the negotiator

How much do you love my boy's stylin' jammies selection last night? Hand-me-down Madagascar shirt, Rocket jammie bottoms, and fighter plane galoshes, but on the wrong feet. Love him! He definitely knows what he wants (clothes, food, activity du jour) and may possibly throw a small fit if he doesn't get it. Okay, that mostly happens at bed and meal time when fatigue and hunger have set in. But since our day consists of 3 meals and 2 "bed" times, it can happen more than we'd like! When said fit starts to happen (say at the dinner table when he flips over his plate full of food - oh yes!) we've given up on a time-out chair. No, we go with full banishment to his bedroom. I don't even care if he's playing while in there, he knows he stays in there until he's in the mood to be nice. I'm sure this tactic won't work much longer (as I learn from those going before me). But I need to clarify, he's normally a fantastic kid and very susceptible to our reverse psychology efforts. But he's gaining on us!

Right now he's back in the bathroom negotiating with Wayne about potty time. Miles' Aunt Elizabeth told me that the promise of power tools convinced Evan to become potty trained, so we set forth that when Miles poopies on the potty, he will earn some new power tools for his tool kit. He knows when he needs to go, because he races back to his room and slams the door for some "private time". So we figure we'll just follow him and remind him of the deal for power tools. He's back there now discussing with Wayne the idea that just a pee-pee gets power tools too. Sorry, smarty, we already know you can pee on the potty! In milestone tracking, he woke up with a dry diaper for the first time ever today. Huge! Guess I need to get off my duff and get that boy trained. This "new baby" excuse can only get me so far, right?

Ah, the wee one. She's turning a month old this week! She had a big week, meeting Aunt Elizabeth, Uncle Shay and cousins Evan & Kate. Kate was just dying to hold her over and over, which made Miles want to as well - he hadn't yet, if you can believe it! She's been taking it pretty easy on us most of the time, although last night she threw us a curve ball, staying basically awake until almost 2, ouch. For us cool kids who were already on the 9 p.m. bedtime schedule, that one really hurt. But when she does finally sleep at night, we've been getting a good 4 hour stretch, sometimes twice in a row, so can't complain too much. And we're just loving how much more awake and alert she is during the day. We're getting some good time staring into those big blue eyes. But hopefully tonight they will close for the night at around 11. Pretty please, sugar pie?