Naptime Woes

Perhaps most parents struggle with naps at some point. Today, I apologized to my own mother for being a difficult napper, because Jacob follows in his Mama's footsteps (my dad loves to point out that diaper is "repaid" spelled backwards- well, daddy, I'm certainly being repaid now).

Jacob has always been a difficult daytime sleeper, and I have tried many different things. I have a pretty scheduled routine, that slowly gets altered over time as things work or don't work. I have tried putting him down earlier, later, taking toys and his beloved "Thummie" away, sitting with him, napping with him, leaving his pre-sleep CD on while he tries to fall asleep, and the list goes on. Some days some things work, and the next day it won't. I never know. I do know that he is too young to give up a daily nap, and I am unwilling to deal with a very cranky toddler all afternoon if he doesn't nap. It's days like today where I wish I worked so at least I wouldn't have to deal with the nap routine 5 days a week.

So here's today's story. After following a normal pre-nap routine, I place him in the crib and go downstairs. Pretty soon, I hear him hooting and singing. I think to myself that it's not a good sign, but sometimes he'll fall asleep on his own and I leave him be. After 45 minutes, I go check on him, and remove everything but Thummie. Fifteen minutes later, I go in and take away Thummie. Sure enough, as I leave the room, he begins screaming, and I tell myself that he will tire out and fall asleep. Fifteen more minutes and the phone rings. I talk to my parents for approximately half an hour, going up to check on him once, when the screams had died down and believing he was done. When I get off the phone, it has now been an hour and 45 minutes since placing him in the crib, and he is alternating between crying and being quiet, so I go check on him. He is standing in the middle of the crib, but his diaper is in the middle of the floor. He has nothing but his shirt on. Our little boy is expressing his redheaded independence (please God, let this next child have brown hair). No, thankfully no poop in the diaper, and no mess in the crib.

He did finally fall asleep after another 15 minutes.

Who Needs Toys?

Every parent learns the lesson at some point or another that children are much more interested in found objects then toys. Many of the pictures in this album show examples of the found objects in our house that become some of Jacob's favorite things. Today, it was unsharpened pencils, the shovel in the backyard, and a green paperclip.

Some of the pictures are while I was in Texas, at the annual MOPS convention and Jacob got to spend four fabulous days with Daddy and Grandma and Grandpa. Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa for teaching Jacob his first alphabet letters! Jacob can now correctly identify "X" and "O" thanks to the very large tic-tac-toe board at the park. He even attempted to draw them tonight. I'm so proud!

Who Needs Toys?

100th Post!

We've had some busy days. An evening in the park (before the no nap, running away from Mama incidents), this morning picking apples at Riley's Farm, and dinner out. Enjoy!

Just a reminder, if you click on the pictures, you will be taken to Picasa, where you can view a larger, better slideshow of the pictures.

Our friends, the Krols, also have more apple-picking pictures. Click here to see them.

No Nap Day

We just survived our first no nap day. This was not by choice on my part. Jacob decided to play in his crib during nap time. After 30 minutes of play, then 30 minutes of me sitting in there, hoping he would fall asleep while he lay quietly, we decided it just wasn't going to happen. So, we toughed it out, and now the poor, exhausted boy is fast asleep. Now my prayer is that he'll stay that way for the next 12 hours.

Love from very tired Mama and Jacob

Fingerpaint Fun

We had another busy day on Friday. First we finger-painted outside, as demonstrated by the pictures. Then, after nap-time, we headed to My Gym for a free open house to try it out and play with Jacob's friend, Noah. We just might have to sign him up, he had so much fun climbing around and playing in the ball pit.



And as only parents can be, we are proud of Jacob's latest accomplishment. Tonight, in the bathtub, he stood up with a cup of water in his hand, balanced on one foot, lifted the other foot, and poured the water over it. Silly boy. No, no pictures of that either! This is a G-rated blog.

Morning at the Petting Zoo

Jacob and I went to Zoomars Petting Zoo this morning. We had a great time, except for the mean goats that jump on us and knock Jacob down. Here are some pictures. I couldn't get pictures of Jacob feeding Cookie the Cow because I had to hold him, and of course, no pictures of the mean goats, but we didn't stay by the goats very long.

More pictures

We've been bad about updating this month. We've got a big batch of photos, including a few from Disneyland when Nana and Papa were in town, Jacob in his Indian clothing, and a visit from Jacob's friend Hannah.