Sleeping

I always check on my sleeping kids before I go to sleep myself.  When Ian was a baby I did it because I missed him and also because I was sure he would suffocate if I didn't go in there and readjust his blankets. Now I do it because I love seeing their peaceful, sleeping faces after I have had a few hours' break from my motherhood duties. The stress of our day together has usually drained away by then, and it makes me look forward to waking up the next day and doing it all over again.

I don't usually disturb them when I fix their blankets and turn off the ceiling fan, or so I thought. Joseph often mutters a few words (usually about Ian) and Ian will sometimes open his eyes for a split second. A few months ago I arrived home late at night and decided that I would go straight to bed and skip tucking them in, thinking it wouldn't matter anyway. The next morning Ian wanted to know why I didn't come say goodnight!

For posterity's sake, here are some details about their current sleep habits:

Ian goes to bed at 7 pm and usually sneaks out to prop the door open with his favorite blanket sometime thereafter. Lately he started coming out to ask for a drink/ go to the bathroom/ ask an "important" question (that he often can't even remember). But he knows that if he does it repeatedly we will lock his door (from the outside) until morning. Which he hates. So usually it doesn't have to come to that. 

He knows he can't come out of his room in the morning until the digital clock on his nightstand says 7:00 am. Without fail, he bounds into our room at exactly that time, and is cheery and enthused about the day ahead. Once we set his clock 30 minutes behind to garner a few more minutes of sleep each day -- it was glorious for an entire week, until he noticed the clocks weren't synced and he started coming in when his clock said "6:30 am". 

Helen often wants to eat at 6:30 am, and when I walk past his room I often notice him laying in bed or on the floor, propped up on one arm, with the clock held in the other hand, waiting for 7 am. 

The bunnies usually sleep with him still, but some nights he doesn't even ask for them.

Joseph cannot sleep without his favorite yellow blanket. He won't necessarily ask for it at bedtime and naptime, but without it he'll stay up playing and yelling and singing, and will quickly fall asleep once I bring it in. 

He loves sticking his hand through the "soft holes" he made in the middle, and recently the hole became so large that he can wear the whole thing over his head like a poncho. 

Every morning he asks first thing "Is it morning time? Where are we going?" He will usually also ask where Daddy is. When Daddy is already gone to work Joseph is pretty sad about it.

I just realized that Joseph thinks that naptime occurs at night -- probably because of his blackout curtains. When he awoke after a really short nap, in a really bad mood, I told him to go back to sleep. He kept asking if it was "morning time" (which he always uses in place of "sleeping time") and I kept saying that it wasn't yet morning time. Finally, he insisted I throw open the curtains and show him the stars. When they weren't there he started asking if Daddy had already left for work. The poor kid was really confused. 

Joseph goes to bed at 7 pm (and usually talks until about 7:30 pm) and wakes up around 7:30 am. I don't think he has ever been the first one awake in the family -- it always appears to be the noise our family makes that wakes him up for the day. He doesn't get himself up -- he always waits for someone to come in and get him before he throws a leg over the edge of the crib and climbs out. Most of the time he is "hiding" under his yellow blanket when I come in.

Notice his fingers laced through what looks like Ramen Noodles? His dirty, holey, blanket is really sad-looking. 

We put Helen at the top of a wedge in her crib that we bought when Joseph's reflux was really bad. A lot of the time she'll wiggle herself down the wedge and end up perpendicular to where she started, all while remaining fairly tightly swaddled. She's in that position in this picture, sleeping soundly. 

8 Weeks

Can it be true? Our little Helen has been in the family for two months!

She still has a lot of the hair she was born with (which admittedly, wasn't much). The new growth is strawberry blonde (like the boys' hair was) and the old stuff is dark. She's got nearly nothing on top. And thankfully, the infant acne stage is almost over! And can you tell she's a good eater?!

