week ending sept 23, 2007

Week ending September 23, 2007: One week left until their 4th birthday party. Chloe tells me that she wants to be 4 RIGHT NOW and then says in that really whiny-complaining voice that she’s been 3 for such a LONG time. I think she’s implying that it is somehow my fault that she’s had to be 3 for so long. I guess it is confusing about which events are under parental control such as bed time or how many cookies are allowed for dessert, and which events parents are not in control of, such as the weather or how old they are (although one could argue that a year is of arbitrary length and that gauging age based upon the number of trips the earth has made around the sun IS something that I have DECIDED to adhere to rather than something completely out of my control such as the weather, but that is not within the scope of this document). Anyway, when the kids turned 3, they were wearing diapers every day, sleeping in their cribs, we took the stroller and diaper bag with us wherever we went, and waking a sleeping child was considered by both parents to be something of a tragedy. Now diapers and cribs are a distant memory, and the kids are sleeping great almost no matter where we take them. When Alex was 2 he used to have a lot of trouble getting back to sleep if something (or nothing) woke him up. Sometimes I would end up in his room for hours trying to figure out how to get him back to sleep. Now he WANTS to sleep at night. One time a few months ago I could hear him coughing non-stop in the middle of the night and I went into his room to see if he needed a drink. He said he didn’t want to sit up and take a drink, he wanted to sleep. Finally after I wouldn’t leave him alone he took a drink and then I asked him if we wanted me to stay with him until he got to sleep or if he wanted me to go back to my room. He said “go to your room”. It was music to me ears! It was during this year that he gained the confidence that he could get himself back to sleep, and during this year that I started to get a lot more regularly scheduled sleep myself. Potty training was every bit as difficult as it sounded and then some, but hopefully it is a milestone we can put behind us. As their 4th birthday approaches their personalities continue to grow. Chloe has boundless enthusiasm and loves to spend all her time interacting with people, although she’s sometimes short of temper. Alex displays an affinity for problem solving of the visual-spatial variety, he’s gaining confidence in tackling new situations, but he is sometimes stubborn. This year the kids also started riding bikes and going to school, Chloe had an endoscopy, they did their first trick-or-treating, and had their first dental appointments. Next stop driver’s ed and college. At least I can still pick them up and carry them, although it has been a few months since I’ve picked both of them up at the same time. What will the coming year bring? I can’t even guess, but that’s ok because we’re just taking things one day at a time.