Coke Breath

Jack was sitting on my lap after his nap today (one of my favorite times of day; love that warm, snuggly little guy...)

Anyways, we were just chatting a bit when he suddenly burped.  With a surprised look on his face, he said, "Mom! It tastes like Coke!  Can you smell my Coke breath?"

He must have overdone it on my Coke this afternoon because the burps just kept coming.  Each time, he'd stop and say, "I had another Coke breath mom!"

I Can't Believe He Sleeps With That

Jack's newest obsession is faucets. I have stools in front of my bathroom sinks for my bigger boys to use for washing their hands and brushing their teeth. I have recently discovered that Jack is also getting plenty of use out of the stools. He climbs right up them, reaches up, turns the water on full blast, and proceeds to soak his sleeves up to his armpits, plus whatever item he has brought with him to the sink, be it a toy, a cup, a diaper, and most lately, his little blankie.

I am trying to remember to pull all the stools away from the sinks, but even when I remember, the boys forget so Jack soaks his little blankie at least once a day. Since Jack refuses to go down for a nap easily without that smelly thing, I just can't keep it dry and he ends up choosing to sleep with it all soggy! I have tried keeping it when it is wet like that, but he calls and calls for it. When I give it to him, he smashes it to his face, lays right down, curls up, and heads off to dream land.

When he wakes up, there is a giant wet spot in his crib and his hair is sticking straight up on one side from sleeping on a wet blanket, but he doesn't seem to mind at all!

Just a few minutes ago, I heard Mitchell shout at Jack from upstairs, "Oh, Jack! Not again! What are we going to do with you!?" Yep. Blankie is in a soggy heap with hot water running on it, clogging the sink. Mitchell had the right question: what are we going to do with this boy?

An Exception To A Very Important Rule

I am sure you have heard the advice, "Never disturb a sleeping baby" or some variation of this before.  It isn't just advice in our home, it is an important rule.  It has been a rule applying to all my kids, not just babies, since my first one was born.  

Well, times are changing.  I no longer have three nappers.  Jack is the only one who takes a nap anymore, so he is really the only one we tip-toe around while sleeping.  The other two are notallowed to take naps anymore, even if they could really use one, because just a few minutes of shut-eye causes them to be awake far too long after bedtime.  It really is amazing how just a half hour nap causes them to loose hours of nighttime sleep.

So while we still have this rule in our house, I make exceptions when the big boys fall asleep in the middle of the day.  I allow them to sleep for just a bit (obviously, they are in need of a little rest if they fall asleep on their own, despite their best efforts not to sleep) but not only do I wake them up after only the briefest of rests, I don't require a quiet atmosphere around them either.  In fact, I often enlist the help of the other boys to wake the sleeping one.  

While always grumpy towards their mom or dad for waking them before they are ready, they rarely get mad if I allow Jack to work his magic on them, and Jack just can't resist a sleeping brother!  I think he thinks it is a good game of peek-a-boo or something.  Whatever his reasons, he loves to play with them most when they are asleep.  He climbs on them, snuggles them, rolls over them, pulls their hair, slobber-kisses them, and just laughs and babbles throughout the entire waking up process.

Look at their faces.  This is not the look or response I get when I wake him on my own.

It's So Cute, You're Not In Trouble...This Time!!

Have I mentioned how much my older boys LOVE their baby brother?  I had high expectations before he was born because both boys were already showing plenty of excitement over the coming addition, but I never expected this kind of reaction!  When picturing how the boys would all interact together, I never imagined I would have to encourage a little less attention from the boys to Jack.  

Gone is the little slug who lays there relishing every kiss, every snuggle, every smothering with a blankie, every time his face is strangely contorted into a funny shape, every steam-roller, every poke and tickle and squeeze.  Developing along with his ever-increasing mobility is a little personal bubble.  He takes after his mom and his brother Mitchell - he just needs some space.  Too much cuddling, snuggling, and smothering makes a fussy baby (or mommy or older brother.)  I am finding that instead of needing to encourage the big boys to play with him or not to forget about him, I have the opposite problem - I have to remind them to give him space or to squeeze him then let go or not to lay on top of him and most of all - let him have some alone time in his room when he wakes up from a nap!  Going in there when we first hear a noise is way too soon for him!  He needs some time to wake up on his own and "prepare himself" for the barrage of boys about to hit him.  Takes some psyching up, I think.

