Because Some Days are Like That

Yesterday and today were pretty rough days in Mommyland.  We are training the twins in regular beds.  Some days they get it.  Some days they don’t.  It means no rest for Mommy right now.  But it can be kind of humorous too.

Matching “shawls” for Christmas

I had two blessed weeks of consistency.  Elaine learned digital numbers in Math, so we gave her an alarm clock.  She wasn’t allowed out of bed until 8:00 a.m., and 4:00 from naptime.  When Elaine got up, the other kids got up.  It did wonders for my schedule, my devotions, my planning.  I knew what to expect.  Even if they woke up early, they wouldn’t come out until a certain time.

Cutest fireman ever.

But then the second bunk bed arrived, and with it the crib bar’s restraint went away.  Now I have to teach two toddlers – at the same time – to control themselves and obey Mommy’s directives to “stay in bed!”

Bath time is the cure-all.  New finger puppets make it even better.  Grandmas are wonderful things!

Here’s how naptime went yesterday. 

I got all the kids laid down.  After several disciplines we finally got the twins to stay in bed, realizing Mommy really meant it.  I laid down too.  But I was starting to realize I may have had too many avocado slices on my sandwich, and my tummy didn’t really let me rest. 

I finally fell asleep somewhere between 3:15 and 3:27.  That’s when I was awakened by a loud banging – the metal play dishes on the wood floor.  Bang!  Bang!  Bang!  Bang!  Yes – Nehemiah and Liberty were awake, not understanding that it wasn’t 4:00 yet.  They commenced play time, and in the total darkness of their room they managed to find the loudest toys.

He could play trains in the tunnel for hours

I tried to tell them to “sshhhh” because Nolan and Elaine were still sleeping.  I put them back in bed.  Liberty was fine with this, but Nehemiah was done with the bed thing.  I gave them a book, and a train and told them to play choo-choo in bed.  They were both in Liberty’s bunk.

I crept back into my room and laid back down, drifting off again to “Choo-choo!  Choo-choo!” noises.  For about a minute.  They there was a terrific crash, and I knew immediately that Nehemiah had overturned the car box.  It’s his favorite thing to do.  I stayed in bed, and listened to Nolan, now awake, shout “Go. Back. To. Bed.  Go. Back. To. Bed.” Over and over again.  Nolan is just like his mamma – he likes his sleep and he hates to be awakened.  So he was none too happy about the loud noises his younger siblings were creating.

Christmas afternoon at the park

Finally we all realized that really sleep ended at 3:27, and we got up and turned on the lights.

I guess that’s just how some days go around here.  Just when I find the groove in my routine, something changes and I have to shift everything as I desperately search for a new groove.  But since the twins aren’t learning numbers anytime soon, I guess I can say goodbye to consistent wake up times – for now.

Yet in the midst of all this craziness, there have been lots of funny good things too.  Like Nehemiah saying “Cheese” for a picture, and “doggy” and “meow.”  {Not so glad that he also learned an emphatic “no” from Liberty}.  Both twins answer “uh-huh” in the cutest little singsong voice.  They are each quick to point out the other’s disobedience on some days, eager to participate in “double trouble” on other days.

Nolan is learning to pronounce and enunciate his words, and he over does it.  Instead of “libble lit” he can now say “lit-TLE bit” – and he makes sure you know that he said it correctly – every single time.  He mixes his colloquialisms too, and creates new ones like “you’re a funny goose”.  He is OCD about holding his sleeves before sticking his arms into his coat, and putting on new socks after naptime (to the dismay of my laundry pile).

Elaine wrote all of the words in all of her thank you cards this week.  I was scared to death to homeschool, but it is the most rewarding thing ever to hear her read, listen to her sound things out, and see her writing words, and to realize that I taught her that.  She’s a little smarty pants too…she “wrote” a message to Daddy with bath crayons on the shower wall.  Of course, it was unreadable, so Ben said “I don’t know what it says.”  Her response?  “Daddy – you have to sound it out!”  She’s getting more sensitive about how it hurts us when she disobeys and dishonors her parents.

People keep telling me these are the best years.  That they would trade the teen years to go back to the little years.  To me, they just feel like the tired years!  But I want to remember that even in the crazy chaos and never-the-same routines of raising little people, there are sprinkles of joy and overwhelming cuteness all over the place, if I am looking.