Bradley's bed...updated

Bradley's still doing great going to bed in his own bed by himself! The only problems we have are hitting his head on the wall and making a loud "thunk" noise. It doesn't hurt, but the noise is loud and would wake up anyone. We resolved this by putting pillows all the way around the wall. The other issue, is that he slides to the side opposite the wall and slides off the bed during the night. He's apparently a little wiggle worm, and ends up half off/half on his bed. Whenever this happens, he wakes up and cries because I'm sure he's scared and mad that he woke up. So, today he and I went to Wal-Mart and got a bedrail, so he won't fall off his bed anymore. I realize the "fall" isn't far from the mattress to the carpet, but it still is no fun when you're sleeping soundly! We also picked up some "Cars" sheets the other day and are trying them out. I hope he likes the new set-up tonight!

Bradley's Big Boy Bed Update

The transition to the big boy bed could not have gone any smoother! I'm very happy with how well Bradley has done. I'm not naive enough to think that we're "done" and will have no other issues, but we'll take every victory we can! The first night, he was so tired from missing his nap, that he fell asleep while I was reading to him, so I just laid him in his bed asleep. He wasn't even aware that he was in his new bed. This worked until 11:00pm when he woke up, very upset and disoriented about where he was and why he was on a mattress on the floor in his room. I went in and comforted him. I rocked him for a few minutes until he calmed down and then said we were going to lay in his big bed. He seemed fine and laid down with me. Then, I told him I was going to get him a juice and left the room. He got very upset and started crying. When I came right back, he wouldn't get into bed. I tried putting him into his bed twice and he just got back out. So, I laid down in his bed and got comfy. Bradley stood in his bathroom doorway, with his back to me and cried for about 45 minutes. He would run to the bed and put his arms out and I'd say, "come lay down with me" and he'd run back to his bathroom and cry some more. I figured he was going to have to work through this and it would have to be his decision when he was ready to get back in his bed. So, I just laid there, very comfy, and listened to him cry as he worked through the situation. He finally looked at his bedroom door, which was closed, and said "dow" and banged it a couple of times. I said, "come lay down" and he said "dow" a few more times, walked to the bed and got in. He was fine then. He stopped crying, settled down, said "dow" a few more times and then went to sleep. I fell asleep too and woke up at 1:00am and went back to my bed. He slept until 6:20am and when he woke up, I heard him say, "where ma?" I listened to him to make sure he wasn't going to get upset. He never panicked or got upset about being in his room by himself. I was thrilled that he had done so well by himself.

The next night, I laid down with him until he fell asleep and he slept through the night. Since then, we have read him a book, laid with him for a few minutes, and then left while he was still awake. He fusses for about 2 minutes and then settles down and puts himself to sleep. Last night, he was awake for about an hour, roaring like a dinosaur, but he never got up, never cried and eventually fell asleep! We are so excited at how well he's doing with his new bed!!!

Tooth Update

Rachel's mouth has gotten better and better since she knocked out her tooth. She is able to eat just about anything now and it really doesn't give her any trouble. The missing tooth is hardly noticeable and a cute little look for her. The only thing we were concerned about was the discoloration in her two front teeth. They've turned a gray color and we weren't sure if this was a bad thing or not. So, we were lucky enough to get to see Matt yesterday. He offered to check her teeth for us and fit us into his busy schedule. They took an x-ray of her mouth and then we talked with Matt. The x-ray scared Rachel a little bit, since she had to go in the room alone and bite down on a "cracker" that was really an x-ray film. This kind of freaked her out and she was upset when we got to the room to talk to Matt. He was so kind and gentle and just touched her front teeth and looked at her x-ray. He really said there was nothing to worry about. Her teeth are discolored because of the hemmoraging from the trauma. He didn't think they looked that bad anyway. He said the front two teeth were probably loose initially, but they had tightened up as her mouth healed. They usually come out at 7, and there's a possibility that she could lose them earlier, but maybe not. I was very relieved to hear that everything had healed great and her teeth were going to be fine. I really appreciated Matt working us in and relieving our worries! We're so thankful that the whole mouth injury turned out as well as it could have!

Pre-School Update

Thankfully, school is still going great! Rachel is still very excited about getting up and going on school days. She still loves the rules and routines that she must follow in class. She still loves playing with her friends, Mimi K and Kate and loves when they have a birthday celebration at school. She's just really enjoying the whole process! I'm so thankful and happy that she is enjoying her school so much and thriving from all the new stimulation!

A few funny things. She has picked up on a few new sayings, I'm assuming from her friends. They're quite cute coming out of her mouth, and we're glad they're not too bad in the scheme of what she "could" have picked up from a playmate.
"Duh"...she has used this a few times. You can tell she's trying this out and she uses it pretty accurately. Our only problem with it is when she says it to us, because it's disrespectful, so we've had to remind her that it's not appropriate with adults. The other day she was on the potty, asking us a question about something and when we answered her, she said, "duh!" Nick immediately said, "excuse me?" and she backtracked pretty quickly, saying, "I mean, I already know that, daddy." (In a very polite tone!) Pretty funny to hear!
"Oh snap!"...this was hilarious when I first heard her say it. I've heard it on High School shows and it's slang for "Oh darn!" or "Oh man!" but it was really funny hearing it come out of Rachel's mouth. She used it the right way. Yesterday, as we were driving home from a long errand, she asked if we could go to Chick-fil-a. I said, "no, we need to get home and rest" and she said, "Oh snap!" I couldn't help but laugh at this, which only made her say it more and more.

On another note, at the beach, she used "idiot" very accurately but inappropriately. It had been a long day and I'm sure she was tired. I had given her a tootsie pop and she was trying to eat it on the beach and keep sand off it. She had already gotten some sand on it and I used my bottle of water to clean it off. She licked the sucker it again and then handed it back to me saying that there was still sand on it. I said, "where?" She said, "on my sucker, you idiot!" As soon as she said it, she covered her mouth and knew she shouldn't have called me a name. In my head, I was thinking that it was pretty funny, but luckily I very sternly got onto her for calling me a name and told her I didn't want to hear her use "idiot" again. She apologized and that was that. But, it was pretty funny. I can probably blame her hearing "idiot" from me and SpongeBob.

Nap Mission: Failed!

Sound asleep in our bed...yes, it's unmade...everyday!
Still holding his dinosaur toys, though!

New big boy bed!

It's just a twin mattress on the floor.

I tried to get Bradley to take a nap yesterday, but it just didn't work. He sat in his bed and played and talked and then started yelling. He was probably in there for about an hour, so at least he got some rest, but no nap! Oh well! We played hard yesterday and even went outside to the playground during the blustery wind in the afternoon. It actually felt great not having the usual humid heat! Bradley found the only water in the whole playground and sat in it and got nasty. So, when we came back inside to get dinner going, I stripped him to his diaper, gave him some juice and let him go. I started making pancakes and the kids decided to watch tv on our bed. About 10 minutes later, Rachel came in and told me that Bradley was asleep. I thought, DARNIT!!! It was 5:15...almost time to eat and WAY too late for a nap! So, I let him sleep for about 30 minutes just so we could eat in peace. We knew it would be the grumpy Bradley who woke up from such a short nap, and it was! But, he finally worked it out, ate a very late supper and then went to bed without any trouble. He just played and talked in his bed for awhile before falling asleep. Today I didn't even try to get him to take a nap because we bought him a big boy bed today and we're HOPING and PRAYING that he goes to bed easily in it tonight. We'll see! We've prepared ourselves for some resistance and we'll just see how long it takes for him to get the hang of it!