When Your Toddler Climbs Out of His Crib

I don’t know how it is with you and your kids but in my experience, it’s kind of the worst when they figure out how to climb out of their crib.

Okay, maybe I’m being a little over dramatic.

But it’s certainly one of those parenthood duties I rank among the least fun, along with sleep training them as infants and potty training.

I say that because once they figure out they can get out, it’s a battle of the wills to get them to stay in. At least, that’s how it’s been in my household.

With Roman, I learned a lot of things to do and a lot of things not to do, so maybe with Milo it will go smoother. I don’t know. We’ll see. I’m about to find out.

All I’m saying is, when the time comes and you need to teach your child to stay in bed when they’re supposed to be in bed, you better have your best parenting game face on.

You better have eaten your Wheaties for breakfast and have mustered up all the patience you could possibly muster along with all the stamina you think you have plus a huge dose of perseverance. You’re gonna need it.

Don’t go into this thing thinking it’s going to be a one and done sort of situation. You’re in it for the long haul of walking them back to bed a zillion times and enforcing the rules during your prime evening “me” time and sacred early morning much-needed sleep hours, or you’ll be having issues for years. Believe me, I know. I have a five year old who, no matter the incentives, disciplinary actions, or perfect cognitive abilities to read his digital clock and follow instructions, still gets up earlier than he’s “allowed” to, pretty much at 6:30AM on the dot. And he’s sent back to bed, lights off, every time.

I’m trying to be more consistent with Roman so that Milo follows suit. But it’s tough. Especially at 6:30 in the morning before coffee.

With Milo, however, despite being pregnant, shorter on patience than usual, and a little hormonal and emotional, I’ve committed to myself to doing better. To eat my Wheaties and dig up all my patience, stamina, and perseverance.

Yesterday morning was our first real test. Per the usual, the boys were awake before 7 and both got out of bed. I went in, turned the lights off and told them they had to stay in bed until I said they could get up. That actually worked. Then I went in and said they could play quietly in their room until Chris or I got up. That worked until someone needed help getting down from on top of his dresser and getting stuck between it and underneath the bunk bed. And then until someone needed a band aid from a small cut from a toy dinosaur.

The second test came at Milo’s nap time. The odds were a little against me to begin with because he had fallen asleep in the car earlier in the day, but I wanted to keep with his routine nonetheless and I put him down for a nap at his usual time. I explained the rules simply. It was night-nights time, time to lay down, and take a rest. Mommy would be in when he could get up. He got out at least three times, and each time I put him back to bed with the final time explaining once more that he needed to stay in his crib until Mommy came and said he was done. That actually worked. He never actually fell asleep, but he stopped climbing out and laid in his bed until I said he could get out. And that’s a big part of what I wanted to achieve – for him to listen and follow instructions, even if he didn’t sleep.

Of course, we had no issues last night at bedtime because he was already wiped from missing his normal nap, so we’ll have to see how things go as we continue with nap times and bed times, and especially when he transitions to a big boy bed where getting out is so much easier. Hopefully we’ll have all the right listening and staying in bed habits in place before then.

Things I Should Be Doing Right Now

Prepping apples for a bulk apple sauce making session…

Looking for freelance work…

Vacuuming or cleaning something…

Coming up with the evening’s dinner plan…

Taking the shower I missed this morning…

Putting away folded laundry…

Cleaning out my car…

Deep cleaning anything…

Organizing the kids’ book basket…

Prepping the snacks for tomorrow’s soccer game…

Start going through baby clothes…

 

But one kid’s at school, and the other is napping, so all I really want to do is…

Take a nap!

Stare out the window and contemplate the meaning of life!

Make some tea and eat a cookie!

Go watch Milo nap (it soothes me)!

Lay on the couch and watch Netflix (the true “Netflix and Chill”)!

Find a really good book and read in silence!