She makes all sorts of funny faces, and she has been more interactive lately. It feels like she has begun to "wake up" in the last week and she looks at us more often and makes new noises as well. 

Every so often we think she smiles -- we are excited for it to become a regular occurance. She watches the boys play from her bouncy chair and they are constantly stopping what they're doing to adjust the music and bouncing for her. 

(Helen with the blanket and booties my friend Heather knitted for her)

She so rarely fusses that when she got upset during tummy time the other day I stopped and just watched her for a minute and then grabbed the camera-- she just looked adorable! When she does begin to fuss (like when I try to wrangle a too-tight shirt over her pudgy arms) the boys get really concerned and think she is in serious trouble. They hover until she's happy again.

We love that she sleeps so well and is so content when awake. Her naps are getting shorter: between 1 and 2 hours now instead of me waking her up after 3 + hours. She usually wants to go back to sleep after being awake for an hour during the daytime. She always sleeps solidly at night (as in she goes back to sleep immediately after feedings between about 10 pm and 9 am) and she typically sleeps for 4-7 hours stretches, and once even slept for 9! 

We can't believe we are lucky enough to have an infant who sleeps like that! The most amazing part? It's in her own bed! In her own room! For that to happen with a baby less than 6 months old is unheard of for a Larson. And I love it!

And although she prefers to do her sleeping in her bed, with blackout curtains and a white noise machine, I'm glad she's also willing to sleep amid the chaos on the living room floor. The boys' playing tends to gravitate to wherever she is!

***Now, I imagine that this post may leave the impression that Helen is a nearly perfect newborn. And that would be true. I should state however that her brothers are going through less-than-angelic stages currently, and it more than balances out their angel baby sister. Those wild boys are still hilarious and super fun -- but they have spilled/thrown/broken/peed on/cursed at/wailed on/ too many things this week and do not run the risk of being confused with cherubs. ***

Larson Boys

I did something horribly mean (like refuse to give Ian as many fistfuls of jelly beans as he requested) and he declared loudly, "Mom, I am so angry at you! I am even more angry at you than dad is old! Even more than that! Like 32 Angry!"

***
Reading Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain with Daddy. The boys love reciting all the repetitive lines that build up by the end.

***
Ian and Joseph share two imaginary friends. Their names are Boopee and Breston, they are both male, and they were originally dreamed up in Ian's imagination. Boopee is more popular with the boys, though both come up frequently in conversation. When it's time to pull the car into the garage, the boys will often shout "No! This isn't our house! You took us to Boopee's house on accident!"

***

Ian is learning the song "Praise to the Man" for primary and asked what "traitors and tyrants" were. I explained it, and then thought it might also be a good time to explain that sometimes our actions don't have immediate consequences; sometimes people make wrong choices and they won't have a consequence until they get to heaven. But there are always consequences eventually. I felt pretty good about sneaking that life lesson into our conversation. Until...

Later that day Ian was in the backyard of a friends house and was saying unkind things to some of the kids. When they threatened to go tell Ian's mom and dad, Ian replied, "That's okay. I'm not going to have any consequences until I get to heaven and then Heavenly Father will give me my consequences." Nice try. 

***
Bathing Helen always becomes a family affair. The boys love to help.

 ***

Ian is obsessed with the number 30 because that is how old Daddy is. When he sees 30 written on speed limit signs, on pagination in books, on a digital clock or anywhere else, he gets really excited and has to show everyone. Sometimes he'll tell me he found a surprise in a book and cover it up with his hands -- hiding underneath is the number 30. When we sing hymns at church he insists on holding his own hymnal, and he always finds page 30 before "singing the words" to the song.

***

Ian loves when I ask him what time it is. He can read all the numbers accurately now, and sometimes will even say things like "Ten twenty-seven" instead of "ten, two, seven".

***

A few months later now, Ian can always accurately tell me the time on digital clocks. It's really helpful! Except when he does a count-down when we are driving somewhere and running late.

