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.