really wanted to get a Bible of my own. So, Jeremy and I took a trip to Family Christian and I came across this Bible. The Family Life Marriage Bible: Equipping Couples for Life from Dennis and Barbara Rainey. It's not a study Bible, but it has some wonderful commentary, devotions, and ideas for marriage and parenting. I decided it was exactly what I wanted right now, and so far, I've been very pleased. I read through Genesis (and Song of Solomon just for fun, but I'm going to read the whole thing cover to cover), and I was so delighted by some of the commentary/devotions/ideas that I asked Jeremy to read some of them too. He decided he's going to join me on my Bible reading journey, and that we will use our Bibles side by side. His Bible is a fantastic study Bible and provides so much insight to what is happening in the scripture, while mine is just what we need to bring our whole family closer together. He's going to read through Genesis so he can catch up to me, and then we will read through together. I know it's going to take a long time, but I'm really excited to see where this journey will take us.

You mean harmonicas don't help movies play?

The kids complained to me about a week ago that the VCR on their VCR/DVD player was not working. I asked Jeremy if he could take a look at it the other night. He went in, lifted the cover right off, and there sat a yellow harmonica! He picked it up, put the cover back on, and it was as good as new. Jeremy then revealed to me one of his secret parenting tricks: he removed all the screws that hold the cover on the VCR/DVD player so that whenever someone complained it was broken, he could very quickly look inside and pull out whatever a curious child stuffed in there. Who knew!

extended stay...... the good kind

Well, instead of Jeremy just being here for one night like we originally thought, we are going on night #3! It seems their supplier in Moses Lake can't get the shipments right, so Jeremy and his boss are working down in Redmond at the main offices to fix everything so they can take it back to Portland. I'm certainly not complaining though. It's work, and he gets to come home at night; win-win!

kisses at Costco

Last night I needed to do some grocery shopping, but my car is in need of some repairs. My mother-in-law came over to watch the kids, and let me borrow her car to do my shopping. I had a couple stops to make, and was talking to Jeremy off and on during my shopping. While I was at Costco I had a question for him and tried calling him a few times, but he didn't pick up. Then I got a text that said "I'm in the middle of a project that needs tweaking". I knew he was making reference to You've Got Mail and that he was probably up to something silly, but with Jeremy, one never knows what. I was just getting ready to grab some bagels when I was suddenly grabbed from behind and got a big kiss on the neck. Rather startled I turned around to see my mystery grabber and there was my husband!!! I knew he was getting to come up for a night, but I didn't know which night it would be. He told me last night that he wasn't going to be up until tonight, and since I knew he wasn't driving his own car up, I had no reason to suspect otherwise. I guess he had his boss drop him off at Costco and he followed me around the store for a little while waiting for the perfect moment to surprise me. The kids were completely stunned when I walked in with grocery bags, followed by dad. They all just sort of stood there and stared for a few seconds not sure what to say! The best part is that this morning he was able to get my car in working order, he's going to be able to go to the book report lunch to see Genna present (she wanted him to be there so badly, but I told her there was no way he'd make it up for that), and it seems that he'll be here for one more night before heading back down to Portland! Yahoo! Just what we all needed right now.

That's the last invite she's gonna get!

Bella has a birthday party to attend in a couple weeks, and I was asking her tonight what she would like to buy for her friend. Her [serious] response:

"Well, I think Lydia would like the chicken pox"

I told her I didn't think Lydia's mom would appreciate that, to which Bella replied:

"Well then, I'm all outta ideas. What do you got?"