***
Scott built this waterfall contraption, and reaffirmed that he is, indeed, the coolest Daddy ever.

***
When we ask Joseph to fold his arms for a prayer, he folds them but leaves them hovering  a foot apart, with a big grin on his face.

***

Ian can count from 0 to 100 with only a little help. He often forgets that 60 comes after 59, and occasionally at the first number after rolling over to 30, 40 and 50. He also loves asking me which of two numbers is bigger (58 or 72) and this week he has gotten much better at figuring the answer out himself.

***

Ian and Joseph love swim lessons with Ms. Gail, but they usually protest when I tell them it is time to go there. Last week Ian and Joseph told me that they were just going to drive to Ms. Gail's house, run up her stairs to where she keeps her lollipops, steal a lollipop without doing any swim lessons, and drive away. All by themselves. The truth is that they love working with Ms. Gail, and often Joseph will look over at me mid-lesson and declare, "Mom, I'm not done yet", lest I yank him out of the pool prematurely. Right now the boys favorite part of their lessons is kicking across the pool with a noodle and then jumping off the rock wall. Their least favorite is rolling over to float on their backs.

***
Scott BBQ'd this creation for July 4th. He nicknamed it "Four year olds dream breakfast" because Ian would probably serve up something similar every day if given the chance.

***

At swim lessons last week Joseph was asked to swim across the entire width of the pool (about 3xs as far as he'd ever gone before) and to roll over and take several breaths on the way to make it possible. He dove in eager to try it out (and be like his big brother). About the time he needed his first breath he started to do it and then either decided against it or forgot exactly how to do it. And after that he just kept going and going and going until he finally reached the other side of the pool, without having ever taken a breath! After that he flatly refused to jump in the pool and do it again; his instructor pulled him gently into the water and helped him do it again while taking breaths along the way, which he did just fine. He took on a lot of water and threw it all up almost as soon as his lesson was over. Poor little guy! He hasn't regained his carefree, fearless approach after that, and today when she asked him to jump in and do it he fixed his jaw and just stared at her until she brought him down into the water with her, after which he swam across the pool, taking breaths, just fine. He also said "why" when she asked him to do something today! (She replied "Because Ms. Gail said to, Joseph, that's why" and he did it).

***

My Mom and I told the boys we were going to Rudy's BBQ for lunch, but then reneged when Ian started shoving Joseph and Joseph wouldn't stop spitting bubbles and fussing for his binkie. Joseph was the most disappointed but eventually he got over it and went to play on the slip-n-slide.

After naptime Ian suggested we go to Rudy's BBQ for a snack instead, since it hadn't worked out for lunch. When I explained that it's just a lunch and dinner place and we weren't going for a snack, Joseph suggested that we just go to see the dog at Rudy's then. When I told him Rudy's BBQ didn't have dogs there, he replied "Yes they do. It's white and brown. And it's name is Scout." I then realized Joseph had thought we were going to visit his friend Ruby L. who moved to Utah last year, with her brown and white dog Scout. I wish we could go there for lunch too!

***
After stringing Fruit Loops in his nursery class, Joseph didn't stop talking about how fun it was for weeks. He told us all about how his teacher helped him keep them on the string, and how she helped him count the cereal. When we did it ourselves it was cute to see how Joseph "owned" the activity and explained to everyone how to do it.

***
The day I got home from the hospital Joseph stared at my stomach and asked why there was still a baby in there. When I told him there wasn't, he asked why there was a ball in there then. I explained that when Helen was born, she left a little bit of food in there that she hadn't eaten before she was born.

A week or so later, Ian said "Mom, your stomach is flat now" (a statement that was very generous) and Joseph then responded, "Yeah, that's because Helen drank all her food out in the milk."

