Turbo on Shuffle

Tonight was a rare occasion where all four of us had dinner together. The reason this rarely occurs in our house is because our darling Smiley goes to bed super early. Jealous.

But tonight we tried something different and so I ate my meal with a high-chaired Smiley on my left and a sitting-on-his-knees Turbo to my right.

Nothing noteworthy until Smiley started getting a little overtired. She began to giggle every time I turned to look at her. So I did the most natural thing and kept doing it. I made a dramatic, in-your-face turn in her direction and she squealed with delight.

Turbo, not to be excluded, caught on to the fun and started leaning over me to get as close to her as possible. He'd lean over and say a single word and she would laugh.

This 'single word' I mention? It wasn't one particular word repeated with each lean-over, but rather it was a different word with each turn and appeared to be whatever word leapt to Turbo's mind. He'd pause a moment in between words to see what would come to him.

The first word: "Snowman!"
Smiley giggled.

Next word: "Water!"
Smiley giggled again (I wish I'd caught this on camera, but there are some moments that are better left as is, uninterrupted).

Other words that made the cut: Jakey (friend from school), milk, Thomas (the train), Logan (another friend from school).

Then Turbo said, "Shaun the Sheep!"
This time when Smiley laughed, Turbo observed, "She likes Shaun the Sheep."

Huh. I had no idea that one way to gauge someone's interest in a television show was to shout the name of the show in their face as loudly as you can.

Cheers!

Magnum PI!

So... do you like those shows? Are you laughing?

So Busted

Turbo and Smiley each require different methods for falling asleep at night.

Smiley is tired at 6 PM, and so when I bring her, all jammied-up, to their room at night, she all but dives into her crib and snuggles in for a long night of, usually, uninterrupted sleep. I barely get to snuggle with her. (A-hem, except for last night, when I gave up trying to get her back to sleep and brought her into our bed around 11:30 PM).

Turbo, on the other hand, has always wanted to sleep next to me. I guess I should be flattered, and I've mostly loved it. He gets into bed around 8:30 PM, and while we've had some success off and on for him to fall asleep on his own, it really seems to work better if one of us in snuggled in his bed with him.

Turbo is 3 years old now. It took a very, very, very, very long time for this kid to sleep on his own through the night. And it took an even longer time (forever +1?) for him to be able to fall asleep quickly.

But we're there. And I'm grateful.

I think I've mentioned it before that I sometimes tell little fibs to Turbo, finding an excuse to exit his warm, snuggly bed before he's completely asleep, and then he graciously falls asleep on his own without my help. I love those nights, as I am able to leave his room before I get all bleary-eyed myself and can't do anything for my "me time" except to fall face first into my own bed.

Last week, I thought I'd pulled it off again. Not so fast, mom. Here is the replay:

[in Turbo's bed]
Me: "I forgot to brush my teeth. I'll be right back."

Turbo: "And then you'll come and sleep in my bed?"

Me: "Uh-huh." And I exit, feeling confident and sure of myself.

Ten minutes later, I'm in front of my computer, browsing Facebook or window-shopping online, when I catch a glimpse of Turbo out of the corner of my eye, coming at me, rubbing his eyes.

"Mom, it's wake up time?"

Erm, um, quickly scramble for an excuse and get back into bed with him.

Stealth Underwear

Last week Turbo had an urge to hide all his underwear from his little sister.

He exited the bathroom at a run, hands full of his underwear and found a fabulous hiding spot... in our hallway.

"Mom," he whispered to me, conspiratorially, "This is the secret spot so Smiley won't get them."

Super secret hiding spot

Setting an Alarm

Even though my darling Smiley gets up before my alarm on most days, I still set the alarm M-F just in case we luck out and have a rare moment of her sleeping a bit longer. It's a tall order, for one who goes to bed by 6:30 PM each night. But a mama can hope, can't she?

I have to stay, I still get a thrill out of not setting my alarm on weekends.

There is something so delicious and full of hope on a Friday or Saturday night, that my kids might sleep in on a weekend morning.

Doesn't happen, but I still have that little moment of hope each Friday and Saturday night.

Am I what you call a glass-is-half-full kind of gal?