Memorial Day Weekend - full of stories!

Memorial Day Weekend 2008

What a crazy weekend it was!!

Brian had the day off on Friday, so we got to spend an extra day with him. We took the kids to the museum on Friday morning, then to church for lunch with grandman. (Indoor activities since it's been very rainy lately). Then Friday night, we decided it was time! If you've looked at the pictures, you know what I'm talking about. We took the kids to Target and they got to pick out new "night-night" toy to have in place of their pacifiers. Then, we took the sides off their beds and made the cribs into toddler beds. NO plugs and toddler beds all at once! They were really excited. We made a big deal about throwing the plugs in the trash can and getting to sleep with the new animals. However, the sleep that night didn't go so well. Both Will and Grace fell out of bed and no one slept very well minus the plugs, especially Grace. I had predicted earlier that day that no plugs would be hardest on her, because she is so dependant on them. I still go in there at night if she wakes up and can't find her plug and cries about it. And, I was right, she didn't do very well. Lots of crying in the middle of the night when she woke up and couldn't find her plug. Mostly we've just let her cry it out, although last night, I yelled at her from the doorway to lay down and go back to sleep after about 15 minutes of screaming.

We also made a big deal about staying in the toddler beds once they were in, and that worked for 2 days, but by Sunday nap time it was a nightmare! They played for 2 hours, in and out of bed, climbing into one bed and playing together. It was a disaster. We had to leave at 3:30 that afternoon to go to Shenandoah for Brian's cousin's graduation. They ended up sleeping a little in the car, but not very much. So, after some thinking, we decided to backtrack a little bit that night. We put the sides back on the crib and decided we would try again on the toddler beds when they were used to sleeping without plugs. So far, the nights have been better, but they are still taking a long time to fall asleep. I am hoping they will get better pretty fast so we can try the toddler beds again. Every nap time, Grace still asks for her plug. I say "Where are your plugs?" and one of the boys will answer "trash". She doesn't ask again after that.

In other weekend news, we did some fun things, although the weather didn't cooperate much. As I said before, we went to Shenandoah on Sunday, we went out to dinner (a rare treat for the kids) on Saturday with Lisa, Chad and Carter. We just got a lot of fun playing time with the kids. I got out some board games they got for Christmas and we've been teaching them how to play. They're a bit under the age suggestion for them, but with some help and a little modification they are enjoying them quite a bit. In fact, they ask to play Lucky Ducks a lot. It's just a little matching game and they do a great job matching the shapes. We know how much they enjoy rubber ducks!

They have finally started using personal pronouns. More specifically "I". They have started saying things like "I see church" and "I go into garage" (the garage, by the way, is under the kitchen table.) It is nice to hear full correctly formed sentences. Xander's new thing is to say "I got you ____" and fill in the blanks to whatever or whomever he is "getting". It's really funny how he emphsizes the last syllable "I got you mom-MY" or "I got you Gra-CIE" then he grabs you and hugs you. Sometimes he'll say "I got you wa-TER" and grab his juice glass. It is also funny if you say "No, I got you first" before he finishes getting you. He laughs and laughs at that.

I have them enrolled in swimming lessons starting in 2 weeks, so that will be a fun development. That's about all for now. More next week. Have a great week everyone!