Does he have sticky shoes?

The already-been-in-bed-for-20-minutes-and-looking-for-a-way-out conversation of the night:

Mommy, I'm all alone.
No, you're not. Daddy's up here and so is Sadie and you are all going to sleep.
But I'm alone in my bed.
No, you're not. You have Bob.
But Bob's not real.
Well, you have God. He is always with you.
And he's real?
Yep - he's real. You just can't see him.
He's with me in my bed?
Yep. He's with us everywhere.
Are there lots of Gods?
No. Just one. But he's really big.
Bigger than you?
Yep.
Bigger than Daddy?
Yep.
Bigger than me and Sade?
Yep.
Bigger than my curtains?
Yep.
Bigger than the house?
Yep.
And he could stand on the roof?
Yep.
And not fall off?
Yep.
Does he have sticky shoes?

WonderWoman!

First of all, let me make it clear this is coming from Jane's hubby, Joe. No...Jane did not type these words herself. I just wanted to post something on her blog to make sure that the world knows that she is simply AMAZING! I think all of you already know that, but just in case there was someone out there that wasn't informed...she is simply AMAZING. Her love and level of support of her friends and family is second to none.

Jane - we love you very much & thanks for being so AWESOME!


Love,
Joe, Sam & Sadie

P.S. - we are making you some special chocolate chip muffins this morning. Sam & Sadie helped and the kitchen is not completely destroyed....I call that a victory in Dad-land!

Right under my feet

We have had a busy few days. In the last 60 hours we have been to two mornings of preschool, to Muscatine and back to see 2 different sets of friends, had Papa spend the night at our house, and had our friends Sal and Z over to play. Oh yeah - and picked up Daddy at the ER. (He spent a lovely afternoon there after having an asthma attack at work - but all is well now.)

Pictures of all that will come later. (Well, not of the ER, but of most of the rest of it.)

Tonight I sat down at the computer (in the chair you can see in the picture below) to try to catch up on my email. I was tired and obviously not paying attention to my children.

They were quiet.

A little too quiet.

Who knew Post-it notes were so entertaining?

Will I get to do grown-up things?

Tonight, 5 minutes after being tucked in to bed, I heard Sam whispering.
(He knows he's not allowed to leave his room after being put to bed, so he pushes it to the limit by standing in his doorway, attempting to have a conversation with me from afar. I fell for it tonight.)

"Mom!"
"What."
"Ummmm....."
"What."
"I have to tell you something."
"What."
"When I am a grown up, will I get to sleep in your bed with you?"
We proceeded to have a lengthy conversation (him standing in his doorway, me standing in mine) about how someday he'll have his own big bed and live in his own house and maybe get married and have kids, among other things.

He had some questions at the end.

"Can I bring Bob?"
"Will I get to go to meetings?"
"I'll get to fix the garage, right?"
"Can I bring my Transformer band-aids with me?"

Apparently the best things about being a grown-up are going to meetings and fixing things, though he seems to need to be sure he'll have Bob there for comfort and something to cover up his scrapes.

My big brother never taught me to do this

Joe was right.
(Wow. Never thought I'd type that sentence for the whole world to read.)

I should never have allowed this.

Because I looked out the door the other day to check on the kids and saw Sam teaching Sadie a new skill.

I am sure you can figure out what is happening in the middle of these two pictures.

Trip to the apple orchard

This morning the kids and I went to an apple orchard with our friends from playgroup - the same one we went to last year. It was fun to be back again - and this time with two kids! (And only 1 parent today... I must say, last year with 2 adults and 1 kid was a bit easier than 2 kids and 1 adult. We still had a great time, though we missed Daddy who was off having some fun with Uncle John before he moves to California. Uncle John, that is. Not Daddy.)

You'll have to excuse the random red-ish line down the side of some of these. I took my little point-and-shoot camera along (I thought the big one was a bit too much to manage while chasing 2 kids), and it seems to be dying a slow death.

How tall are you this year? We didn't have a picture of this from last year to compare with, but oh well. And don't they look thrilled to be there?
They are the apples of my eye....
Sam driving a John Deere. On the way to the orchard this morning, Sam saw a JD tractor in a field and told me he wanted to work at John Deere when he's a grown-up. Don't tell Daddy!
Sadie trying this tractor on her own.
Then it was Sam's turn.
Here we are on the hay ride from the orchard.
Sadie was an apple-picking pro, as well as an apple-eating pro. I think she had a good portion of about 4 apples while we were out there.
Comparing their apples.
Sam having a taste test while Sadie held his bag for him, of which she seems to be growing tired.
Posing by the Prima sign - that's the variety we picked today.

Sadie had a lot of fun in the hay.
If there is a hill, my kids will run down it!

Sam's First Day

Sam had his first day of preschool today. Parents got to go along today too, so the real test will be Friday when he goes all by himself, but we think he will do well. He has been asking all summer long if it is fall yet, since I kept telling him preschool wasn't until the fall. He was one happy boy this morning when he realized today was finally THE DAY!

Here's a shot of him all ready to go. He had to wear his favorite shirt because "I have to show all my new friends my superheroes." And, of course, Sadie had to get in there to say "cheese" too.
The backpack was loaded up "with everything that I need." Not that he knew what was in there, since I packed it for him. Good to know he has complete confidence in his mom.
After coming home, Sadie decided she needed to wear the backpack. All the time.
Then she put Sam's shoes on. I think she was hoping that if she had the backpack and the shoes, maybe she'd get to do the preschool thing too.

Wildman

Another post on Sam's sleeping issues. Sorry if you are tired of them. (Ha - wasn't that funny!)

My theory is that Sam has such a hard time sleeping through the night because he moves around so much - you are bound to wake up while spinning circles in your bed, right?

My best friend's daughter sleeps like a dream - a good dream, that is. She puts her to bed and in the morning she wakes up in the exact same position - the covers haven't moved an inch!

That is nearly inconceivable to me.

One night I decided to document Sam's movements in bed. I knew I would be up late working, so I went in his room every half hour or so to take a picture.

(Now - the one thing Sam does have on my best friend's daughter is his ability to sleep through any noise or light around him. He may wake himself up by moving around, but you could have a party in his room and he wouldn't notice. Or in this case, take pictures with a flash and not disturb him.)

I was hoping to hit a night where he does a complete 360, but all I got was side to side movement.

Still - it's decently impressive.

He starts on the left.
A slight move toward the middle.

A nice kick of the foot.Making progress...
Gotta get the knee up.
And he made it to the right side!
And then the other night I went in to check on him and stumbled upon the shot I had been wanting - completely upside down from where he started! You'll notice he left Bob behind on the pillow.... (And yes, he is sleeping on the floor. You'll have to read this if you care to know why.)
And I have to wrap up this post on sleeping with this shot from tonight. After a lengthy discussion about why he had to sleep in his room and not mine (that I will spare you the details of), he decided he wanted to sleep in the pack and play.

Lovely. At 18 months old I couldn't keep him in this thing long enough to take a shower, and 2 years later it is his bed of choice.

One more!

So I was in the backyard this morning doing doggie-doo-duty so the kids could run freely in the grass without me having to check their shoes before they come inside....

And then I heard Sadie running up behind me saying, "One more! One more! One more!"

You guessed it. She had "one more" for me.

Unfortunately, she was not outfitted with plastic bags on her hands like I was.

Things that make you go hmmmmmm....