Ice, ice, baby!

This past Saturday found us making a return trip to go ice skating.  Ian and I had a date and met up with some good friends, Dana and her daughter, Mary-Edith.  We chose an indoor rink, Fairfax Ice Arena, and Ian's ability to ice skate went beyond any expectations I could have for this being his 2nd time.

I was a little concerned when I found out that the rink does not offer buckets for the little ones to push and use for balance or have skates that offer double blades.  However, these "crutches" were not needed in the least and Ian took off faster than I could say, "Use my hand to hold onto."  From the get go, Ian had this philosophy, 'It's all or nothing' and refused to accept any limitations.  It was quite impressive how Ian took off and was not the least bit scared on how fast he was going. 

This was Ian at the beginning of our skating session:

Ian thinking he can now skate backwards:

Ian at the end -- look at how fast he moves:

We skated for 2 hours!  And Ian still wants to go back for more.  Good thing he had his helmet on, because it saved his head from cracking more than once.  Oh my!  Some of the falls Ian had was insane. But yet, this didn't stop Ian from getting up and continuing on.   Kudos to the guys who work at the ice rink.  As soon as Ian fell, an employee was there lickety-split asking if he was ok and helping him up.  At one point, 3 guys came over and each picked up a limb of Ian's to get him back standing upright.

Is it Monday yet?

Most people don't like Mondays.  I will take a wild guess and say this is probably the least popular day of the week. In fact, there is a very funny movie quote in the film, "Office Space".  "Sounds like someone has a case of the Mondays."  And the Carpenters have a famous song, "...Rainy days and Mondays always get me down."

However, Mondays could become my most favorite day of the week.  I have discovered something quite fantastic and am in love with this idea.  One of my most favorite restaurants now offers a DATE NIGHT!

Choices by Shawn, which I have written about before, caters to those with food allergies, but has a wonderfully tasty menu for everyone - even those who can tolerate gluten, meat, high calories, etc.  They now advertise the following on their Website:

Join us every Monday Night

for

DATE NIGHT

We will entertain your children while you have some wonderful

quality time with each other.

Price

$5.00 per child (includes dinner)

$30.00 Minimum dinner for Mom and Dad

 Reservations Required

So, this is all I needed to see and the next thing you know, one of my favorite mommy friends (KELLY!!!!!!) and her family joined us this past Monday night.  What a wonderful evening it was!  We dined (don't you love the use of this word - Dined?) from 5:45pm to about 7:10pm. Wowee!  When was the last time I could do that at a restaurant with the kids?!?!  Usually we have to get in and out in 40 to 45 minutes.  And, we were able to have a leisurely meal, not rushed, with all the courses (salad/soup, entree, dessert) in the proper order.  Usually Jeff and I instruct the waiter to bring everything out at once. 

The kids had a great time and we didn't hear one peep out of them (they were in a separate room next to us).  My dream is to become a regular at a restaurant I really like.  A place where I walk in and they automatically know what I may order or suggest something new based on my tastes.  A place where it may be crowded, I don't have a reservation, but they see me coming and always have a table for me.  I am not sure Jeff is a fan of my vision, as it would take many, many visits in order for this to occur. And, then of course, you need to keep up the frequency of visits.

BUT, if I could accomplish this dream, this is the exact kind of place I'd want to be a regular at.   Have I mentioned that this restaurant is only 4 miles down the road from where we live?  Does it get much better? 

I will be back for date night on Mondays.  The amount of money we spent for dinner was totally reasonable and saved us easily $40 in babysitting costs.  That in my opinion was the best of both worlds.  Have your kids with you, but somewhere else.  :)

Sleep? What's that!?!?!

I am so in love with my blog right now.  Why, you ask?  Because it gives me the opportunity to realize just how bad a sleeper Sam is.  I really thought this period we are going through right now is isolated and that normally Sam had been a good sleeper, but now I know differently.  Just goes to show you how quickly I can make myself forget the bad stages.

