Herrman Park and the Zoo

Two Fridays ago, the boys and I went up to town for a quick trip. First we drove through West University while Drew finished his nap. If we had all the money in the world and for some reason decided to stay in Houston, that is where I'd want to live. The houses are perfect, there are trees covering the streets, and it's smack dab in the middle of Houston.....close to everything. I feel so jealous every time I ride through there!

We had to make a stop at Bering's (a very fun hardware/gift store) because I had to use up the remainder of a gift card from our wedding.....4 years ago!!! Grant acted very well.....I bribed him with a sucker, and told him that we weren't going to the park afterwards unless he behaved. I would've loved to look around for an hour, but that's not a luxury I can enjoy these days......in about five years the kids will be in school and I can do all the browsing around in stores that I want!

After we left, we drove over to Herrman Park (one of my all-time favorite places). We didn't ride the train this time, but instead just ate lunch by the reflecting pool. First, I laid out some cheerios for Drew, and Grant wanted some too.......

Then Drew started stealing Grant's food.....it was interesting because Drew has always been strapped into his chair while I've fed him, until this time. He was so persistent, and kept crawling over to Grant to steal his rice cakes. (By the way, I am not putting Grant on a diet.....those flavored rice cakes from Quaker are yummy, and Grant likes them too!). Anyway, Drew has become quite the little scavenger.....more about that later, but he LOVES to eat table foods now (but not much baby food anymore).A few more pictures....

Then we walked over to the zoo, mostly because I had to pick up Grant's shoe that we lost on our last trip. The boys were both very tired, but we were going to try to see a few things. We only made it to the muskrats......and then Drew started crying and Grant kept begging me to go back to see this fountain that we passed: Yes.....we went to the zoo, and this is what Grant most wanted to see! I took a picture of it.....and some people looked at me, then the fountain, as if to say, "are we missing something? why is she taking a picture of that fountain?"

I got the boys in the car at noon, and they were both asleep within three minutes. I drove and drove and drove that afternoon.....they both slept for two hours! It was actually a nice break for me....these days I would probably have driven around for another hour if it meant another hour of naptime!

Sad night....

Drew has had three 30-minute naps today, then he fell asleep nursing and hardly stirred when I laid him down at around 7:20pm. Dean put Grant to bed shortly afterwards.....and everything was just fine until Grant started his nightly call for mommy. This was around 7:45. I was trying to finish an email, but apparently I didn't finish it fast enough.....Grant started saying, "Mommy!" very loud, and Drew woke up and started to cry. For the past 45 minutes he's been crying....I went in to rub his back (which usually works when he's really tired), but he was just so squirmy and overtired that he couldn't settle himself and go to sleep. I ended up taking a break and went in to sing a few songs to Grant, then went back to Drew's room for a few more minutes of unsuccessful back-rubbing. Finally I gave up, coming back to the study. A few minutes later, Grant started yelling again from his room. Now I was really angry! I put him in his room and told him no more games. And just now.....at 8:35pm....they're both finally quiet. So much for going to sleep early (which they both desperately need)!

Some days are just like this with two kids....this is the reason I'm considering putting Grant in some kind of abbreviated Mother's Day Out this summer! He is wonderful so much of the time, but there comes a point where I've had enough.....and this usually happens more than once per day! :)

I was going to post some pictures of some recent fun adventures we've had, but those will have to wait until I feel more in the right mood!

A few things....

Just a few things that have happened in the past couple of days:

- Last night I put Grant to sleep, beginning to end. When I was about to read him stories, he grabbed two of his animals, Ruff and Eeyore, and carried each in one arm. He set them both on his bed and said to Eeyore, "he's your best friend." I always tell Grant to be nice to Drew because "he's going to be your best friend someday." When he laid down, he wanted Ruff to lay next to him (which isn't unusual), and he wanted to make sure that Ruff was covered up with the blanket too!

- Drew has been doing so much better going to sleep. Even if he falls asleep in my arms (which I'm trying not to do if possible), he almost always wakes up when I lay him in his crib. There are some exceptions (like last night and tonight), where he's so exhausted that he falls asleep in my arms and actually stays asleep when I transfer him. But most of the time, I try to set him down while he's awake. He actually likes getting in his crib, and he has fun standing up/sitting down while I stand there next to his crib. He's discovered his monitor and the window blinds, so I've had to move his crib away from the window! And of course he still cries when I leave, but usually only for a few minutes. This is a relief.....I feel like our sleep training struggle is almost over!

