sleep

I am amazed at how much a child's sleep is effected by change. It's no secret that my guys sleep well. Sure, we've gone through our ups and downs and phases of trouble but for the most part they can go to bed by themselves and sleep just fine. We have a routine that works for us but this week - even though it's only 3 days old - has thrown us some major curveballs.
Cash is doing everything in his power to not have to go to sleep even though he is visibly tired from a full day at school. He talks up "scary" things like ghosts and witches and asks for mommy or daddy to lay with him. Just one week ago he was in bed and asleep at 7:30 without so much as a peep. He has woken up in the middle of the night calling for one of us each night this week and has needed a lot of encouragement to get back to sleep. And if he hasn't snuck into our bed at some point in the night, he's been in our room before the sun comes up.
I knew we were really going through some stuff when Cooper cried for an hour last night before he finally fell asleep. I even went and picked him up out of bed - which is something that i never do - because his crying was so pitiful. He cried for mommy and bottle and baby and books.
I think the boys are just experiencing so much change right now they are having a hard time processing it and compartmentalizing it so they can calm their brains and drift off to sleep.
We'll get through this since it's obviously just a phase but I feel sorry for my guys.

"mommy, just tell Ms. Shin that I like to play quietly in the shade."
"all the other kids make too much noise and scream too much."

potty humor

"mommy, did you know the toilet is a swimming pool for poop and pee?"

"that poop was waiting its turn to get out."

1st day of preschool

i'll cut to the chase: the boys did great!

We got to school about 4:30pm to pick them up and went to Cooper's classroom first. Of course Cooper did perfectly. His teacher Ms. Holly leaves at 4pm so the other teacher Ms. Kathy takes the kids who are still there past 4pm and puts them all into her pod. We walked in and Cooper is playing with a helper and one of the other kids. It takes him a minute to realize we are his mommy and daddy and then he gets really excited, gives hugs and immediately tells us to sit down and play with him. Ms. Kathy said that he did so well - she seemed genuinely impressed. She said that she didn't think he cried one time all day, which is saying something because when we dropped him off i think every single kid was crying. His report said that he napped for 1.5 hours so we knew he'd be tired. I messed up in the morning and put his lunch in his cubby instead of the fridge so the teacher threw away his yogurt (i would have still given it to him) and he couldn't have his granola bar because it "could have been processed in a factory with peanuts" - grrr. but overall he did wonderfully! Then we went to get Cash.

Cash also did really well but didn't eat his sunbutter sandwich at lunch - yuck, i wouldn't either. He was wearing his spare shorts so i immediately thought he had an accident because the potties are so small and he couldn't maneuver it. But he just spilled his apple sauce on his lap during lunch. no biggie. Cash's teacher, Ms. Shin, said he did great and she was really impressed with him. However, he was wayyyyy too tired to talk about it. Ms. Shin took pictures with her digital and printed them out to put on the wall for all the parents to see what they did all day - this was really cool and from the looks of it Cash was a busy bee.

On the way home we had a pretty significant meltdown. Both boys were hot and tired and got into daddy's hot car without snacks and it was over. plus there was tremendous commute with lots of traffic, lane closures and accidents. by the time we got home Cash was asleep. Cash had a really hard time getting to sleep last night and asked to sleep in my bed 100 times and then made me lay with him while he talked about all the bad things in the world, ghosts, witches, etc. Finally, I made a deal with him to wait outside his door until he fell asleep. At 4am he woke up asking, "mommy, are you still there?" and when i didn't respond he got very upset and came in our room. I understand he is experiencing a lot of change so we are trying to be patient with him and talk about all the things he is worried about.

We all got up and did it again today.

moving on

Today is the last day with Ms. Sylvia. I can't believe we made this decision but we did and we are moving forward. Cash is so excited to go to a new school with new boys and girls. he wants to know everyone's name. I could probably even convince him to go to school on the weekends he's so excited about it. Cooper will obviously go with the flow and not miss a beat - as long as there is food and toys.
I seem to be the only one who is broken up about this. not because the boys aren't ready for more but because i handed my tiny little babies to some lady and she's loved them and cared for them like they were her own ever since. i've never once worried about how they are getting treated at her house. it was the easiest decision i've made since becoming a mother. Sylvia made everything easier for me. She was the 3rd parent in our family.
Sylvia told me this morning that this past year she attended the police academy of one little boy she took care of until he was 6 years old and another high school graduation of a girl who she used to keep over-night. She's been doing this forever and has seen a lot of little faces come and go and she's just fine and will be just fine. and we will be fine too.
i really hope i keep her in our lives. one way or another.

out of the blue, Cash asked me "but mommy, who am I going to marry?" I told him that he'd have to find a nice person who he loved very much. Then he said, "like you?" !!! So later that night he told Chandler that "mommy and I are getting married."

then the conversation got a little sad because Cash said he was sad that he wasn't invited to mommy and daddy's wedding. and that he wants to see us get married.

last night Cooper was so physically exhausted he laid down in the middle of the floor to fall asleep. I had taken him with me to pick up dinner and he took a little catnap in the car. I figured we'd get home and he'd eat dinner and then i would get him ready for bed. Nope. I got him out of the car and he made it about 3 steps in the door and just gave up. I put him on the couch while we ate dinner and he didn't even move; just laid there staring at us. I put him to bed and not a peep. he still woke up pretty early but i was able to put him off for a while until the sun came up.

Beach

we had an amazing time at the beach and the boys were very sad to leave. Cash told me more than once, "it's sad to leave bay-cation". Nothing beats playing with cousins, running around in the waves, digging and jumping in the sand, swimming and floating around in a hot tub. Hopefully the boys will have this memory for a long time. And hopefully we can do it again next year (ahem, grammy).
Thanks to bobby we brought home a serious obsession with Thomas the Train.
The boys did well on the way home. We were able to switch our seats around and have a whole row, instead of split 2 and 2. This makes my anxiety a lot less knowing that the person the boys are going to be kicking are family! They were both exhausted after a big week and with some complaining Cooper fell asleep and slept the whole way. Let me tell you, he gets heavy after 3 hours. Cash squirmed and squirmed for 3 hours and finally fell asleep with about 30 minutes left in the flight. We got home and the boys went right to bed - as did mommy and daddy.
check the flickr for pictures.

Fishes

Cash and Cooper love to swim! This weekend Cash swam all by himself. Cash is obviously more self aware than Cooper so he gets freaked out and scared easier. While Cooper will jump in from the edge of the pool - even without his floaties on - Cash was only attempt to get in the water if someone is there to catch him and hold him. This weekend, donned in his floatie shirt and clutching to a noodle, Cash took off swimming across the pool. He shouted, "look! i'm swimming by myself" and was obviously proud. After the initial shock that he could actually do it he spent the next hour swimming around with Rylie playing all sorts of games.