Daddy Is Tired

I know I shouldn’t tell you this, much less even think it, but I feel like I need to let someone know.  And who better to tell than the tens of people who read this blog!  So here goes.

I think my daughter’s sleep issues are beginning to get a little better.

Okay, it’s out there.  Please hang on while I go knock on every piece of wood in the building.  I’ll be right back.

Are you still here?  Good.  As you may or may not know, our daughter has had SERIOUS sleep issues for months.  I’m not exaggerating when I say that bedtime was a disaster every night.  She’d bounce out of bed every 2 minutes and camp out in the bathroom for up to 45 minutes (at which point we’d put her back to bed).  She’d wake several times crying, and would finally wake in the morning crying.  And heaven forbid we actually try and leave her room after consoling her.  She’d convulse on the bed and panic like you’ve never seen.

After finding out what she’d been hearing at school we were able to help a little, but not a lot.  After the teacher issue was resolved (the teacher is no longer there), things didn’t get that much better right away (we didn’t expect them to).

But this past week bedtimes have been better.  Although she has her OCDesque routines, there hasn’t been the panic we saw before.  There’s been no begging for us to stay.  And just as important, she hasn’t been waking us up most nights.  When she does get up, she goes to the bathroom and gets back in bed quietly…and stays quiet in the morning when she gets up.  Which has been later than she’s EVER gotten up before (often after 6).

She’s also telling us a little about her days at school, and if we prod her a bit, she’ll speak a little Spanish.  We haven’t been able to get her to do either of those things in a long time, so we’re really excited to see the changes.

Of course she’s not completely “cured,” and I’m sure we’ll have setbacks (after this we’re guaranteed to have one tonight), but I’m so happy to see progress.  The extra sleep is helping all of us deal with life more calmly, and it’s so good to finally see her talking about school, even if it’s just a little bit.

Now, I’m going to go knock on wood until I go to bed tonight.

Time for the cheesy “Things I’m Thankful For” post that everyone does.  I’m thankful that…

• Our family is healthy and happy.
• My wife and I are still in love after 11 years of marriage.
• My kids are awesome (despite doing typical annoying things).
• The “teacher situation” got sorted out.
• I’ve got cool friends, both online and in real life.
• I have an awesome workout group (and partner) to support me!
• We’re financially stable, unlike so many these days.

Hopefully you’ve got things to be thankful for too.

Happy Thanksgiving from a Pilgrim Boy and a Fall Fairy!

I heard the following conversation from the bathroom the other night before bedtime:

Matthew (now 3) asked, “Mommy, do you have a vulva?”

Yes I do, because I’m a girl.

“Can I see it?”  (at this point I had to fight back laughter and other “me too” type of comments)

Umm, no sweety.

“Ellie shows me her vulva when we’re in the bath.”

Uh…

“You and Ellie have vulvas.”

That’s right, but let’s not tell other people that.  You can just tell them we’re girls.

With the holidays approaching, the kids are learning about the meaning of Thanksgiving in school.  And by that, I mean they’re coloring handprint turkeys, making little pilgrim vests, and coming home with feathers glued to various body parts and/or clothing.

But yesterday was different.  Ellie’s new teacher – a wonderful Bolivian (?) woman with a beautiful accent – began teaching them the story of the pilgrims.  I know this because when I picked her up Ellie ran up to me and said that “half of the continents (colonists) died, daddy!”

It’s a good thing it was psychologist day.

On the way to the psychologist, Ellie told me the story (for the 4th time) how half of them died.  I pointed out that back then life was hard and that they didn’t have everything we have, like refrigerators and cars.  When she heard that, Ellie rewarded me with the end of the story:

“Yeah, they didn’t have cars so they had to ride around on sheeps called May Flower.  And the sheeps feet were almost to the bottom.  (?)  And after they died there were only 4 women but they couldn’t go to dinner because it was their job to cook it.  And that’s why we celebrate Thanksgiving.”

What a wonderful holiday story.

Edit – I should point out that Ellie was very excited about this story.  Rereading this it doesn’t come across that way, but she was.