The Singing House

By May Morgan Potter


Fred ate his breakfast dutifully and then slipped down from his chair.
"Now can I go over to Jimmy's, mother?" he asked.
"But Fred," I said, "you were over there yesterday and the day before. Why not have Jimmy come here today?"
"Oh, he wouldn't want to." Fred's lip quivered in spite of his six years of manhood. "Please, mother."
"Why do you like Jimmy's house better than ours, son?" I pursued. It came to me suddenly that Fred and all his companions were always wanting to go to Jimmy's house.
"Why," he explained hesitantly, "it's cause--it's cause Jimmy's house is a singing house."
"A singing house?" I questioned. "Now what do you mean by that?"
"Well," Fred was finding it hard to explain, "Jimmy's mother hums when she sews; and Annie-in-the-kitchen, she sings when she cuts out cookies; and Jimmy's daddy always whistles when he comes home." Fred stopped a moment and added, "Their curtains are rolled clear up and there's flowers in the windows. All the boys like Jimmy's house, mother."
"You may go, son," I said quickly. I wanted him out of the way so I could think.
I looked around my house. Everyone told me how lovely it was. There were oriental rugs. We were paying for them on installments. . . . We were paying for the overstuffed furniture and the car that way, also. Perhaps that was why Fred's daddy didn't whistle when he came in the house. . . .
I . . . went over to Jimmy's house, even if it was ten o'clock and Saturday morning. It came to me that Mrs. Burton would not mind being interrupted in the middle of the morning. She never seemed to be in a hurry. She met me at the door with a towel around her head.
"Oh, come in. I have just finished cleaning the living room. No indeed, you are not interrupting. I'll just take off this headdress and be right in."
While I waited, I looked around. The rugs were almost threadbare; the curtains . . . tied back; the furniture, old and scarred. . . . A table with a bright cover held a number of late magazines. In the window were hanging baskets of ivy . . . , while a bird warbled from his cage hanging in the sun. Homey, that was the effect.
The kitchen door was open and I saw Jerry, the baby, sitting on the clean linoleum, watching Annie as she pinched together the edges of an apple pie. She was singing. . . .
Mrs. Burton came in smiling. "Well," she asked, "what is it? For I know you came for something; you are such a busy woman."
"Yes," I said abruptly, "I came to see what a singing house is like."
Mrs. Burton looked puzzled. "Why, what do you mean?"
"Fred says he loves to come here because you have a singing house. I begin to see what he means."
"What a wonderful compliment!" Mrs. Burton's face flushed. "But of course my house doesn't compare with yours. Everyone says you have the loveliest house in town."
"But it isn't a singing house," I objected. . . . "Tell me how you came to have one."
"Well," smiled Mrs. Burton, "if you really want to know. You see, John doesn't make much. I don't think he ever will. He isn't the type. We have to cut somewhere, and we decided on non-essentials. . . . There are books, magazines, and music. . . . These are things the children can keep inside. They can't be touched by fire or financial problems so we decided they were essentials. Of course good wholesome food is another essential. . . . The children's clothes are very simple. . . . But when all these things are paid for, there doesn't seem to be much left for rugs and furniture. . . . We don't go into debt if we can avoid it. . . . however We are happy", she concluded.
"I see," I said thoughtfully. I looked over at Jerry and Fred in the corner. They had manufactured a train out of match boxes and were loading it with wheat. They were scattering it a good deal, but wheat is clean and wholesome.
I went home. My oriental rugs looked faded. I snapped my curtains to the top of the windows, but the light was subdued as it came through the silken draperies. . . . My house was not a singing house. I determined to make it sing....

When did my life become a Disney movie?

And my children turn into little helpful critters? The other night I noticed the washing machine was full (yes, I'm STILL caught up on laundry....... amazing), but decided I would wait until morning to run it. I also noticed the trash was full, but again decided I would wait until morning since it was very late. The next morning after I took my shower, I went to toss my PJ's in the wash and turn it on, but realized it had already been run. I was completely puzzled and couldn't figure out when I turned it on. For some reason I felt very passionate that morning about not wasting water or soap (really don't know why because in the past I've washed a load 3 times without a second thought because I had let it sit too long), so I decided to empty the trash while I tried to remember when I ran the washer and if I had put soap in or not. Imagine my astonishment when I pulled out the trash can and found it empty with a new bag! Where did the trash go? Now, I KNOW I didn't get up in the middle of the night and take out the trash........ at least I'm pretty sure I didn't...... I was muttering to myself around the kitchen (still debating what to do about that darn load in the washing machine), when Genna heard me and said "oh, I took out the trash while you were in the shower, and ran the washer early this morning when I woke up." I couldn't help but give her a great big hug! Then I went to my room and found Elijah had very neatly made my bed and organized the things on my bedside table. THEN, I asked Bella if she could quickly tidy up the shoe area and she did it quickly and without complaint! Over the past couple days my kids have actually been arguing about who GETS to do which chores. You read that right, who GETS to do them, not who HAS to do them. After a long afternoon at the auto shop, I really needed a warm shower to unwind. I told the kids as soon as I was done in the shower I would make them some juice and popcorn and they could put on a movie. When I got out of the shower, Genna had already made the juice (and made it correctly), Bella had gotten out everything to make popcorn (I make it on the stove so it's safe for Isaac), and Genna and Elijah were once again taking out the trash. (they even got the bathroom trash and took it out too!) I feel like I need to hold an awards ceremony or something for these guys, they are just being awesome! I told them while daddy was gone we were going to need to work together as a team, I guess they really took that to heart. I know that this is hard for them, so it makes me doubly proud that they are all doing their absolute best to help out even though they miss their daddy so much. God has blessed me with a great batch of kiddos!

My man-boy

Tonight Elijah has been rather upset, and missing his dad. I knew this was coming, and I figured he'd be the first one to start getting sad, but I wasn't sure when it would hit. Elijah is such a sweet little guy, and he really loves his family. His emotional development is a bit complicated. He seems to understand that there are certain things in life that you can be upset about, but have to shrug them off and move on; while there are other things in life that it's OK to be really upset about and need time to cry or deal with the disappointment. The problem is, he often cannot differentiate between the two. He tries so hard to be a big boy and not cry when he's upset. Tonight I could tell he was wanting to cry. He was trying to talk to me about how much he's missing his dad (and was extremely upset that Jeremy wasn't here for Nahshon's birthday), but kept looking at the wall so he wouldn't cry. I told him I knew he wanted to be a big boy, but it's OK to be sad and it's OK to cry if he misses daddy. He said "I trying not to cry 'cause I want to be a man-boy". Say it with me now "aawwww". *sigh* I had him call Jeremy, and we made a countdown to help him grasp the concept of how long dad will be gone. I'm so proud of him for the efforts he's been making to help me out around the house, but it's so hard when he's sad about something I can't fix, and especially when it's something he doesn't fully understand. I love my little man-boy.

