Dogs, Stickers, Ducks and more...........

A salute to our T-dog, who turned 3 years old last Friday. We celebrated her birthday with cake (she didn't get to enjoy it :() but she did enjoy her three gifts that we bought her. Here's Tatum Happy Cakes Roberts posing with her ginormous chew bone! Yes, her middle name is Happy Cakes, that is what C-man named her when he received her for his 2 year birthday. He was really into "Happy Cakes" for birthdays, weddings, showers, etc. that year! Tatum has been the usual middle child.....seeking attention, dramatic, forgiving, sensitive, loving, and energetic! We enjoy her lovingness and naughtiness all wrapped up into this cute package!.......sure hope Miss-O is not expecting a dog for her 2nd b-day.......if we do, we're getting a tiny one that can fit in my purse and doesn't shed!

Here's what T-dog is thinking, "The ideal dog food would be a treat that tastes like a postman."

She devoutly guards us daily from the blue uniformed individual that crosses her territory and delivers us our mail!
"Ticka! Ticka!" We thought Miss-O was saying she wanted tickled, until she showed us she wanted to play with the stickers.....her new passion and interest! The first place they go is on her nose and the rest of the family members' noses! Here is Dad and O with "HO-HO tickas"
O's sticker fascination! We took the opportunity to teach her the colors with these stickers, she managed to claim all the "tickas" were "geen!"
No, we did not just recently visit the farm.....this is a picture of our neighbor's duck.....(they have 10! plus a rabbit, turtle, cat and dog) Last spring, there were two ducks that hatched ducklings and C-man and I had the opportunity to watch the ducklings peck their way out of the eggs.....at a distance......since mommy duck was very protective! We've got "bird's eye view" (ha!) this year from our window. Each day we watch Momma duck to see how her eggs are doing....Today, she took a break from squatting on her eggs and I counted 20! Not sure if all of these eggs will turn into ducklings????? But it's been fun watching and waiting......it's like free discovery channel out our side window. There's another Momma duck behind this one that is in the window well and is sitting on a nest of eggs, not as many as this Mommy's...........it's like having a farm right here in the city.....(not sure if it is even with city ordinance, but we wouldn't tattle on them...they are wholesome people....and we enjoy their love of animals and nature!)
Peek! I just realized I have never taken a picture of O with her usual blanket positioned on her head. This must be a position of comfort or she likes the feeling of wearing a veil? She walks around like this, she sleeps like this, this is miss-O and her "ni-ni" and she wouldn't have it any other way!

Weekly pics

Happy Earth Day! We ate dinner by the natural light and used real napkins!
Earthly jello dessert!
Stuck on you!
Cheese!

BGB Days # 3-5

Not too bad with the Big Girl Bed this week!
Day Number 3 & 5; she fell asleep in her room on the floor, not even near her bed during her naps.
Day Number 4: she played quietly in her room for an hour during nap time and only received a 20 minute "car nap," prior to that.
As for nights, Day #3, she went down right away and fell asleep but then woke up with a second wind, but only took Grandma 45 minutes to get her back to bed.
Day #4; she fell asleep without a hitch; probably because she didn't have a nap that helped it out. Last night, she stayed in her bed all by herself and fell asleep on her own!!!
It's really cute how after she's done with a nap or waking for the morning, she knocks on the door when she's ready to come out. Sometimes she'll play before she knocks.....so, I think the transition is easier than what I thought it was going to be...now it's all about consistency!!!

p.s. I did move the radio to a safe spot, I was afraid she'd pull out the cord or wrap it around her neck......so now it's still available for her to play her music before bedtime but not get into the cord or outlet.....

Mission: BGB Day 2#

Last night Miss-O surprised Grandma and Grandpa in walking into her room, turning on her music and laying on her bed all by herself......she did this 7:50 pm......The two split up the duties between her and C-man......C-man fell asleep, she screamed and woke him up.

I came home from church and then played a tennis match between the two of them for an hour and half. Putting one in their bed after the other.

