Saturday, January 07, 2006

Birthdays Birthdays Everywhere

Anders turned 3 yesterday. Wasn't he just born like 5 minutes ago? We're going to have a birthday party for him and Addie next week, since Addie's birthday is on the 12th. All day he kept asking me where his birthday was, and when were we going to go to his birthday. We went to dinner with my mom, and I made a cake to eat at her house afterward. When we got to her house he said, "Where are all my cousins?" We tried explaining the whole party situation to him, but he didn't really care. He wanted his cousins then are there. I made a few phone calls and we had an impromtu birthday party for him. He doesn't need gifts, just his beloved cousins. He is infatuated with them.

I can't believe Addie's turning one in 5 days. She's still so little. Her little personality is really coming through. She's so funny. Her laugh sounds like she choking, she loves to growl, and her newest thing is scrunching up her face and blowing in and out through her nose. She's starting to stand without support. She's so fun.

So my birthday is on the 14th. We really need to put a stop to the January birthdays. We can't afford it. I'm another year older. It's just weird. 28. That seems so old. A lot older than 27. I guess it doesn't matter.

So in my last entry I mentioned the sleep training we're putting Anders through. Oh my gosh. He's been a good sleeper. We trained him early to sleep by himself through the night, so this really hasn't been an issue since he was a small infant. The past couple of months he's been waking up in the night and coming into our room. It was infrequent enough that it didn't bother us too much. He would sleep at the foot of our bed or on the floor or whatever, but the past couple of weeks he was waking up almost hourly and screaming bloody murder. That got old REALLY fast, so I read in my trusty sleep habits book how to put an end to it. Basically, you go over "sleep rules", and reward the child for obeying the rules. However, it takes time for them to actually catch on, and tons of screaming. When the kid gets out of bed, you take them back to the bed without any emotion or reinforcement of the behavior. Anders got out of bed 16 times the first night and screamed like he was being tortured for a good portion of the process. It was about 2 in the morning. Our neighbors asked us what was going on. It took about 4 nights, and one relapse night this last week, but he's doing much better now. He runs into our room in the morning and says, "Mommy! I slept all through the night! Can I have a treat now?" I'm really glad we trained him as a baby how to sleep on his own, otherwise I think this little incident would have been much worse. It was pretty bad as it was, but I can't imagine having to start from scratch at 3 years old.

Nils' parents came to town today for a short visit, and Anders has been grinning ear to ear all night. We all went to a wedding reception for a friend from CT, then went to dinner after. Anders said, "I love you Nana. I love you GrandPar" over and over again. He got 4 ketchup packets and has been holding them like they're a rare gem all night. He's a funny kid. We've got a couple of funny kids, I tell ya.

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