Not even sure what to say

Does anyone else look at this pic and start singing in their head "love and marriage, love and marriage........." ? I have been trying for 5 long years to turn her into a lady, looks like I have my work cut out for me.

(*hint: Al Bundy from married with children)

Happy 1st Birthday Nahshon!

I can't believe my baby is already one!!! This past year has gone by so fast. We just had a simple celebration at home today with me and the kids, and we'll celebrate again on Saturday with the family. It was nice to spend his birthday at home, playing and just enjoying being with him.

Nahshon Jeremiah
January 21st



First bite of cake

First bite must have tasted OK, because he went in with both hands

yummy yummy yummy!

Ahh, that was good stuff

Can I have more?

These are the gifts the older kids wrapped up, they were very proud

This looks like it might be better than those little ones

WOW!



This toy is neat!

Hmm, clothes are nice but I think I like my toy better

just going on a walk

gotta keep a hand free for playing

A short year in review, from now until back then:

extended stay

Jeremy's trip has already been extended, probably adding another week to the pile. Their glass shipment from Moses Lake was made wrong, so they are having to take it apart and re-build it down there. I really don't understand the details of it, but from the way Jeremy describes it, it sounds like a pretty idiotic mistake. Oh well, it's work I guess. So far things are going pretty well alone with the kids here. It was great that we were able to get the house clean and in order before he left, it has certainly made life a little easier for me. One nice thing is that I'm able to hog up as much of the bed as I want. Being pregnant, I like to stretch out more than usual and have lots of pillows, so it's nice to have the extra room. Tomorrow is Nahshon's first birthday. We're all bummed Jeremy can't be here to celebrate, but the kids are going to help me bake a cake, and I'm going to let them try their hand at wrapping up his gifts. Just trying to take it all one day at a time.

pray

Little Annabelle has to have surgery on her shunt this week. If you are not already familiar with Annabelle's journey, please visit her dad's blog, it's listed to the right under blogs I read. (just click on Annabelle) Please pray for Annabelle, as well as her parents, through this next step in their life.

a little chef in the making perhaps?

Tonight I made home made chicken noodle soup, and I threw in a couple dashes of a few different herbs. I never go heavy on seasoning when I don't have someone here to taste test for me. (I'm a vegetarian, so chicken noodle soup isn't exactly on my menu) As Genna was taking her bowl to the sink she says to me "was that rosemary I tasted?" There was in fact a tiny dash of rosemary in the soup. The fact that she was able to pick out the herbs when there was such a tiny amount completely surprised me, but the fact that she could name the herb shocked me! I very rarely use rosemary, and I really don't discuss the seasonings that I cook with unless the kids are helping and specifically ask. I guess Genna's going to be a foodie.

This is completely normal..........right?

Is it odd that at midnight I see my 2 year old roll past my bedroom and say "hey mom, I ride my bike!" ? Is it strange that at 2am that same little guy wakes me up to play a round of go fish? I'm sure all mothers are used to waking up at 4am by strange sounds in the kitchen only to find their toddlers making themselves a snack which consists of a rice cake with jam and a small bowl of yogurt, right? Is it weird that I also get woken up at 6am because he wants to color in his Curious George coloring book while watching the Curious George dvd? All 2 year olds do this........ right?

Before you even ask, the answer is no, he does not take naps during the day. My mother-in-law has told me many stories about how Jeremy drove her bonkers because he never slept. I always just laughed because my first 3 sleep like perfect angels. They slept all night, and even napped until age 4/5!! I figured my mother-in-law was just exaggerating, and that no child could possibly function on as little sleep as she claimed Jeremy got. Well, I WAS WRONG! Isaac is an unstoppable machine that just keeps going. I make sure he gets plenty of exercise, and we've tried all the "tricks" that usually help normal kids to settle down to sleep. The biggest problem is that when he is tired, he CRASHES ON THE SPOT. It doesn't matter what he's doing, he will fall asleep if he's tired, and there is no way to keep him up. Unfortunately when he falls asleep early (like 7pm), one simple hour long nap can keep him going for another 5 hours. His battery recharges very quickly. Now, I am all for stopping bad behavior in it's tracks, but to be perfectly honest, at 4am it is sometimes easier to just open the jam jar and stumble back to bed rather than tying to argue with a headstrong 2 year old.

Anyone want to borrow a very cute, funny, and "energetic" little boy for a night or two?