This post was originally posted at the Shredheads blog on November 11, 2009 – feel free to comment over there.

We’ve been great friends for a long time now, and you’ve really helped me a lot.  In fact, in some ways you’ve carried me through the most difficult times of my weight loss journey.

Don’t get me wrong, you’re still wonderful, but it’s gotten to the point where you’re all I think about.  In fact, I long for you, often choosing you over who I should and that’s just not right.  So right now I think we need to spend less time together.

After last week’s accidental running out of Diet Mountain Dew, and the resulting caffeine withdrawal, I realized I needed to cut back. WAY back.  I don’t know how much I was drinking before, but it was at least 2 liters a day (probably more).  Don’t bother telling me how bad that is.

So this past week I’ve been making a 2 liter bottle last 3 days (filling in the gaps with water and decaf iced tea), and I’m noticed some big changes.  The strangest is that I’ve started dreaming again.  For a long time I haven’t had (or remembered, at least) ANY dreams.  Nothing.  And for the past few nights I’ve been having and remembering dreams.  I’m not sure exactly what that means, but I figure it’s a sign that I’m headed in the right direction.

Our house is a sty.  Of the pig variety.

I have only myself to blame – after all, it’s my job to keep it clean since I don’t have a Real Job.  But there’s something about cleaning that makes it hard for me to focus.  I’ll start out strong, maybe cleaning toilets.  Suddenly a bird chirps outside and I end up with Alzheimer’s disease.  I wander off aimlessly with no clue what’s going on, only to come to my senses in front of the television some time later with no memories of what has happened.  I’m just lucky that so far I always stay in the house!

This week was our biweekly maids visit.  Of course that required a Serious Cleaning Day…you know the one, where you clean the house so the cleaning people won’t discover the filth in which you live for the other 13 days?

Anyway, I was carrying some clothes upstairs to dump them on the floor hang them in my closet, and I took my shoes with me.  Because I’m all about efficiency, you know…why make two trips?  When I got to our room, I dropped my shoes in the middle of the room…despite being on my way to the closet!  It was okay, though, because they landed in a nice soft pile of dirty socks that I’d left there earlier in the day on my way down to the laundry room.

The great part was that as I stepped back over the shoes and socks to head back downstairs I thought, “Wow, that was really dumb to leave those there.”  And yet there they stayed.

None of this is my fault, though.  I have a Y chromosome, you see…

The situation has been resolved, and I am relieved.

Still…she was a hard worker.  She prepared her lessons well and wanted to see the kids learn.  She has a family.  And from what I can tell, she’s a good person.  A good person who just wasn’t suited for teaching young children.

Of course I had to write The Letter.  I trust my daughter and our gut said we had to do it.  And the school offered the solution – we never demanded anything.  But we still wonder if we made the right decision.

We definitely weren’t expecting the guilt.

That’s right – The Letter is finished, we both signed it, and I’m going to deliver it at the end of the day.  Of course I can’t tell you what it says, but there is no ultimatum…just a documentation of what has happened, our concerns with the “positive nurturing environment” that the school claims it strives for, and our expectation that the school will do the “right thing.”  And we’ll see what happens from here.

Oh, great Flying Spaghetti Monster, we pray for your guidance.  Please deliver us through this stressful time!

Interestingly, today is meatball day at school. I think it’s a sign.

Last night got to a pretty predictable start.  We were trying to get out the door trick or treating, and one or more of  the kids threw a tantrum.  By the time we opened the door to leave, the hordes were beginning to descend upon our village, and despite our best efforts to convince them we weren’t home, the open door and light being turned on may have given us away.  At least we had good candy to give away…none of that crappy non-chocolate stuff!

Anyway, we finally got going and the promise of free candy magically made the tantrums go away!  The story is boring – the kids had a great time, they collected more chocolate than I ever did as a kid (when did everyone stop giving out crappy candy?), and we spent the last hour of the evening at a friend’s house watching the kids have a great time.

And now, with every keystroke, my keyboard is getting chocolatier and chocolatier.

Our Scary Skeleton (thanks to Matthew)

Our Super Heroes

Amazingly, this pose was Sharon's idea!