- Last.....Grant has been stuttering like crazy these past two days. Thursday, he was talking just fine. Then yesterday, he started stuttering at the beginning of some sentences. For example, he'll say, "We we we we ww ww ww we gonna go for a walk?" Or "You you you y y y you y y you want to come play?" It freaked me out yesterday when he started doing it, and I did some internet research after he went to bed. Apparently it's very common in 2 to 5 year olds.....their brains are working so fast as they're learning so many new words, but their mouths all of a sudden can't keep up. I just think it's odd that Grant could do just fine for so long, then all of a sudden have so much trouble. Anyway, I'll have to ask our doctor to be sure, but I read that it's a phase that many kids go through (and it's fine as long as it doesn't last for more than 3-6 months).

Bedtime

In the eight months since Drew was born, we've had a bedtime routine where Daddy puts Grant to bed, and I always put Drew to bed. Grant was really a mommy's boy before Drew came along, but he's done great with Dean doing the bedtime routine.

A couple of weeks ago, after Drew and Grant were both in bed one night, I was in the study and Grant came to his door and started calling out, "Mommy! Mommy!" I went to the door, and he wanted me to come in and sing songs to him. So I did it.....who could refuse a question like that?? (Well, I might have if it had been a lousy day!).

Anyway.....he did it the next night too, and the next.....and now it has become a part of our routine. Dean leaves the room, and usually less than a minute later, Grant's at the door asking for me. After a few nights of this, Dean suggested trying to break him of the habit. But I really don't mind it. In fact, it's usually the best one-on-one time I have with Grant all day! We always have fun conversations (he tells me about things that supposedly happened that day, whether they really did or not), and he has a few songs that he always asks me to sing (Jesus Loves Me, Rock a Bye Baby, and Seek Ye First....he calls this song "the King."). The past few nights he has been singing Jesus Loves Me along with me.

About a week ago, I suggested that he sleep with a pillow like a big boy (he'd been sleeping scrunched up at the top of his bed, just like he did in his crib!). So now when I go in, he usually tells me, "look, Mommy, I'm gonna sleep like a big boy! Just like Mommy and Dada sleep."

And tonight, he told me, "we go rock for just a few minutes. Then you go downstairs and make stuff. And make food." So I guess he thinks this is what I do when I go downstairs after putting him to bed! He also told me tonight (after we rocked and got back into bed), "don't leave me, Mommy." It's not that he's scared or anything.....I guess he just enjoys the company! This is very humbling, especially considering that I feel like I don't treat him very well on so many days....yelling at him more than I should and having so little patience with him.

I am a very blessed mommy, to have such a sweet (even though VERY headstrong!) little boy!

Well.....

May is over, and doing a blog post a day was actually not too hard! Most nights I came in here after putting Drew to bed, and it usually only took about 10-15 minutes (sometimes less). Erin P. asked me if I was going to continue. Well, last night was busy.....some ladies came by to look at our old entertainment center (we had it listed on Craigslist). They bought it....yay! It's actually pretty cool......one of them has recently bought a few duplexes over by UH, and she's renovating them and furnishing them to get them ready for students for the summer. An IKEA entertainment center will be perfect for that. The ladies were really nice, and we bonded over our addiction to Craigslist! The lady with the duplexes has bought everything from light fixtures to floor tiles....it's so fun just being able to shop online for things you need (and without paying full price!).

Anyway, I didn't feel obligated to post last night (as it was no longer May), but I'm going to try keeping it up at least every couple of days. My main problem is having pictures to post.....I just don't upload them very often.....

Today the boys and I made a very impromptu trip up to town. This morning we did a couple of errands and we were on our way home at 10:45am, when Grant and Drew both fell asleep in the car. I know from experience that this is a recipe for disaster (for me).....they both sleep for 7-10 minutes in the car, then feel like they don't need any more sleep when we get home.

So....to avoid a bad rest of the day.......I decided to drive to downtown. They both had decent naps in the car, then we went to Discovery Green in downtown Houston. It is wonderful!!! We had never been there before.....there are a couple of water areas, plus a nice playground and a big hill that Grant loved climbing. Aside from the mosquitos, we had such a good time. We'll definitely be going back soon.....I think for my sanity, I need to make a trip into town at least once per week (for variety!).

Okay, that was longer than I was intending. Hopefully I will post more pictures soon.....