Exhibit A:
July 12, 2010 blog entry

Exhibit B:
November 18, 2010 blog entry

And let me now add the most recent set of trouble we are experiencing.  The below recap is from our strategy to put a gate on Sam's door and not let her out.  Take out anything fun that is in her room and keep her inside at all costs.  The weeks leading up to this new addition to her doorway was many continuous nights when Sam would get up at all hours (usually every 30 to 45 minutes) and start demanding different things (needs her Leapster, needs her iTouch, needs to brush her teeth, needs to wash her hands, needs to change her pajamas, needs to switch blankets, etc).  The girl just wouldn't go to sleep or stay asleep without a major battle.  It is a wonder that either of us were functioning at all during the day.  Although, I do admit to falling asleep at traffic lights. That's when you know something has got to change!


January 20 - January 25, 2010

Operation: Stay asleep (night 1) - a BIG success. 2 or 3 more nights of this and we may actually have a well-rested 2 year old in our home. It's funny that I feel waking up at 11:40pm and 3:36am as a success. How my perspective has changed in the last several weeks.

Operation: Stay asleep (night 2) - an even BIGGER success!! For the first time in at least 2 months, Sam did not fight us on being put down to bed or wake up at all during the night. Wowee!! It is a great feeling waking up this morning knowing we are headed in the right direction.

Operation: Stay asleep (night 3) - not such a good report. It took 3 major screaming episodes and more than 2 hours for Sam to fall asleep. Finally at 9:45pm she went down. Then she woke up at 12:30am and 2:00am. Each time she came to the door, stood by her gate and threw a fit to be let out.

Operation: Stay asleep (night 4) - progress is being made again! Sam went to sleep right at 7:10pm and didn't fight us on it. She woke up only once at 1:00am, came to her door, and in less than one minute was back in her bed for the rest of the night (with no interference from us). She woke up for the day at 6:10am. Yay! We are back in business.

Operation: Stay asleep (night 5) - not fun. Sam went to sleep easily & was out by 7:30pm. Woke up at 11:48pm & started screaming big-time to get out. Jeff caved & went in at 12:10am to put her back to bed. (NOT HAPPY ABOUT THIS!!). Then she was out of bed again screaming from 12:30am to 2:00amish. She finally stopped screaming & played on her own until 3:00amish. Woke up for the day by 6:00am. Lovely.

Operation: Stay asleep (night 6) - more of the same. Sam went to sleep by 7:45pm, stayed "quiet" all night long and was up for the day at 5:40am. Not sure what happened during the night, but she had on all of yesterday's clothes over her pajamas. Which means she did this in complete darkness. Not actually sure just how much of last night Sam spent sleeping. Don't care either. I got 7 hours. :)

I'd like to think that the situation is getting better and we are making progress, but that could be the optimistic in me.  I really think that Sam has a sleep disorder and needs more help than Jeff and I can give her.  I am thisclose taking her to the dr for a full blood work-up and a strong request to find out what we can do to have her sleep patterns checked-out. 

The hardest part in all this is Sam has given up her nap.  So she is *waking-up* for the day cranky and just gets crankier as the day wears on.  This major sleep deprivation is wreaking havoc with her temperament.  I know, I don't enjoy being around her when she is like this.  It is not fun.  Not fun at all.

I am frustrated.  Tired.  Stressed.  And more than anything, I want my 2 year old to learn to sleep.

Heard and Observed XIX

This is too good not to share with those who aren't FB friends with Jeff.  He had originally posted this on MLK Day and I can't resist also adding it to my blog.

Jeff:  Ian, do you know how Martin Luther King, Jr was?
Ian:  Yes, Martin Luther King's son.

Hahahahah!!  Jeff totally got a taste of his own medicine and received the same exact response he would've given had he been asked when he was a little boy, or even this age for that matter.  Just so you know, after the smarty response, Ian was able to answer the question perfectly.  I guess those 10 minutes spent in kindergarten are proving worthwhile.

****************************************************************************

The Fun Mom

I love the show "Modern Family" on ABC.  One of my most favorite episodes aired right before our November trip.  It was Manny's birthday and the whole family was coming together to celebrate at a local restaurant.  The show to me was hilarious and I enjoyed it all 3 times I saw it.  I don't normally watch the same episode over and over again, but it seemed like every time I turned around, another family member of mine was catching up on recorded shows on the DVR.

