Halloween!

Halloween was a blast.  The kids LOVED dressing up and they LOVED seeing all the people in costume.  Since we had a wonderful owl hand me down costume from some fellow Rice fans, and they're still young enough that we can influence their costume choices, we decided to have a family theme.  It might be the only way I convinced D to dress up. 

Our sweet little kiddos still love all things farm and farm animals (do they have to grow up?!)  So, after explaining what Halloween is, the simple version anyway, I asked them what farm animals they would like to dress up as.  Rafa excitedly picked a cow.  Sylvia excitedly picked a duck.  I was a little surprised they chose different animals since Sylvia often wants to do just what Rafa does, and play with whatever Rafa's playing with...  Anyhow.  I told them that D would dress up as a farmer and Rafa suggested I dress up as a donkey.  What?!  Wait now, kiddo.  You don't get to choose mama's costume. 

Once it was all settled, we continued with our bedtime routine.  Then, tears.  Rafa wanted to dress up as a cow right then and there.  Riiiiight.  Three year olds have no concept of time.  I attempted to explain that we have to wait for the day of Halloween to arrive.  I have no idea if he understood, but I eventually distracted him with a book. 

So, you can imagine that by the time the day arrived, there was much anticipation and excitement in our house.  I loved the idea of making their costumes, but know MUCH better than that, so we bought some fluffy things online that are no doubt best for kiddos living in cooler climates.  Of course, we weren't really thinking about that when we ordered them.  The week of Halloween was quite warm and I was imagining my children sweating buckets while naked under their plush jumpsuits.  Fortunately, a cold front mercifully arrived the day of Halloween. 

Somehow, the stars aligned for us.  We clearly hadn't exactly planned properly.  The kids didn't nap, we were going to keep them up super late, we took them to the house of some dear friends of ours that they don't know very well, but it was truly a fun time for all.  I guess, when you have three kids three and under your expectations for a good time at anything are very low (seriously, what are the odds that at least one kid will have at least one meltdown?!) and so, sometimes they are actually met or exceeded.  The party was in the middle of a neighborhood party where they block off the streets for 3 blocks (about all my kids can walk) and there were lots and lots of families with small children.  The icing on the cake was spending the holiday with my sister's family who moved here from Mexico this summer, what a treat!

The whole thing made even D start thinking about what to wear next year!

school pics

I don't understand the dreary background or the unnatural poses.  Anyone?...

primos

october

3 kids, 3 ways

I was amazed today with Oscar, who must think that green beans are the greatest food ever created. This little guy wanted nothing else and polished off an entire can. (Yes, these days we eat quite often out of cans.). The whole stinking thing! So, I opened another for the other kiddos. Sylvia ate hers, but perhaps more shockingly, also drank the green bean 'juice' from the bowl as if it were soup. (Yes, these days we heat our canned food in the microwave.) Rafa, true to form, battled the veggies with gusto. But, in the end, succumbed and ate one lowly bean. Somehow, when I said, "please eat at least one," in my head it sounded like it might inspire him to eat more. But, out loud, it gave him the option to proudly eat one, single, solitary bean. I'm still counting it as a success.

As with most things in life, these three each have their own way. Variety is truly the spice of life.

no-slumber party

I'm about to start another interim gig and we have lots of stuff to get done around the house, so after we said goodnight to all the little ones, I retreated to our study to do some work.  D also had things to do, so he came in and also settled down to work.  Apparently, it was a pleasant evening for everyone.  D and I, while we were working, enjoyed some calm time together.  And, Sylvia and Rafa decided to have a party.

Now, I LOVE that they enjoy each other so much.  Watching them share with each other and help each other and be concerned about each other is an incredible joy.  But, when I emerged around 10:30 to start MY bedtime routine, the giggling that erupted from their room was NOT cute.  I mean, their giggling is always cute.  But at 10:30, not cute.  They were lying down and hadn't torn everything off the walls or emptied their cabinets or smeared poop everywhere, so I probably should put it all in perspective.  If they're healthy and hug-able, it can always be worse, right?

