Now - on with the show!
What's missing from this picture?
Lots of things have been going on lately in the BSer world, but I'm going to start with the life changing event.
We pulled the plug.
Or more accurately, we pulled the pacifiers from Marcus and Alya. (Those of you who follow us on Facebook most likely already know this.)
It has been about two full weeks plug free and the two children handled it quite differently.
The first thing that happened was on a Friday, Sasha had the kids pack the plugs up in a box to "Send to the children that needed them." Drove to the post office, and mailed it off.
Gone baby, gone.
Then Sasha took them to Toys R' Us and bought them a bicycle (Alya) and tricycle (Marcus) for doing such a good deed. Bribery works, right?
At nap time, Marcus went down with not too much of a fight.
Alya screamed bloody murder.
Sasha called me on the phone to share the joys of my daughter's plight. It was not pretty to hear.
Eventually, Alya asked for her woobie, a blanket, milk, and to be put in her car seat. There she managed to calm herself down. Although she had woken Marcus up and eventually it was a long car ride for both kids, and Momma, to get to an even keel.
That was 14 days ago.
The dust has settled for the most part. The biggest problem right now is that both kids have lost their primary means of settling down for sleep. Alya has rolled with it for the most part. Fine at daycare, but at home she now falls asleep in our bed and then gets carried into her own.
I think we kind of "broke" Marcus.
That boy used fall asleep at night so fast your head would spin. Two stories, maybe four, and then a little rocking and he could be laid down with his eyes open. Then he would be sawing logs like a the little man he is.
Post-plug-pull Marcus does not like to lay down in his bed. He doesn't even like rocking in his room. Currently, the only solution we have is to read stories in his room, then bring him out to the main room to rock in the recliner for 10-15 minutes. Our easy sleeping boy no longer owns that name.
In hindsight, we probably could have had Alya drop the plug and let Marcus keep it for a few more months. He was kind of moving away from it anyway. Instead, we pulled the plug, took a side off of his crib, and had him change rooms at daycare within a week's span.
So it's been rough, but the benefit is wonderful.
Plugs discourage kids from talking, and can inhibit some speech growth. Now both of them talk a heck of a lot more, and are telling stories and really using their voice.
Music to Sasha's and my ears.
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I've got a whole bunch of things to talk about, but I'll leave you with this for now.
I finally figured out why I can eat at Qdoba (fast food-ish burritos) so much. Quick access to rice and beans. My Grandma Celia used to make rice and beans back in the day and I loved it. I could fill and entire plate with rice, cover that with beans, mix it all together and nearly eat the whole thing. A perfect "comfort" food.
Qdoba gives me that base of rice and beans, which doesn't taste as good as my Grandma's, but I enjoy the flavor all the same. It's probably a good thing the kids aren't fond of "burritos" right now. We'd probably go out to eat every "Daddy night".
Although, my track record really isn't that good at this point anyway....
Be seeing you,
Jon
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