Is it starting?

Atti had no sleep today. He fought it and fought it, and at 3.30, rather than let him fall asleep and bedtime go to hell, I took him out (carefully keeping him awake in the car) to see friends and run around U-dub. It was pretty funny actually, we saw the peacocks and Atti was running about shouting 'we must find more cocks'. Lol.

So we got him to a 7pm bedtime ok, and he seems to have crashed pretty much straight away. It is kind of a relief in one way, to have him out so early, but if this is the beginning of the end of naps, I will seriously miss it. I quite like dividing my days into four sections and I have been enjoying this late bedtime business. I kind of hope it lasts the rest of the year.

I would even be open to putting him into a daycare-based kindy if he is still napping solidly next year.

Not awesome

So, what, two months ago (?) we changed a bunch of things up and Atti's behaviour improved and we were all much happier. Brilliant.

But then, about two weeks ago it all went to caca. And I'm not sure why. Atti is hard-core hard work at the moment. He is full-on, all the time. If awake, is at full speed, ignoring anything anyone is saying to him unless they are shouting it. Calling people names (he isn't the only kid doing that, I noticed today that 'poo-poo' was his friend's favourite colour, and that the other boys at daycare are calling people popoffs too. But it is not much fun around here. Atti and the Wook are back to being at constant loggerheads, and I am not handling it all well either. And the rewards chart has fallen in a hole this week, he has earned basically none and will not be getting a reward this week.

So, what the hell to do?

Some of it is I think we have stopped doing the nights right - the plan was for there to be tv from 5.30-6, then for Atti and Wook to go outside and do something, then Atti and I or Wook would make dinner togther and then we would all sit down to eat. After dinner we would do some slower, brain-based activity and then bath, bed, books etc. Lots of that doesn't run that smoothly at the moment. I have been really tired and we have both been a bit more interested in our own stuff. So Atti is getting more tv again, and less attention. So that has to change.

And I have to change how I am talking to him. Back to the getting down to his level and putting my hand on him when I need his attention.

I think I also need to clear out some of the toys around here.  I genuinely think there is too much stuff around.

I have been looking at our added sugar intake, and trying to reduce that too, so I don't think that is the problem. Sleep might be, but to be honest, I don't think he has been getting any less sleep than before. But we could look at bringing bedtime forward again. The downside of that is the earlier wake up time...and I suspect Atti and the Wook NOT spending more time together in the morning is a good idea.

So, it is back to me having to get things organised.

I now hate yoghurt even more

I've never been much of a fan of yoghurt. I would try it, for a diet or something, and last two days tops. Don't like the texture, don't much like the taste - can stand a little bit of frozen yoghurt, but not much of that either.

But the Wook eats it and so does the sprog. Excellent. I used to make it myself, because with Rio and K living upstairs I could give away half and it was fine - the stuff only costs about $1 per litre to make. I even bought these fab little animal sachets I could fill up myself.

And Atti won't touch the stuff I make. At least not in the sachets. I am going to have to figure out how to flavour it without ruining it I think. I can use the stuff I make for making smoothies that I freeze into homemade icecreams, or in a desert over fruit - but I like the convenience of giving him (and Rio if I have her) a sachet to eat in the car.

I have been trying to sort out sugar in our diet - how much is ok, and what I need to change. From what I can tell, the most you should eat is 10% of your daily calories, which works out to about 55g for me and 19 for Atti.

Which is not much, and he is definitely eating more of most days. Well I think. Because the food labels don't make it easy to figure out.

I only care about added sugar at the moment. This amount is added sugar. Ok, but how can I tell when the only sugar in the information is total.

Yoghurt sachets have been my first hurdle. The sachets I buy for Atti seem to have most of his daily allowance of sugar - but I can't tell how much is added. According to the 'I quit sugar' website, anything over 4.7g/100g is going to be added. So the chobani sachet he prefers is about half his daily allowance. Ok, that is do-able. He doesn't have these every day, so I can manage that.

But seriously, this sucks. First that I can't easily work this out, and secondly - I need to be able to buy some of his food pre-prepared. I don't have time to make everything he eats myself. And I kind of need some food that can be eaten on-the-go, but muesli bars and biscuits and yoghurt sachets are so high in sugar. It is crazy.