9:45 pm: I broke down, put them in my bed watched baby Einstein and miss-O actually laid down and quieted. Poor C-man, he states, "Mom, I'm so stressed and angry right now." I could say that we all were last night!

After begging C-man to stay put in our bed, I laid miss-0 back in hers and finally after rocking and rolling and wrapping her blanket around her head, she gave up. 5 minutes later, Connor gave up too....I was in survival mode last night, there was no consistency about it and they really are a two person job to get them both to sleep. I'm projecting about a month for this to get under control...

Time it took to get her to sleep: 2hr 40 min. Time she slept: 10 hrs. Found her laying on the floor this morning, sleeping.

I asked Paul if a padded room would be appropriate? Then I know she'd be safe!

We'll persevere, it's hard because we were smooth sailing and now just have some rocky waters to overcome......

Mission: BIG GIRL BED

Miss-O posing in her Big Girl Bed.....she looks so grown up :(

Bidding her crib a farewell....or wondering what the heck it is blocking her in for?
The crib block, that she snuck out of.....parent's creativity=failure :(
Big brother ready to promote a good night's sleep....he said he'd catch her if she fell.....

To much of our surprise, Miss-O has become a Houdini and yesterday demonstrated her feat in climbing and laying on top of the crib rails! AAAHHH! My first response, quick! we need to get a crib tent! Paul thought that instead of paying out money for something that may or may not work, let's try the resources that we already have; the toddler bed.



Paul brought up the bed, yesterday after her nap and second attempt of escape, and Miss-O was very curious about it. Paul put the mattress on it and she hopped right in and read a book, snuggled with her puppy and rested on her back....okay, maybe this transition won't be too bad.



Last night, Grandma Roberts came over for back-up help...(literally, back help since mine went out on Saturday) We used a lot of techniques........

• just laid her in the bed and shut the door and trapped her in with the old crib....nope! she snuck out


• C-man laid on the pillow on the floor next to the bed and we all tried to coax her into laying down....nope!


• C-man and I laid in his bed while Grandma tried to get her to lay down.....nope!


• While C-man and I lay in his bed, Grandma rocked her in the living room....almost...but nope!


• C-man laid in her bed with her.....nope!


• C-man and I rocked in the living room and Grandma did her toddler whisperer act in the room, let miss-o be a bit restless, sang to her and then finally....it worked and C-man was asleep too!.....Victory!

Time it took 1st night: 1 hr and 40 min. Length of time slept in bed: 10 hours! Amount of sleep I got: 7.5 hours interrupted every hour to check on her and also watch it hail!

This afternoon, I was a bit hesitant for nap and I really didn't want to wrestle her and wrench my back.......so, I laid her into the bed and she snuggled in and then popped right up. I laid on the floor and let her climb up and down, up and down, up and down until she wanted to leave the room....finally we rocked and she fell asleep and I tucked her in.......

Time it took for nap: 45 min.

Miss-O's self-soothing is being restless, talking to her stuffed dogs, reading books, until she finally has had enough and she falls asleep. The crib has always been her little security place....but now she is more independent and testing the freedom....hopefully consistency and allowing her to self-soothe, this transition won't be too bumpy......but the beginning is so hard to find what works...........Well, I hate to admit it but my baby is growing up........I wanted her in the crib as long as she could be and I guess she's telling us she's had enough...........or at least she's telling us that she's not safe anymore

Other tricks I have up my sleeve; just take the mattress of the toddler bed and let her sleep on that. Find a puppy pillow case or Elmo pillow case and a pillow so that she can be excited to sleep with them. I know that something will work, we'll roll with it and find out what it is.........

Household Artists

C-man and Miss O have found some common ground. They love to color (or cowah per Miss O's language). They will occupy themselves for a good 15 minutes side by side coloring, until Miss O decides to sit on C-man's work or C-man decides he wants to use the color she is using.....problem-solving in the making! Here are the artists at work.......

I love this picture of Miss-O, this is the day she wore her first side ponytails! Her part isn't the best but neither was per participation!
C-man is quite proud of his snail that he doodled.
Close up of the snail!
Here's a picture colored a month ago that hangs proudly on my kitchen utility door from Miss O!