Operation Domination continues with our Little Picasso

Gracie, is that a chicken in Little Man's playroom?

Nope, it's just Camden who insisted
on wearing last year's Halloween costume around the house

Today will mark the 14th day of toddler bed training. We have had a few good days and a lot of bad days at first. On the morning of Day 9, I called my mom and told her that he just wasn't getting it, and I was feeling defeated. I didn't want to be stubborn enough to not realize Camden might not be ready to handle the freedom of a toddler bed. Later that same morning we had an unbelievable breakthrough! I put the Little Man down for his usual nap and braced myself for the worst. I sat outside the door and waited... and waited... but no sign of the Little Man. I peaked in to check on him after five minutes, and there was my precious baby... asleep in his bed without ever getting out of it. It was a glorious moment! That night, he only got out of bed three times. Since then it has gotten easier to put him down for his naps and bedtime, but it hasn't come without a few setbacks...

-His third molar has started to cut through... nice timing, right?

-Camden has started waking up in the middle of the night... which means I have to wake up in the middle of the night, and that just stinks. During the last two middle of night wake-ups he has gone back to sleep a lot of faster (which means I go back to sleep faster) if I lay by his bed. I know, right? I'm just creating a bad habit. Bad Mommy! The fun stops tonight because I need to suck it up and follow through on letting him fall asleep on his own without me in the room... which probably means staying up longer and sleeping less. *sigh* Hopefully my work will pay off and he'll stop getting up in the middle of the night.

He's a lot more eager to be in his toddler bed when it's not 'night-night' time!

-Camden's schedule is way off with his napping. Pre-conversion, Camden was getting two naps that were each two hours. How lucky was I? He's a sleeper like his mama, but he won't go down for two naps anymore... but trust me, he NEEDS those two naps because he is an angry bear with only one nap.

-Sometimes the Little Man would rather play than sleep. His favorite thing to do when he is hyper-hypo Camden (Please click here if you are not aware of the definition of a hyper-hypo) is to tease mommy and daddy by waiting quietly in his crib until we thinks he is asleep. Just when we are breathing a silent "Thank you, Jesus!" for a sleeping child, Camden pops out of his room and yells "BOO!" while flashing his sweet toothy grin. He giggles, does a few dinosaur stomps, and races back into his room because he knows we are going back in there to put him in his bed again.

To sum it all up- until your child crawls out of the crib, NEVER convert. Leave them in there until they go to college.


The rest of this post is dedicated to our Little Picasso.

To my sweet Little Man,
We have been trying to allow you to express your artistic side by teaching you to color, paint, and write, but it seems that you still feel like we are setting limits on your creativity. We've taken to hiding pens, markers, crayons, etc. because you feel the need for your pen to fly off the paper (literally) and onto furniture, granite counters, dogs, books, etc. Nothing is safe. Although I do not want to harness your need to express yourself through art, things have gotten out of control. A few weeks ago, you took a red crayon to my living room window and created a masterpiece that, although worthy of a showing at the Met, fortunately could be erased with some Windex. Mommy was proud of her little artist but AGAIN reminded you that we draw on paper and nothing else.

I was interrupted from attempting to blog the other night by your daddy's panic "Amanda! Amanda!!! Hurry! Get down here now!" I raced downstairs praying that whatever happened would not take us to the emergency room. I threw open our bathroom doors and saw Daddy with you in his stretched-out arms. I thought you were bleeding at first, but the blood wasn't red... wait I thought, I know that color... I then glanced down to see the abandoned tube of Cherrybud Aveda lipstick staining my new Pottery Barn rug. You painted your entire body and face with my my lipstick and succeeded in emptying the ENTIRE tube. While I scrubbed on you, your Daddy tried to salvage my rug. Ten minutes later, my rug was surprisingly clear of lipstick, but your skin reflected a pinkish hue on most of your face and legs for the next few days. We understandably did not get pictures during the chaos.

Last night you expressed a desire in body art.
Although I'm pleased you didn't get ink on anything other than your skin, and you created this work of art so quickly... mommy is not a fan of body art and getting a tattoo is out of the question.

'Uh-Oh' is right, Camden. This is a definite no-no.