Which reminds me of something similar to the show "Sex and the City". I never watched that show.  Ever.  But the one episode I saw at a friend's house (because they faithfully watched it each week), was "Plus One".  Then get this, years ago, Jeff and I went to NYC for a weekend trip and went to visit the "Museum of Television and Radio".  We had gotten tickets for some kind of exhibit and arrived early.  We ducked into the theatre showing a "Sex and the City" marathon and you guessed it, they were showing the same exact episode, "Plus One."  And, another time I was at a different friend's house who was watching a rerun of a "Sex and the City" espisode and the same exact "Plus One" came on.  OMG!  I am sure that "Sex and the City" made other shows besides this one, but you wouldn't know it by me.

Whoa, please forgive my tangent. I just had this memory pop into my head and felt the need to share. I mean, what are the odds for a show I never saw, that I would see the same exact episode 3 times!?!? 

Anyway, back to Modern Family, which I do love and will watch each week.  Claire, Phil and the family are about to leave their house and head to the restaurant.  Words are exchanged between Claire and Phil and a bet is placed on who can get to the restaurant first based on their favorite route to get there.  During the drive Claire comes to the realization that she is not the fun parent, Phil is.  All the crazy, zany ideas come from Phil, not Claire. 

This got me thinking.  I want to be the fun parent!  I want to surprise the kids and do something out of character for once.  I feel like for weeks we were getting into a boring routine of picking Ian up from school, heading home, having a snack and then making sure Ian did his homework, have me make dinner and then get the kids ready for bed.  Not a whole lot of fun.  And looking back years from now, are the kids going to think I was the fun parent?  Probably not.  It was bumming me out.

So I went for it.  One afternoon, before our big trip, Sam and I picked Ian up from school.  I told Ian we had a stop to make on the way home.  It was to Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream.  Now that was fun and unexpected, right?  Ian got very excited when he realized where we were going.  As we were getting out of the car Ian came clean and said to me, "Is it okay if I have ice cream again since we had an ice cream party in class today?"  WHAT!?!?!!  Who knew that the kids were having an ice cream party at school?  And since Ian's kindergarten is all of 3 hours long, it was probably within the last hour.  Oh my!

I couldn't go back on my word now.  The fun mom was out and was not going back!  "Sure Ian.  You can have ice cream twice today."  Because that is what the fun parent would say.

Keeping up with Current Events

Samantha has picked up a new habit.  This is actually a good one that we can all endorse and stand behind.  She likes to read the newspaper.  We'll be having breakfast at the table in the morning and Sam will grab a section of the paper and look at it like she is reading it.  It is really cute. 

If she is done eating her cereal or pancakes and not done with the newspaper, she'll take it to the ottoman or couch and finish "reading" it. 

So far she doesn't have a preference with which section she reads.  One morning after about 10 minutes of staring at the paper, she put it down on the table and said with a heavy, exasperated sigh, "I can't read" and gave a very big pouty face.  She truly looked sad at her revelation.

We always thought that Ian was going to be "the smart one", but signs are now pointing to Sam giving him some stiff competition.

You know, you can go more than once

One morning, Ian wakes up and I follow him downstairs.  Our routine is that we get him a big straw-cup of milk to drink first thing in the morning and then approx. an hour later, he has breakfast.

Ian on his way to the bathroom (for that first of the day pee after sleeping for 11.5 hours straight) sees me bringing him his milk.

Ian:  "Oh, I'll just wait to go after I have my milk."

Me:  "It's okay Ian, you should always go right when you wake-up."

Ian:  "Why?  I'll just have to go again later after the milk is gone."

I have no idea if for the past year and a half (since Ian has been trained at night, wearing underwear) if he never went to the bathroom first thing.  I can't believe this is something I hadn't picked up on before.

Wow, I am impressed with the size of his bladder.  However, I did encourage him to always go right away and not to hold it.