Last weekend we transitioned the girls to sleeping in their own beds all night long. We had already transitioned to them going to sleep without us sitting with them and that went much more easily than we expected. For the Great Bed Transition of 2014 we purchased a new twin mattress to match the one we already had, Minnie Mouse sheets, Hello Kitty sheets and comforters, and large Hello Kitty stuffed animals. The girls were jumpingly gleeful upon seeing their new beds. They were not so thrilled about what the new beds meant and the first night involved many relocations of both girls. Night 2 involved basically no relocations, just many times of them calling out for us. Since then each night has gotten better with very few relocations and very little calling out. I think all of us are sleeping better. I am once again amazed at how easily it went. With each transition we talked to them about it in positive terms, about going to bed on their own with no grown ups allowed, and about sleeping in their bed all night with no grown ups allowed. We also were fully committed to each transition, knowing that if we weren’t committed then we would have nothing,
Sarah has been practicing her buttoning and unbuttoning skills on an overshirt of mine that used to belong to Granddad. She has gotten so good that I thought it was time to get some button-down shirts in her size. She is very excited about the shirts but not so thrilled that I won’t do the repetitive buttoning and unbuttoning for her.
We sang Pete the Cat’s version of “The Wheels on the Bus” together! She sang with Carl too. So far it has mainly been the alphabet in chorus so this was super exciting to sing a longer song with bigger words. I follow her lead and chime in a nano-second after she has started, but we really had some times of truly fully singing together, while looking joyfully at each other! True delight is so powerful, whether whooped loudly or silently shining out from the eyes.
Sarah can put almost all of the cubes in the tray for the Don’t Break the Ice game. For each row it is a little challenging to get the last cube in because you have to create a little extra space by holding the frame and other cubes out of the way a tiny bit. In the past she couldn’t do it at all. On Friday I was playing with both girls and while I was involved with Amy, Sarah went ahead and filled a few rows! She can’t do the very last one yet, but it is only a matter of time. The girls have also played several rounds of the game, taking turns hitting the cubes with a mallet. I definitely have to monitor the turns because otherwise each would just hit incessantly until all the cubes fall. Still! I love that it is almost not news anymore that the girls play games together.
Friday night we had what felt like a quintessential family walk around the neighborhood. Amy and I held hands while walking down a brick alleyway while Sarah peddled her tricycle and Carl strolled behind Sarah. Then we went home and had homemade lasagne (with rice noodles and cheddar). It had been a while since I last saw Sarah on her trike and I was amazed at her skill with peddling. Yesterday Carl took the girls to buy new bike helmets and got Sarah a new bike. A real bike! Pink. With training wheels. She hasn’t gotten to ride it outside yet because yesterday was too rainy, but she is eager to get going. Amy will try out the glider bike we have or can upgrade to the trike that Sarah had been using, which is a bit bigger than the one Amy usually rides. Amy doesn’t yet get the peddling so the glider may be just the thing.
Sarah got to eat her first real hot dog in over a year! I found some at our local co-op that meet all of our ingredient requirements. No bad reaction. YAY!!!
I had a wonderful dialogue with M., exploring why I get so mad at the girls sometimes when they don’t do what I say. I had hoped that I would uncover some belief and then *poof* I would never get mad or yell again. Not quite. The thing I love about having M.’s assistance is that she asks questions about things that I don’t even notice when I’m talking about my life. I say lots of things about a situation and then expect she will ask about the last thing I said but sometimes she asks about the first thing I said and it is like finding a new window in a house where I thought there was just a wall. The upshot of the dialogue is that it is actually ok if I yell. And that I can notice what function my yelling serves and that can help me think of new ways to get what I want maybe without the yelling. It is much more freeing to tell myself it is ok to yell and I think it has perhaps resulted in slightly less yelling and less internal tightness.
Beds, buttons, bus wheels, bikes, and love to you all.
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