 

Hmmm, what to do, what do to…

20 Weeks (and a day – but who’s counting…)

Yesterday marked my twentieth week of pregnancy, which, for those following along at home, means I’m halfway there!

Part of me feels like, really? Only halfway? That’s the part of me that’s not-so-much enjoying the insomnia, heartburn, and inevitable weight gain.

But the other part of me, the part of me that’s running around after two other small children, trying to keep up with a clean, well-fed household, maintaining some semblance of a personal life, and working part time, is like, no way am I halfway done already!

It’s here though. It’s really here.

I don’t know how many, if any, babies come after this one, so I’m trying to enjoy this pregnancy as much as possible. Part of that effort I’ve spent daydreaming about the sex of the baby.

There’s certainly pros and cons to having a boy or a girl.

The way I see it, if it’s a boy, I already know a thing or two about the steps (and missteps) of a diaper change (watch out for that shooting pee!), and we already have a lot of “boy” toys, and “boy” clothes, which is nice. But if it’s a boy then that may be it…no girl, which may or may not always sort of linger with me.

Then I start thinking about if it’s a girl. What in the world will she be like? What will she look like? Will she be more of a tomboy with two older brothers and a not-so-girly mother, or will she go the complete opposite and bring some much needed pink and purple into our lives? I’m just so intrigued at the prospect of the baby being a girl.

I’m also slightly terrified. Do I really want to think about what that means for our relationship during her tween/teen years, which I remember all too well from my past and how hard they probably were on my mom. Oy….I don’t know. Or what if she is super girly and I just completely don’t connect with her, or let her down even, because I just don’t get it.

Either way, boy or girl, I love that we’re leaving the sex a surprise until the birth. What a great reward at the end of nine months of pregnancy and major surgery (I’m having a C-section) to grow and deliver this new life. Either way, a third Lucarelli boy, tomboy or girly girl, it will be well worth the wait for sure.

Cheers and here’s to twenty more weeks!

Meet Flash

We had a new member of the family join us recently and I’d like to introduce you to him.

Meet Flash.

This little fella is around primarily to help my husband with his raptor trapping endeavors but has quickly become a beloved member of the family.

The boys like him because he’s small and cute and fury and they can get an up close look at him without him running away.

The boys especially like to check on him.

And by check on him I mean if he’s sleeping in his “bedroom,” the boys have a tendency to shake the cage until he comes out.

We had to have a little talk about respecting others, especially our little fury rodent pets, after it became apparent the cage shaking tactic was employed repeatedly.

I like Flash, too.

I don’t have to walk him or let him out to go to the bathroom.

I’m not responsible in any way for feeding him or cleaning his cage.

What I would consider the perfect pet!

And he stays in his cage at all times. Although, the first night we had him, my husband and I had visions of a curious five year old taking it upon himself to get better acquainted with our new friend and taking him out of his cage.

So we taped it shut.

So far, so good.

I Love This Kid

I’m going through a season of learning and adjustment right now on this challenging journey so affectionately known as parenthood.

That statement could probably be copy and pasted as my status update for the rest of my life and still be true, but I’m feeling it to be relevant more than ever now as my oldest embarks on an important journey of his own.

If I’m going through a season of learning and adjustment as a parent then he’s going through one of his own as well, probably ten times over, as he wades through the murky waters of going to school, getting acquainted with a new found independence, developing a sense of responsibility to behave kindly, and treat others with respect in all aspects of his life, through all situations.

We’re trying not to be too hard on each other but negative behavior reports from school tend to set me back in the parenting morale department.

And I need to remind myself of a few things as we go along:

1. It’s all a learning process. He’s learning. Chris and I are learning. And it’s not necessarily all a reflection on us if our kid is struggling in some areas. It takes time, I guess, with continuous and consistent nurturing. Otherwise known as parenting (ha!).

2. For every moment of discouragement, there are moments of progress and hope. Like when I catch Roman taking it upon himself to calmly and patiently show his little brother how to do the ABC’s puzzle.