I suppose I could make up little snack boxes of like trail mix like my friend used to for her kids, rather than muesli bars. I assume it means they will refuse to eat some of what is in there though, if it isn't in a stuck-together-bar, with a bit of yoghurt or chocolate layered over. I can make biscuits, but I guess I need to make a bulk amount and figure out storage then. something healthy-ish for a breakfast top-up.

Why can't they just sell some decent food for kids? It can't be that hard.

Urgh, horrible child

My delightful child slept in this morning and when he did wake up I was made aware of it by him knocking (and giggling) from inside his bedroom door. He was enormously pleased with himself for staying in his bed all night, and therefore earning a 'star' on his behaviour chart (weekly redeemable for a toy from a particular show).

However, I also discovered he has a new way to amuse himself - his new favourite word - 'nincompoop'. Oh FFS, where the hell did you hear THAT (no, not what I actually said). Apparently Mr Todd said it in Peter Rabbit. Awesome. And made much worse because I initially laughed (as did our fav Mum from daycare when he said it to her this morning). So it is fun to say, it sounds like his Aunt's nickname, and I have explained it is a way to call someone silly or stupid, so he is being mean when he calls people that (we recently had a round of 'idiot' being his favourite word, and so we have had this conversation and the ensuing discipline previously).

So I had to apologise in advance to all the daycare workers and parents for the likelihood that they will be called a nincompoop, either by my child or their own, in the very near future.

sigh.

Another first

It's a bit of a big weekend over here. This afternoon we went bowling with some friends, the first time Atti (and my friend and her kids actually). It was great fun. Atti wasn't as great with it - he wasn't keen on eating anything (and we basically woke him up and chucked him in the car to get there on time) and he had a few mini-meltdowns because he didn't think he had enough turns. I think next time I would book two lanes, and twice the games, so that the kids could have turns more often.

He also found the arcade and was very upset not to be allowed to play in it.

It was fun to hang out with our friends. We have a few families we are friends with that we don't see very often, for a variety of reasons. I think I might set up a roster in my schedule, and try and see these families at least once a month.

And, to boot - Atti, with the assistance of the Wook, won the game!

Finding Dory

I took Atti to see his first film at the cinema tonight, Finding Dory. I figured it would have a storyline he could follow well enough, and would be interesting enough for him and wouldn't be too long. He had seen some of Nemo, and he seemed to like it, so I organised to go with a couple of friends, booked the tickets and showed him the trailers (and a few scenes on You Tube of Nemo).

It was a hit. He did so well at the movie - I was really impressed. He didn't talk too much or too loud, while sitting still for two hours (running time 103 minutes my arse) was too much, he didn't bother anyone else or anything. He was tracking what was going on and found the physical humour utterly hilarious. It was great. 

I bought him a Dory Pez dispenser after the film (I needed to break a note and opting for a bottler opener seemed weird) and discovered he knows what pez is (lollies Mummy!) - dammit. I was planning to chuck the lollies bit, but I guess not.

Details

Atti said this morning, that he was hungry, so I asked what he would like to eat. I suggested eggs, he said a sandwich AND eggs. So I said 'what about a sandwich with egg in it?' and he was like 'yeah, brilliant'. But then he followed it up with 'but, ahhhhhmmmm, I don't think the shell in it....'.

Good thinking son.

Kids are funny

I work as a research assistant to a professor of southeast asian politics and while I was driving Atti to daycare this morning he was talking about his new monster truck. I had said he could show it to his friends at daycare, but due to too many toys getting lost, we don't take our toys to daycare anymore, so I would take it with me when I left. He knows I go to and work at a university, which we have told him is a kind of school for grown ups, so he pointed out that I might get in trouble for taking his monster truck to school with me (I assume this has come up at daycare with some of his group starting kindy this year). So I said that today I was working for the Professor on his book, not going to classes.

Atti was VERY excited to hear this. Because he knows what a professor is, just like in Octonauts. Professor Inkling in Octonauts. And obviously that means I work with an octopus.

