Bending the Rules

So, we've had a rule of no bike riding in the house.  You know, one of those rules you would never think of having until you have children and realize the number of things you need to specify.  For Christmas, Santa brought our 5 year old a scooter and our 3 year old a 12" bike.  There has been snow on the ground and the weather has been freezing cold - not ideal conditions for riding bikes and scooters.  I never considered our house that large, but apparently our long hallway and kitchen covered with linoleum are ideal conditions for bike and scooter riding.  So we are bending the rules in celebration of Christmas.  Every day, several times a day, they ride up and down the hallway.  I'm sure it's not ideal treatment for my floors, but if it keeps my kids happy and burns off some of the extra energy they have from candy and not enough time spent outdoors, I'm happy to bend the rules. Let's just hope come summer they don't still want to ride indoors.

Shower time

My 5 year old daughter has decided she wants to take a shower every night instead of taking a bath with her younger brother and sister.  This is one of those things you never really consider, but makes you realize how quickly your little kids grow up.  I know it's a simple shower, but I felt like saying "No! You're too little! I want you staying in the bathtub with your siblings forever!" I didn't say those things, of course, but it did make me kind of sad to realize she's old enough to do something simple by herself like bathe herself.  Of course, she still needs a little help with shampooing her own hair in the shower.  And, with kid #4 coming in March, it will be a little difficult to have 4 children all sitting together in the tub at bathtime.  I understand logically all of these things, but it still made me a little sad.  Maybe I should blame that on pregnancy hormones.

Narrating Life

My 3 year old son has taken to narrating his playtime.  I don't know if he's seen too many Thomas the Tank Engine movies or we've read too many books written in 3rd person, but it's fairly entertaining to listen to. Especially because it's frequently when there's no one else around.

 I'll overhear him playing with his toy trains and saying things like this:
"'You're going too fast,' said the blue train.  He needs to slow down. He goes up the hill now."

Or he'll be playing with the kid's nativity saying and saying things like this:
"Mary and Joseph need to stop at the manger. The bad guys are coming."

Perhaps it's time I start playing with them a little more and doing some role playing rather than reading books!

Threats vs Incentives

I've found myself falling back into a threatening mode towards my children.  This is one of those things I have to make a conscience effort to avoid.  I frequently find myself saying things like "If you don't clean all the books up, I'll have to take your stuffed animals away." Really, I'd probably get a better result if I phrased it as "If you put all of your books away, you can go play with your stuffed animals".  I react better to incentives than I do to threats, and I'm pretty sure my children are the same.  An early New Year's resolution, I guess, to focus on encouraging the positive rather than punishing the negative.

Attack of the snow clothes

My house is being overtaken by snow clothes.  Now that there is snow on the ground, we (I and my 3 children) take half an hour to get everyone bundled up in socks, boots, snow pants, gloves, hats, and coats to go play in the snow outside.  I sometimes long for the day when I only have to worry about dressing myself.  When we come back into the house, I've been managing to at least keep the snow clothes contained to the entryway while we unbundle and before the kids take off through the house.  I'm left however, with a giant pile of wet, cold clothes.  They end up everywhere to dry--on the banister, on the dryer, on the backs of the kitchen chairs, on the floor next to the heat vents, etc.  Today I was longing for one of those "mud" rooms some have in their homes that connect the garage and the rest of the home.  I'm not sure the wet mess would dry any faster there, but at least I wouldn't have clothing scattered throughout my house.

Uncaging the Animal

We uncaged the animal this week.  We took the side railing off the crib our 19 month old sleeps in and turned it into a toddler bed.  We decided we might as well do it now.  If I try to do it in February, in the middle of tax season and when the new baby is almost here, I'm pretty sure I would not have the patience to do it.  But, the baby's going to need a place to sleep, so we had to do it sometime.

Switching child #1 to a "big kid bed" was a bad experience.  She was about 19 months old, and like this child, we were going to need the crib for the new baby on the way.  She has never been an easy child to get to sleep at night, and this just made it worse.  She would scream and refuse to sleep in her bed, but also refuse to sleep in the crib anymore.  We would find her asleep on the floor, or up against the door when we tried to open it.

Child #2 was a breeze.  He's always been the sort of kid that just goes right to sleep when he's tired.  We got bunkbeds, so his big sister got to sleep on the top bunk and he got to sleep on the bottom.  No problem.

This child falls somewhere in the middle.  She's okay about going to sleep, but given the choice between sleeping and playing, she'll always choose playing regardless of how tired she is.  Here's how it went:
Day 1 - 19 mo stayed up until 10 pm (normal sleep time is 8 pm) playing with her sister, climbing into the top bunk, and pulling toys off the toybox to play with.  We found her asleep on the floor and had to move her to her bed. Other 2 kids were asleep by 9:30 at the latest.
Day 2 - She went to sleep during nap time, but it was on her sister's bed on the top bunk.  At night, about every 20 minutes we went in to try to get her in her bed to go to sleep.  She kept trying to go back up to the top bunk to play with her sister, who seemed to be enjoying it.  There was much crying involved.  They were all asleep finally by 9 pm.
Day 3 - She napped on the top bunk again.  We finally unscrewed the ladder from the bunkbed before bedtime.  Her older sister has to climb up now using the footboards or the dresser.  The 19 mo was sad to not be able to climb up anymore (and only fell once trying), but it was much more peaceful and all were asleep by 9 pm.

I'm hoping it continues to calm down some.  I'm pretty sure my sleeper boy is looking forward to having his own room in the near future so that he can just go to sleep and not be kept awake by his two sisters.  I'm looking forward to his getting more sleep so that the daytime is a little happier.  I may have to cut down on the 19 mo nap time so she starts to go to sleep a little earlier at night, but I'm not sure that would help right now.  This is just another one of those things I think you just have to sit through as a parent and wait for it to be done.  At least they get along, right?  I'll enjoy those moments while I can before they become teenagers.

Picky eating

My children have started telling me "I don't like to eat that" when I serve them foods that they've always eaten in the past.  I'm hoping this is just a phase.  I've always heard it takes 10-15 times or so of being served a new food before a child will sometimes try it.  I'm not sure how this applies to food they have eaten before.  I try to just ignore them when they say it, and serve it to them anyway.  Today my 4 year old told me "I don't like grilled cheese.  I won't eat it." I ignored her and made it for everyone anyway.  She ate half of it, which I considered a victory.  I'm hoping they don't get in the habit of saying they don't like something and never eat it, only to find out as an adult that, what do you know, they really do like it.  I'm pretty sure that's what happened to me and tomatoes.  Any suggestions?