The flaw

This new system only works because I'm on tap all the time. Once I fall down (I'm a tiny bit sick and getting tired early at the moment) it starts to come apart at the seems.

Yesterday we tried to go bowling with a friend from daycare and his mum. Turns out you have to book lanes, who knew? We ended up just playing at a park. But the Wook and I had a bit of a barney in the car and Atti was hilarious. Anytime Wook and I have a fight, Atti tells his dad off and says he has to apologise to me. Yesterday he said that he wouldn't play with him at bowling if he didn't say sorry to his mum. I was shaking I was trying so hard not to laugh.

Then Wook said something (to me) like 'you think I'm an idiot'. So Atti was saying he was an idiot the rest of the car ride. I had to bite my hand not to laugh then.

Yes yes, I know. That's actually awful. I agree, but it's still funny. 

This weekend is all a bit crap actually. Too much tv, not enough activity, almost no shopping or cleaning or cooking. And I've only made half the dragonfly costume. 

Week 5

Has gone fairly well. Our later routine had a couple of bumps - we have had Rah over a couple of times, and she has been up past her bedtime. The two of them wind each other up quite a bit, and after she has gone it make is all a bit harder for him to calm down and get ready to sleep. 

But mostly he has been ok. We have done a bit more in the last couple of days than we normally do. It has been fun, today especially, but it means we have fallen out of our routine. I think we are all very slightly sick and that has been a factor too.

But on the plus side, we have had some total wins with food this week. The Wook made fried rice one night, and was showing Atti how he cooked it, and he actually, voluntarily ate some at dinner. (Less voluntary was eating my teriyaki chicken meatballs). And the next night, when we had my niece here and Rah for dinner, he at half a taco. With lettuce. That he could see, and still ate it! So I'm a bit chuffed with all that.

We had a lovely day today. We spent the day at various parks with friends - people that are easy and simple and we just like hanging with - both me and Atti. And it was delightful. Need more of that kind of straight up thing I think. Only dramas were that Atti wanted everyone to come home with him.

And one of the cutest bits of the day was when we ran into a little boy from Atti's daycare at the park. We had walked there with a friend who used to take Atti for a half day each week, until she had her own baby a year ago. And it was so adorable watching him bring his daycare friend up to her and her daughter, with his arm around him, to introduce them. Oh the cuteness. 

And watching Atti and his friend from daycare teach my friend's little girl (who only just got walking down pat) to play soccer with them. So adorable. 

Gigglez

Atti has always been a laugher. Tonight, at story time, I started to read him a book. In it, it explains who two of the three penguins in a  picture are, but not the third. He asked me who the other one was, and I made a sort of fart joke about it (That's his cousin Pop-pop). And Atti laughed, a full belly laugh.

Which made me laugh. And him laugh, etc etc repeat.

In fact, we both laughed all the way through story time. Whoops.

Kids getting older is very cool. They will start to eat more foods (he actually ate fried rice tonight! Hurrah hurrah), you stop having to wipe their butts (not entirely there yet, but close) and you can share jokes with them!

An added benefit

To this new night routine is that we aren't wasting a night nappy. Most night prior we would put Atti in a sleep nappy and during the hour and a half tussle about going to sleep, one of the regular reasons for being called into his room was that he had done a poo. He is pretty regular. Now that he is still up at 8, he tends to go in the toilet. So that is a win.

Tonight I was playing around with Atti and he said he had to stop giving me cuddles and go and see his Dad. I pretended to be really sad about this, and amongst other things I stuck out my bottom lip. He ran back to me and said 'Don't be sad' and pushed my bottom lip in with his finger! I have no idea who showed him that...but it had the intended effect because I burst out laughing.

Week 4

Too much tv on weekends is happening. Which sux, but eh. The weather is horrible and we are tired and the Wook and I want to lounge around and watch tv or read or whatever, so it is bound to happen a bit.

So today, wasn't bad at all. He went off to swimming class with the Wook just fine, I managed to bake some muffins and even cook a roast dinner for us all. I did a little work (not enough, not nearly enough) and some cleaning. So that was all good. 