While I didn't get as mad as I sometimes get when they won't sleep (usually when I'm also worn out and trying to nap), I did give them a stern talking to about how it's late, they're tired, they have to go to school in the morning, sleep is good for them, blah, blah, blah, which I am certain I will repeat about a gazillion times before all three are off in college.  At least now, when they don't quite tune in to my lecture, they have the excuse that they probably don't quite understand it.  It was too much for them.  They just needed me to tell them enough is enough and sleep.  But, somehow it made me feel better to explain why their mama was putting an end to their fun.  And, go to sleep because mami doesn't want to have to deal with two cranky yous tomorrow somehow didn't come up.  Let's be honest, that's the real reason. 

failed parenting experiment

We learned a good lesson last night.  Unfortunately, we learned it the hard way.  We had gone to visit some friends yesterday and Oscar was going to have to try to take his afternoon nap on the go.  So, we brought his cherished lamb with us.  You know, so there would at least be a modicum of hope that he might snooze.  We had a lovely visit with our friends and even talked at length about how dependent he is on his little lamb to sleep.  Which was probably our curse.  Because we promptly left that gathering to go to Gong-Gong's birthday gathering and left the little lamb at our friend's house.  We didn't realize that we had left the little lovey behind until we were already on our way to meet friends at the park in an attempt to wear all the kids out before bed.  Then, I had an interview with a board of directors at 9pm and since the friend works with David less than a mile from our house, we figured, how bad can it really be?

You know where this is going.  It was that bad.

Since Oscar didn't have his BFF to go to sleep, I spent a little more time snuggling with him and working really hard to get him to sleep.  Since he hadn't napped, I had fatigue on my side.  But, since I never do that, he sort of thought we were supposed to be playing instead of preparing for slumberland.  But, he did drift off to sleep and we moved on, kind of thinking that this parenting is really no big deal.  We got it.  Mm, hmm.  The other kids went to bed, we did various other household tasks, I had my call, I debriefed D about the call and then the whimpering began.  Oh, no.  Poor Oscar!  He woke up.  And couldn't find his buddy, his pal, the eternally-present-for-sleeping lamb.  This guy.

Yeah, it's sort of my fault.  I made him dependent on a stuffed animal so that he wouldn't be dependent on me.  Which works.  Until you don't have the stuffed animal anymore.  Time to soothe again.  D prepared some milk.  You know, a full tummy can convince anyone it's time to sleep, right?  And, off to sleep he went.  For a couple hours. 

The next time he woke up, he had had about 6 hours of sleep.  So, he wasn't completely exhausted, but still tired.  And no amount of coaxing, shushing, soothing, rocking, bouncing, (flashback to babies--AACK!) could convince him it was time to rest, much less sleep.  And I was tired.  So, maybe I didn't try as hard as I ought.  I tried tossing every manner of stuffed animal we own in his crib.  We have three kids.  That's a lot of stuffed animals.  He rejected each one soundly.  I even attempted to let him sleep in our bed (translate, I was so tired, I just needed to lie down and he could lie on top of me or crawl around, whatever, because resting while he's not sleeping is better than actively trying to convince him to do the same).  D tried to help out and took him downstairs to play for awhile until he was SO tired, he had no choice but to fall asleep.  At which point, we had already lost most of our night.

The worst part of the entire experience was watching him on the amazing, infrared video monitor, which we generally love.  He sleepily and desperately picked up each of the attempted replacement toys and with much confusion and crying put them back down since they were not the beloved lamb.  He just couldn't understand why he couldn't find his sleep aid.  His drug. 

Of course, for SylRafa, we got backup loveys.  But this guy decided to fall in love with a wonderful little lamb that we got as a gift. And, of course, THEY DON'T MAKE IT ANYMORE. A few months ago, I did search for one, which included FaceBook crowdsourcing to see if my friends could help me identify its maker, which they did.  It's now a collector's item.  At the time I thought the price they were asking was ridiculous, but now I'm thinking that compared to 3+ hours of lost sleep, it would have been worth it.  I'm sure it has now quadrupled in price, if I could even find one.  We might need to tether it to his ankle...