Hope your 2009 started off well and will continue to be a good year for all.
As for us, we had a great holiday season, though it flew by so fast it was hard to notice that it happened. By the time the 24th rolled by, our little family had begun to establish a few set routines so now the coffees aren't getting quite so cold in the morning and K. is able to play on his own for a bit without needing to be in either Papa or Daddy's arms quite so much. We're still getting the occasional tantrum, though fewer and further between than the first week he was with us. Although what we miss in quantity, K. makes up for in quality cause when he does finally melt down, it's an impressive carpet rolling shrieking stamping affair and one minute feels like 30.However, these don't last as long as they actually feel, so we're all getting better at dealing with frustration. He is also getting used to us setting the rules for him and though he does test them (especially at nap time) our consistency is winning out in the long run.
Going to sleep is still an issue, but as of yesterday Greg and I have graduated to sleeping in our own bedroom again. We're letting K. get used to falling asleep on his own and though there are nights where he puts up a mega fuss, he does settle. He has his routine of bedtime story, some songs and then once his head hits the pillow, the fireworks start. We now leave the room and stay close to put him back to bed once he gets up, but as of this point, the sight of Greg or me at his gate is enough to get him to crawl back to his pillow (screaming all the while) but as long as he stays in his bed, we're happy. The only thing we would like to change is his early morning wake up call. He's usually up at 5 or 5:30, so even though I'm officially "off", my workday is going to start pretty early. There are the days when after a change and a bottle he will sleep a bit more, but those are the rare luxury. But all in all, we're glad we've moved from having him fall asleep in our arms to having him kick it out on his bed (our backs are grateful).
As for Christmas, K. had a great time meeting the family and we now know he has expensive tastes. Greg made a great meal on the 24th and K. enjoyed eating smoked salmon, liver pate, roast beef and a chocolate covered chestnut christmas log dessert. He also loved the presents. At first seeing all the boxes nicely wrapped was one thing, but once he realized there were things in them and that many of them were for him (in his mind, they were all for him), he at least got to help everyone open their gifts and once he found out it was something boring for someone else he moved to the next box. So the tantrums we were expecting didn't happen after all. In fact, my family thinks that K. is so well behaved and such a sweet little guy. Heh. what an actor!
After the holidays were done, he got to play with all his nice new noisy toys. Unfortunately, K. has figured out which ones have volume control and has learned how to bring more ambiance into our lives. Just picture a singing lawnmower with a happy shrieking toddler behind it and you'll get the idea.
What has also kept our sanity intact is youtube. Thank-god for the Mickey mouse clubhouse, baby beethoven (crack for babies!), and sesame street clips. K. is now able to spend at least 10 minutes in front of the screen enraptured by dancing babies and songs so repetitive and sweet that you will never get them out of your head ever again. Feist does a great do-over of 1-2-3-4 on Sesame Street and I love Andrea Bocelli and Elmo singing Time to say goodnight. I've even started doing the dance moves for some songs (Toot-toot chugga chugga big red car by the wiggles is my new favourite!)
But, the big test is about to face me. Greg goes off to work tomorrow (poor guy/lucK. guy). He'll be on his 3 day work schedule so he'll be back with me on Thursday and Friday. However, Thursday is my spa day. Time to treat myself to a hair cut and a massage. So I'll be downtown in the afternoon to drop off a card for my work mates on Thursday (sorry, won't be free at lunch time, but will be around 3 or so).
I've also started to look into some activities I could get K. involved in. Swimming could be cool, at least he'd be lighter to carry in a pool. :-)
Anyway, that's the news for now. Thinking of all of you and wishing you the best for 2009.
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