Nap went to hell for no discernible reason though. So our new night routine got a bit truncated. And I have found one issue about our new schedule - when no one else is on it, we don't have any friends for late playdates with. But that is survivable. 

I finally got it together for us to sit at the dining table for dinner. He didn't eat much, but he did practice cutting with his knife and fork (and then knife and fingers) with the veggies quite a bit. And while he didn't stay at the table that long, it wasn't the worse meal by a long shot. So that was promising. 

And bed time was less drama than normal too. He didn't come out at all, he did call for us a few times, but it was lights out at 8 and he hasn't been heard from since 8.30. So that is a bit of a winner.

All in all a fairly good day actually. And the marks on his neck have even gone down, so daycare might not have to call child services on me. Oh yay.

Another first

This morning Atti got up, went and got his step and turned on his bedroom and lounge lights on, and started playing, without waking us. I actually have no idea what time he got up.

He came into our room at about 7.15 saying his music box wasn't working.

I can't decide if I'm thrilled (sleep in!) or horrified (all the things he could have done while we slept).

Also, night two of the bedtime trial seems to have worked well. He never came out once. Seemed to go to sleep straight away.

So, that all seems like a win. Although I might need to figure out some new safety protocols....

Week 4

Has been interesting so far.

Points to remember

• Atti seems to be getting worse with daycare drop offs. Particularly Mondays. I'm not sure if it is because I am spending more time with him, or because B is gone or what, but it is tough.
• He seems to be getting worse with a few things right now. Circus class today was worse than ever with him waiting to take his turn, or sharing with other kids. He is worse with the shouting at me and demanding tv. I hope it is one of those things where it gets worse before it gets better. Otherwise, wow, great.

Circus class today was rough. He seemed a bit off anyway (bursting into tears about anything, everything was too hard) and the teacher was away. He really likes Isobel, and I do too. I love the way she runs those classes and I love the way she engages the kids. We have talked a lot about how to handle Atti in the class and I like what she does. Today, the other woman running it took the class and she was awful with him. And, she seemed to me to be bad with little kids in general. I mean they hung a low rope across the room and, just as I was saying 'um, what could possibly go wrong with THAT' Atti ran into it, full pelt and, well basically was partially garrotted. He has red marks right across the front of his neck 12 hours later. Fabulous.

We are trying something different this week with his bedtime and routine. We have been putting Atti to bed at about 7.30 each night, and then we spend the next hour and a half to two hours putting him back in bed. The Wook loses his temper, and then I get pissy at him and it all goes pretty pear-shaped.  I mean he naps til about 2.30/3 when he is at home, so it isn't really that weird that he isn't ready for bed 4 hours later. I am not willing to give up his nap (he literally fell asleep next to a screamer ride at the adventure park last month, so I doubt it he could give up his nap anyway) but we have to do something. And with the neighbours moving out, I am not really constrained by anyone else's bed time anymore.

So we are trialling something new. Assuming he has had a decent nap, we are going to give him a late snack around 5, then some tv, and then screens go off at 6. He can help me make dinner, or go out with the Wook for a ride or something, then we will all sit down to dinner together about 7pm.  After dinner he can play games with us, then bath, teeth, bed and reading, then sleep. Tonight he was in the bath at about 8.30 and I was lying reading with him at 8.50ish. He didn't come out of his room once tonight*. If it just turns into he still doesn't go to sleep until an hour after bedtime I'll change it, but I figure we should give it a go.

There are downsides. In theory I have an hour and a half to myself in the evening, that is kinda gone. But if we work together we can still have some time to ourselves. The other thing is this - I sometimes go to bed earlier than 9, so those nights might be rough. But if we can plan and do it right, he can actually spend some nice time with us. We can start sorting out the table manners and eat dinner together a bit more. We can play games with him to work on math and things. Do more reading with him. Maybe get some more exercise. I might find sacrificing the couple of hours I sit watching tv shows a bit rough, but if we can spend some nice time together it might pay off too.

*no I don't expect that every night.