Lol.

Circus

We had such a great circus class this morning, Atti did SO WELL waiting his turn. He has gotten better about waiting, but he isn't good at waiting in line, he stands next to someone or wanders away to look at something then tries to come back - and so he would wait his turn for things but then not get his turn - and he would get so upset. It was a bit heartbreaking actually, because he finds waiting so hard, and he was doing it so well. But he got lots of positive feedback about it and he also got an extra star on his behaviour chart.

But the very sad news is his circus teacher is leaving the class. She has a new job, and while she will be able to teach a couple of classes in the week, they aren't ones we can get to. I am so sad about it, Atti loves Isobel, and she is a really wonderful teacher - so good with all the kids, and especially Atti. I don't know if we will continue with the class, it will depend on who is teaching I guess. Certainly I suspect if we do go along, I will have to be much more involved with the class than I have been, and while that is fine, I actually want him to be able to do a class with a teacher without me having to be so involved.

In other news, Atti earned his first toy with the rewards chart system. He had something like 48 stars for the week, and so we made a trip to the toy store, and he is the (very) proud owner of 'Blaze'. There was a pretty crappy selection of toys from this show, as it isn't terribly popular in Oz, so I bought the other two characters that they had in the shop, and ordered the other three off the internet tonight. Overkill I guess, but he is very keen to collect the set, and I can use this to my advantage in terms of his behaviour charts. 

Also we have received all the toys we for our latest foray into the 'dummy fairy'. They will be sending Atti a catalogue soon of toys he can trade in his dummies for. I guess I should wait until the Blaze collection and the star charts are done before the dummy fairy makes her next move - beside he really isn't ready to give up his dummies yet.

Exposure

We had a little boy from daycare spend the morning with us today. He and Atti have been in the same daycare for most of their lives, and they are about 7 months apart in age. They have been a bit hit and miss in terms of friendship, but I am friendly with his dad and we live locally, and lately we have been running into each other a lot. They mentioned that H is off school on alternate fridays and they were moving him round a bit, and I said I'd be happy to have him one morning.

We went off to scitech and it all went fine. Well there was the biting thing, but I'll tell you about that later.

When we got back I was watching the two of them play games together on the iPad and it was fascinating to see how they interact. I had never really thought about it, but they have spent two or three days a week together for most of their lives, and in an environment that requires sharing and taking turns and negotiating play. And they were astonishingly good at it, much better than any of the kids Atti would describe as his 'friends'. I was quite startled, but I am very chuffed that he is capable of such good interactions.

Now, the biting thing. I am sitting in one part of the science discovery centre and the boys are playing. Suddenly Atti comes up to me crying and he tells me a little boy bit him and points to the kid in question. He was standing there with his grandfather (I presume) next to him. So I went over and spoke to the guy, saying that my kid claimed that his kid bit him. And his response? 'Your son tried to take over the spinning wheel my kid was playing with, and he was here first'.

FFS. So I'm like 'and you think that means BITING is ok?' What a douche. I note he hustled his kid out of the play area we were in (that is specifically for small kids) after that.

Reward Chart

We have introduced a reward chart recently, and it has been a little hit and miss. Mostly because we haven't been doing it daily, or particularly rigourously. We hadn't really even worked out what he earned stars for. Well Atti went to a toy store with his friend recently, and is somewhat obsessed with the 'Blaze and the Monster Machines' toys. So we wrote a list of the things that could earn stars on his chart, and decided how we would work out when he had earned a trip to the toy store. So the list, currently is;

- staying in his bedroom from lights out til morning

- staying in his seat through a meal

- helping with shopping

- helping with cooking

- helping with cleaning

- completing morning routine (shower, teeth, dressed, puts on his own shoes, breakfast)

- night routine

- doing his swimming lesson without incident

- going to and doing circus class without too much drama (unlikely to be totally incident free)

- sharing with his friends

- listening to Daddy

We are also going to ask his daycare staff what they would like to add to list.

And basically, so long as he has earned at least a star per dollar of the toy he wants, he can have a weekly trip to the toy store for the moment. 

So, lets see how that goes.