Insta-Friday

 Not many photos this week, but don't want to forget them nonetheless!

_______


Snuggling for a bit with his girlies before Grace's nap and Parker's 'quiet time.'

__________

Grace 'talking' on the phone.  So fun to hear and watch.

_________________



Playing with our new 'play dough kits' I hope to post about sometime soon.  ;)

_____________

Kristin and I (mostly Kristin) used to play with these old cars when we were little.  We would actually play 'house' with the cars.  We would talk like a mom and say stuff like, "No...we don't have time to go there now, we have to go home.  Don't throw a fit."  And let me tell you....it is SO fun to watch Parker do the same instinctively.  She will have the same conversations similar to ones we had over 20 years ago!

_______________

Ready or not....

And I am really not ready for this.

This is a picture of Grace from January 6th of this year.  Right after she crawled out of her crib for the first time.  I thought it was a fluke.  Kristin and Payton were here and she was just really not wanting to go down.  She was crying.  And crying.  But usually she'll just go to sleep.  Well this day- she did not.  And I heard a thump...some more crying....then her jiggling the doorknob trying to frantically get out.

I decided that it was a fluke.  We would go about business as usual.  We have a fairly good nap time and bedtime routine going and she is usually no problem to get down.

So since January 6th.  We've had absolutely no problems.  I was relieved.  She wasn't even 2 then (and now barely 2) and I wasn't even ready to start getting her in a big girl bed.

But then tonight.

Tonight-- I sang "I know you" (it's really Once Upon a Dream from 'seeping booty' but that's just what she calls it) a few times.....hummed it a few times (per her request)....then "Twinkle, Twinkle."  I lay her down.  She quietly goes.  I tell her I love her and sweet dreams.  Not a peep.  Just like usual.

I go back into Parker's room to read her her story (we do a few all together then one with just Parker after I put Grace down).....and we just get settled in and have our story picked out when....I hear Grace crying.

Usually she does not cry when I lay her down....but if so, I usually just let her cry because it's only for a minute or so.  But there was something different (or so I thought) about this cry.  So I went in there to get her.  

BIG mistake.  BIG.  (when I say that I always say it the way Julia Roberts did in Pretty Woman when the snooty girls wouldn't help her)

I end up getting her out and reading another book with her.  

Then try to put her to bed again.

She cries.

I go ahead  and read Parker her story.  Grace cries out intermittently.  Nothing too bad.  

Then Parker starts in....telling me she is not tired.

I tell her to be quiet and stop asking me if she can watch another show or I won't lay with her anymore (I usually lay with her each night til she goes to sleep....which until now....has not been a problem because she is usually out within 5 minutes).  Anyway- one thing leads to another and I leave her room.  I tell her not to come out.

Seriously....I exit Parker's room and shut her door when I hear {THUMP} from Grace's room.....and before I can even walk past Grace's door....she opens it.

To make a loooong story short.  Both girls ended up in bed and asleep by 9:20pm.  Normal bedtime: 7:30ish to 8:00ish.  

There was rocking...more crying....and Grace crawling out of her crib multiple times...more crying (almost from me at one point).  I thought if I just kept putting her back in she'd eventually tire out.  Wrong.  So then I just stood outside her door and would go in before she could climb out and lay her back down.

She is asleep in her crib right now.  As far as what to do....I have no clue.

*****Other funny things that went on tonight...

At one point I told Parker to go back in her room and wait for me....she said, "Ok Mommy....and you can take care of the rest" (referring to me getting Grace to stay in her bed).

Parker kept asking why and how Grace was crawling out of her crib.

And when I was holding Grace...singing one last time....her head on my shoulder....she would lift it and say, "I not det {get} out of my bed, Momma."  I replied, "You won't get out of your bed?"  She said, "No" while shaking her head.  We'll see........

And my favorite....Parker giving Grace a 1-minute lecture on how she needs to stay in her bed.  It was in a sweet voice.  Parker was really concerned about it all.  But she was pretty much trying to 'reason' with Grace the way that I 'reason' with her.  Just funny and don't want to forget.

******

____________

And just a few phone photos this week.  I've been slacking from taking hardly any at all!

Kristin did send me this picture last Friday of Grace taking a nap in Payton's big girl bed....

________


The girls had pancakes one day....we don't usually do syrup so I just give it to them whole and they just eat it.  When I went to clean up breakfast....I saw that Grace had gotten out one of her play knives format their kitchen and 'cut up' her own 'pan-tate' {pancake}.

______________


Somehow laundry escaped me and I had not done it in 2 weeks?  This is part of the result of that.  (and I'm happy to report that these were clean and most are put up now!)

___________