A View from the Couch...

Last night was our first family movie night of 2011. We have made attempts before however someone (over 24months) usually sabotages our plans with refusing to eat dinner (which is a prerequisite for watching a movie in our house).

Anywho- freshly bathed kids, clean pj's, popcorn, rootbeer and Ratatouille. I think they look like they are having fun don't you?

The fact that The Tank sat on the couch is quite amazing I must say as the only time he ever sits for longer then 30 seconds is for Iggle Piggle and food or both. In tonights case it was the popcorn that lured him I'm sure. But he sat none the less!

We don't make a regular habit of snacking on popcorn or rootbeer for that matter but for this night it was a treat and it was fun!

If I could have Ferber and Karp in the same room....

How can one get angry at this face? Really.

But oh BOY has he been testing the patience of mine lately. We went from sleeping through the night to up several times a night. I'm sorry what? Dude you are 22months old this mama's body has adjusted to the long stretches of sleep so what gives?

I frantically surf the web every night looking for answers. Answers to why oh WHY is my precious little Tank causing so much disturbance to my REM sleep. Tag lines like: Sleep regression or sleep problems in toddlers or HELP-I-want-to-jump-off-the-nearest-bridge-my-child-won't-sleep run through my search engines like the NASDAQ on trade day. Every perfect parent has ideas and solutions to the frantic and sleep deprived parent questions. Cry it out, pick them up, hug them, feed them, give them a bit of bourbon, throw their crib in the garage. You know... all those ideas that have worked for those really great parents.

Anywho so the night I saw the clock from 2:30am-4:00am I enlisted in the Supermom tactics of a lackluster parent. I mixed Ferber with Karp (*gasp) and threw in a little bootcamp Mama. It was not the shining moment in my career as a mom. As I threw back the covers, said some choice words each time I had to go into the Tanks room. I raised my voice out of frustration and I hugged him when I felt bad. That night I realized that those books are garbage really good sources of information in which I can say DUDE you don't have a child like mine do you?

Anyhow- he's cute, he's funny and most of all he makes my heart smile every time I hear that little Tank of mine say "Piggle" or "I-want-that".

From this

to this

Now really- could you get mad at that? His chubby little face just screams trouble! I will say it again. Its a damn good thing he's cute!

Ramblings from the backseat

Superkid... ohhhhh superkid. It was one of those daycare mornings where I silently jumped with glee as I drove out of the daycare parking lot. Rainy icky day + Super kid just equate to a giant disaster of a parenting day. So I happily walked her to her class, leaned down for a kiss and said good bye. She ran in with excitement, latched onto her BFF and started her day.

I'm a great mom on daycare days. I'm an even better mom when I'm back to work fulltime. No joke I'm serious. I was never the girl who dreamed of cooking at the stove in heels and happily slugging a newborn over one shoulder while making home made play dough with my free hand. Nope. not I. I am the mom who takes quality time over quantity. Perhaps if Superkid had a more easy going temperament maybe then I'd be more willing to be June Cleaver but I hardly doubt that.

I think it all goes back to the fact that if I want something done I'll get someone else to do it. Lazy? no. Resourceful? yes. So anyway the point of this post. Ornary superkid wakes up and refuses to pretty much do anything I ask her to do, so there was a reward on this blustery morning if she could eat her yogurt, take her vits and drink her juice. A token economy if you will... *gasp. Yes I paid my daughter with a Hershey's kiss to eat her damn breakfast. There. I said it. I DID. You wanna know the funny part? 30sec into throwing that delicious treat into her mouth she said "Ewwww mommy this is yucky and it smells funny" (my sensory kid is really affected by smells these days, including nasty mommy breath after a cuppa). Anyway she spit it out, threw on her shoes and coat and she was off for the day. So I guess her home made Advent calendar with Hershey treats is allllllllllllll mine, errr ok fine I'll replace the treats with something she likes (maybe).

Car ride to school is no different then the usual car ride- stop here, go now, this way, no that way. However, today she decided that I was to stop for "Ariel" the shrunken Mermaid who apparently was in the grass. At a red light my loving nearly 3yr old scooped up her "Ariel" (from her car seat I might add) and proceeded to give her some trouble. "I said come here, 1...2....3.... ok Time OUT I said". She's always disciplining her imaginary beings... Maybe I should lighten up- or go back to work *snicker.