3. They are their own person. Yes, Chris and I are here to guide him and teach him and nudge him in the right direction (well, I probably do more than just nudge…), but ultimately, they have their own little personality that has its shady spots as well as its quirks.

Quirky Roman, Exhibit A. This just makes me smile so much. I had no hand in his outfit decision making or his pose decision making. And I think it’s all brilliant.

Be you, Roman, be you. I love ya, kid.

Apple Pie is Here

Note: I wrote this last night in a fit of humble disappointment after all my #applepieiscoming business.

As I write this, there’s an apple pie baking in the oven.

Crust made from scratch and apples hand-picked from our apple picking outing earlier today.

It should be done in about 30 minutes and I’m already discouraged about the outcome.

I peeled and prepped the apples. My husband helped make a beautiful crust. We were well on our way to a perfect apple pie.

And it all came undone in the butter/sugar sauce.

I followed a new recipe from Pinterest that prescribes cooking a butter/sugar concoction on the stove beforehand to be poured over the filled pie, lattice crust and all.

Well, after I (slightly) browbeat my husband for making a suggestion here and there along my late evening apple pie baking excursion and oh so arrogantly challenged him to an apple pie bake-off (ha!), I promptly met my demise with this sauce.

Despite following the directions, the sauce, which you’re supposed to pour over the lattice crust and is then supposed to soak into the apples beneath, turned out like a paste one might use to brush their teeth.

There was no soaking into the apples. There was only disaster.

There it was, all my defensive, apple pie making attitude, smugly sitting on top, just laughing at me.

I guess I deserved.

At this point there was nothing to be done but to either scrape it up, somehow lift the now softened lattice crust warmed by the apple paste, shovel the apple paste directly on top of the apples, and ever-so-gently reapply the lattice crust, or admit defeat, stop futzing with it, and stick it in the oven.

I stuck it in the oven.

I was trying to teach myself a lesson.

It’ll be done any minute now.

There’s the timer.

It’s doesn’t look pretty.

But I’m going to eat it anyway (there’s nothing a little vanilla ice cream can’t fix, right?)

And never make it this way again.

My Half-Hearted Attempt at Potty Training

My youngest son is two years old (almost two and a half) and I’ve put about .0984958 percent of my energy toward potty training him.

It turns out I have very little desire (or energy) to potty train him.

That’s funny because I should be really, really motivated to potty train him.

A potty trained Milo means one less set of diapers to buy and less wipes to buy and eventually one less butt to wipe and less trash to dispose of, etc., so on, and so forth.

Really the butt wiping is all the incentive I should need.

BUT, in addition to all that, I should really be more motivated to potty train him because, well, pretty soon there’s going to be another little bottom to wipe and poop to clean and wipes to need and trash to dispose of, etc., so on, and so forth.

And who wants two kids in full diapers all the time?

Not me.

Not this lady.

Nope.

But on the other hand, I also appreciate not sitting on the bathroom floor for twenty minutes at a time while my two year old (almost two and a half) investigates his pee-pee and plays musical chairs between the little potty and the big boy potty.

So yeah, I’m making a half-hearted attempt at potty training Milo.

No gimmicks for this kid. No targets in the toilet or special animal characters to shoot at, we’re going with the “you sit when you plain ol’ feel like it” strategy, until hopefully something comes out.

Until that day comes, though, I guess I could take some cute pictures of my kid on the potty.

I’m pretty sure he’s just sitting there for the attention anyway.

Sigh.

Anatomy Scan!

It was an exciting morning around here.

Today was our second ultrasound appointment – also known as the anatomy scan – where they check the growth of the baby, measure all their parts, and can see the sex of the baby (if you want to know).

Our appointment was about 40 minutes away earlier this morning, so we made a mad dash to the bus stop to drop Roman off and to a friend’s house to drop Milo off.

