Parent Fail?



This is how my day started out yesterday, with my little boy happy and silly, like usual. We had a good morning of watching Winnie the Pooh and The Smurfs, then we had lunch and then it was the dreaded nap time. I don't know about you all with toddlers, but nap time has been horrible for us lately. I moved Parker to a toddler bed in December. Why? Because I thought he was ready. I think I was wrong. He does fine decent at bedtime, but naptime is a whole different ballgame. I warn him 5 minutes before that it is almost naptime. I give him a sippy cup of milk, his night-night and he goes and climbs into bed. Within 5 minutes I hear him up playing in his room. I put him back in bed. Immediately after walking down the hall he is up again. I put him back in bed. This goes on for an hour until I am completely frustrated and I realize a nap is not in the cards. What is ironic is he takes naps at school like a champ, no fuss.

Because of the no-nap situation, around 4:00 he turns into a grumpy boy monster. Every.little.thing sets him off, the fits starts, the time outs are non stop, and we are both exhausted. Tim got there around 6:30 with pizza, and Parker was in his highchair. Within 5 minutes, Parker was out cold in his highchair. You would think this is a good thing, but it's not. If I wake him up, he will freak out and if I let him sleep, he will be up in an hour crying. I let him sleep. He was up in 20 minutes screaming his head off, and nothing helped. Finally, after some coaxing and The Smurfs he calmed down.

So what do you think I did? I went into his room and started immediately putting his crib back together. I don't care if he is 5 years old and still in a crib, who is going to know? He was actually super happy about it, and went right to bed without making a noise. So maybe I was trying to rush my baby into becoming a big boy, and I don't even know why because that is definitely not what I want. However, I am glad I was able to admit to myself that it was a mistake and fix it, so hopefully it was not a complete Parent Fail.

Best friends

I'm sad to say that our best friends are moving away =( We went over to play last week and it was so fun to watch Parker and Carder play, but a little sad at the same time. It's only 3 hours away, but with our other best friends living 6 hours away it's a bummer. The good news is, this will put them in the "middle" so we can all meet up there to visit!

I finally gave Parker his big Easter present and he loves it! Of course, he can't say truck so it's "car car car!"

Hi mommy!

Tim trying to teach him how to steer

It was a lot of fun watching him, but when it was time to come in he was not a happy camper. He has started throwing these hilarious fits, he will jump up and down as hard as he can and "cry." I just ignore him until he stops, but that is a little difficult sometimes, and impossible in public. The Terrible Two's are a very real thing, but that will be a whole other post I will have to try to get to today!

Big Boy Bed!

Last week I decided to convert Parker's crib into a toddler bed. He wasn't trying to climb out yet, but right now bed time is a good thing in his mind so I decided to go with it. Plus, I want to start potty training in the next few months and feel that would go better if he could get out of bed to go. I made a huge deal out of it, bought him a comforter set with dinosaurs (his favorite) and he loves it!

First night I told him it was time to go to bed, he grabbed his night-night and cup of milk and ran into his bed. He loves that he can get in and out of it himself. He didn't try to get out once and slept through the night his first night in a big boy bed!

I will say naps are a little bit of a different story. He definitely pushes his limits, getting out of bed and sneaking around playing in his room but when I tell him to get back in bed, he does. It takes about 3 times of him getting out before he falls asleep but that isn't too bad! I also bought a walk through baby gate to put at his door, and I love it. We have never used a baby gate before, but he is into EVERYTHING and I didn't want to worry about him sneaking out in our apartment in the middle of the night getting into who knows what.

I can not believe how big he is getting, I want to believe he is still my baby but he tries to prove me wrong on a daily basis. He learns new words constantly, and while they are still hard for the average person to understand I know exactly what he's saying. His news words are "Spongebob, Elmo, Night-Night, See-ya, Jared, and Inside." Since he has started his speech therapy he has improved significantly and I am so thankful for that. =)