***

A gigantic wasp (with shiny cobalt blue wings!) flew around the kitchen during snack time and caused all sorts of panic. I finally killed it and flushed it down the toilet. A few days later another wasp visited during lunch. Joseph insisted it was the same wasp, and that it had swam back up into the toilet from the depths of the sewer system. Joseph is potty training and I didn't want him to be afraid of things flying out of the toilet, so I drove home the fact that the wasp was DEAD DEAD DEAD and was not coming back. This wasp was a new one, maybe a brother wasp or something. To this Joseph said: "Yeah, I think that the wasp was dead and it went up to heaven. And then it was resurrection time, so it came back down to earth in the toilet and was alive again. And now it's in the window blinds again. It really is the same one."
***
Ian was holding Helen during sacrament meeting yesterday and announced "Helen has 11 fingers!"
I said "No. Count again Ian."
A few seconds later Ian announced, more loudly this time "You're right! Helen has twelve fingers!"

***
 Ian is a bit girl-crazy and forges friendships with older little girls wherever we go. A cute little girl wrote into the Friend magazine and Ian took a shining to her picture. Her name is Sabrina and she's a 7 year old from Arizona, and somehow Ian crossed her name and age and has been referring to her as Seveenis. She's become something of an imaginary friend, though he doesn't pretend she's present. He is constantly pretending to fly/drive/live in Arizona, but he never quite makes it to her house. He's frustrated that we don't have her address or phone number. He recently said that he wishes they published addresses in the Friend, so that he could drop by and surprise her at her house. Whenever we meet someone who is seven years old, he'll exclaim "Mom! They are seven! Like Seveenis!"
***
Why some baby equipment didn't last through three children. The motor on the swing is broken, and the bouncy seat is stretched out so poor Helen slouches badly in it.

***
Ian recently tried an unusual pick-up-line on a 15 year old girl at the pool the other day.
Ian swims up to the girl and says: "Hey, do you know about the gospel?"
Girl: "No."
Ian: "Oh. I do."
He then tried to go grab his size 10 shoes to show her -- he takes a strange amount of pride in the fact that they are size 10. I am sure she would have been impressed.
***
I was explaining "imagination" to Ian by telling him to close his eyes and "see" a purple fish with green spots and an elephant trunk. But when he said he couldn't "see" it, I saw that my illustration of imagination didn't work. "That's okay Ian, your imagination is still growing," I said.
A few minutes later I overheard Ian explaining to Joseph, "You don't have an imagination yet Joseph, so you'll just have to pretend."
***

6 Weeks

Life with three kids is great (though BUSY!) and I feel like there are a hundred details about the last six weeks that I want to share. Only, I keep forgetting things as quickly as they happen and when I open our blog my mind goes blank. Sleep deprivation perhaps? 

Helen continues to be sweet and mellow and content to sleep most of the day, and for a couple long stretches at night. She rolled from her tummy to her back several times last week, but hasn't done it since. We are eagerly awaiting her first smile. She seems to recognize her name, and her eyes will flutter open when Scott says it. Her thighs seem to grow before our eyes, and her chubby cheeks now rest on her shoulders. She sleeps with an incline wedge, which seems to prevent reflux problems. (Thanks goodness it isn't any worse!) She likes to be swaddled when she needs to relax and go to sleep. 

When she's been awake for a while and I think she's starting to get sleepy, I swaddle her and lay her down in her crib and turn on the ceiling fan and white noise machine. She'll lay there contently until she falls asleep. Last night I peeked in on her 20 minutes later, and she was still awake! She was just laying there like a little caterpillar, all tightly swaddled with her round little head sticking out, and calm eyes watching the fan. A few minutes later she was asleep. The way she soothes herself to sleep without making a sound is incredible. She's an angel, isn't she?

I'll be back later with details (and video) of Ian and Joseph's recent swim test. They passed with flying colors and were as proud of their accomplishment as Scott and I were. I am sure Helen will be relieved to say goodbye to sweaty mornings poolside when swim lessons end later this week. I will be too!

I am impressed by how she can make even a damp onesie look cute!