So one of our house rules is that no one is allowed to go into Jack's room without permission.  The boys fight over who gets to go in first.  I can't believe they do that.  I can't believe how special it is to them!

A few days ago, Mitchell, Jack, and I all took an afternoon nap while Ben had quiet time alone in his room.  Shortly after falling asleep, I heard noises on the monitor and not the usual noises.  Ben was definitely in there!  I rushed downstairs, but paused before entering Jack's room.  They were both just cracking up!  I peaked in and saw Ben in the chair, performing for Jack, who was laughing and and standing and bouncing up and down in his crib.  They were having so much fun I left them in there for 10 more minutes or so until the magic was gone and Jack was bored of it.  After reminding Ben that this is normally not allowed and he assured me that Jack was already awake when he went in there, he got off easy this time.  He sure does love that little baby boy...

A New Food Discovery and A New Way to Sleep

Today was the last day of our vacation and "going home" day.  The boys had to say goodbye to their "dude room," the hot tubby, their radio and TV, and the mini corn-dogs they had for dinner at two separate restaurants two nights in a row.  What is it with that town and corn-dogs?  I've never seen them on the kids menu anywhere else.  My kids have a new favorite food that I hope I've convinced them only exists in this one town.  They thought they were awesome though - they were shaped like little eggs (not on a stick like I remember them from childhood) and when dipped in ketchup, they pretended they were bloody dinosaur eggs they were eating.  Gross.  What is vacation for if not for air guitar in the dude room, sandy hot tubs, long naps, and bloody dinosaur eggs for dinner?  Doesn't get any better than that... 

Speaking of long naps, there is nothing like long hours of jumping and climbing and rolling in the sand to make a 3 and 5 - year old ready for a nap, but Mitchell still insisted he was not tired each day and was not going to close his eyes at all.  We finally made a compromise and he decided he'd just sleep with his eyes open.  Works for me!  

Our Shadow

The boys were feeling well enough today that I decided to finally get something done and run some errands with them.  One place we went was the craft store.  I needed some things and the boys love it there!  There are aisles and aisles of treasure to be gotten into!  They love just about every aisle - soft things to feel, treasure boxes to fill, strange hooks and large needles to sword fight with, beads to scatter... And at the end, a whole shelf full of candy to beg for!

I have taken them with me before, so I knew what to expect, but I had a little "talk" with them before we went in this time, promising they could pick one kind of candy to share if they followed the rules I gave them.  Well, asking a little boy to behave and not make a mess in an environment like that might not be cruel, but it is, at least, rediculous.  After about 10 minutes there, I started to notice our "shadow" following discreetly behind us.  This poor store employee followed us to every place we went, replacing feather boas, re-sorting colorful beads, re-shelving wooden treasure boxes (after emptying the "treasures" out of them), re-wrapping yarn, and hanging things back up properly (after my attempts to clean up after ourselves.)   Needless to say, they did not receive their candy, but we did enjoy exploring the store.  Sorry, Mr. Shadow for the extra work today!  

Am I the Only One Who Needs a Nap?

 

You would think after all the running around this morning, we would all settle nicely into a nap.  Come on, they are still recovering - they should still be tired, right?  Well, getting a second to myself was more difficult than keeping the craft store tidy today.  Jack would not stay asleep for more than half an hour and the big boys?  Forget about it...No more sleepy, sick boys for me!  There was so much commotion going on in there room, it sounded like a birthday party in there!  I finally heard Ben yell, "Mitchell, put your clothes back on and stop wiping your bum on me!" and decided it was time to give up on 

the whole nap idea.  I snuck upstairs with my camera to catch them in some sort of mischief (or covered in poop) and found them out of their room.  Ben had the decency to look guilty, but Mitchell immediately launched into a full description of everything he was and had been doing, as if that was what he was supposed to be doing and I should want to hear it all!  I snapped a few pics of them anyways.  Cute even when naughty!