It was so nice having the opportunity to focus solely on the new baby at the doctor’s office. Thank you kindergarten! Thank you friend!!

This was the first, real, in depth look at the baby so I’ve been a little anxious leading up to this appointment. Would we see any defects or abnormalities? Would we see the sex? (We don’t want to find out the sex until birth). Should I even look at the monitor – I don’t want to accidentally ruin the surprise!!

The technician went through all the normal procedures, taking pictures and measurements and making small talk. Then we waited for the doctor to come in and speak to us about how the scan went.

And…

Everything was great!

The baby is measuring in at about 10 ounces, which is right on track for my due date.

And he saw no indications of any genetic defects or abnormalities.

WOOHOO!

And he said the sex was clear from the scan today (not necessarily from the photos I’ve posted) and double-checked that we didn’t want to know.

Nope!! But that button nose sure is cute.

Hmm….what do you think??

I’m Literally a Soccer Mom

I’m a soccer mom now.

I don’t know how I feel about this yet other than it was great to watch my oldest son listen to the coach, play with his teammates, and try out some new soccer skills.

This was our first practice. He’s the one all the way to the left in the blue shorts.

There was a lot of dribbling and Sharks and Minnows action happening.

And sweating. Lots of sweating. Like, hairline sweat and back sweat, and just everywhere sweat.

 

Roman looked pretty warm, too.

Also my pictures have that grainy, stalker, paparazzi vibe because I was sitting on the grass about 50 feet away, it was 109 degrees out, I was sitting on the ground, I’m pregnant, and did I mention I was already sitting?

So yeah, iPhone zoomed-in photos look like this when you feel like a beached whale but equally feel the need to visually document some important moment in your kid’s life.

And I was busy entertaining my 2 year old for an hour (read: pretty much letting him do whatever he wanted besides run away). Which meant that once he was occupied there was absolutely no moving. Even just the slightest flinch would have snapped him out of all his beautiful distracted glory and sent him on a wandering whinefest through the maze of soccer fields. And it was 150 degrees out there, people, and mama’s got a baby on board. And I was already sitting. It took all my ninja-mom skills just to extricate my phone from my purse to take those photos.

But I think it was worth it because we made it all 59 minutes and 23 seconds without a meltdown from any age bracket present in the 200 degree heat and we now have a little soccer player in the house.

Go Blue Flames!

Milo in the Pool, Parts I, II, and III

We’ve had a lot of fun this summer.

Between playdates and parties, family trips and fair outings, sundaes and swimming, I’d say we made a lot of great memories over the past few months.

But I think my favorite part has been seeing the progress both boys have made in the pool this summer.

Roman was definitely the bigger challenge between the two of them. He started out with this fear of the water that I couldn’t quite wrap my head around.

We couldn’t understand each other and we were frustrating each other.

But with a boost from swimming lessons at the town pool and encouragement from pool time with friends, Roman started in floaties and ended without floaties, jumping in, swimming, and even testing the idea of going all the way under in our pool where he can’t touch the bottom.

So proud of him.

Then there’s Milo.

I knew from his face-in antics in the bathtub that when it came for pool season, I’d be dashing to keep him from jumping in.

Surprisingly, he was more cautious at first than I had expected. He went a couple weeks of having to be held, then gradually moved to holding hands, all while wearing a very sturdy floatation device, of course.

But after several weeks of getting more comfortable and confident with his floaty, nothing was stopping Milo, other than his developing coordination (it’s hard to kick and paddle with that big, puffy swimmy on!).

He now loves to jump in with Roman, going under every time without hesitation, and has even figured out how to get himself back to the ladder.

Of course, he loves to practice his bubbles. And in addition to that he started a new hobby of freaking his mother the heck out by putting his face in for an undisclosed amount of time and looking around under water.

He just had me in complete shock and awe.

Needless to say, I don’t think he’ll be in a swimmy much longer.