the gold inferno

i'm too tired to post anything of substance lately...

maybe if he had thrown the sweatshirt on the show...he would have made it to vegas.

there's always next year gi...

*secret art saturday*

ACEO 2007

sleep

we are on the "cry-it-out" train i suppose. recently, miller has taken to not going to sleep for an hour or more...even with mommy laying there with him.

can we say aggravating!

i had it the other night and just left is room...while he was awake...

unfortunately, his door does not latch all the way and so he can come out, even though he does not know how to turn door knobs yet...

but i was happy to let him cry in the hallway.

f@*k it!

but husband said "i'll take care of this" and did the whole supernanny back in bed deal every time miller got up. it took about 10 minutes of getting up and crying and then to my shock...he fell asleep...alone!

sunday night...i nursed him and gave him cuddles and when he was done i turned on the video monitor and left...i couldn't even get to the door and he was right behind me.

husband came into the hallway and said "miller go back to bed please"...he closed the door and got in his bed. he got up a few times and all husband had to do was say "go back to bed" and he would close the door and usher himself back to bed.

wha?

this took about 5 minutes.

last night...same deal. he was pretty tired due to an early nap and was practically asleep after nursing one side...i eased out of the bed and he immediately sat up...i laid him back down and patted his back for a minute. got up to turn on the video monitor and he sat up balling...real pitiful like.

i laid him down with his "super fox" covered him up and kissed him good night...

and left...

he laid there crying a minute, got up but then got back in bed...

got up a few minutes later and hubby told him to go back...and he did.

he laid there looking at his fox and talking to it for a minute...then

went to sleep!!!!!

he woke around 10, sat up a few times

and went back to sleep!!!!

now, the trade off is he has been coming and getting into our bed early...like around 11 or 1130...but i figure this is an adjustment and when he is settled into it he will likely go back to sleeping longer alone.

this is all great...but i feel guilty. being an ap means no cry-it-out right? am i doing something damaging? he looks so sad when i leave...it makes me feel pretty terrible, but we are on a good roll and i would really like for him to learn to go to sleep alone.

lots of kids are made to cry-it-out worse than this and they seem pretty normal...and in the past he would persist when we tried anything like this...now i feel like maybe he is ready for it and that is why he is taking to it so easily.

of course we will see what happens friday night when mommy has to take over while daddy is gone...ugh!

first utah...now this?

its like when johnny cash and warren zevon died right behind each other...sheesh!

george carlin

spirited kids...or just plain bad?

does anyone else have one?

i denied having one for well over a year...reading all the descriptions and still saying miller wasn't "spirited"...'cause that would mean i have even more work ahead of me than i thought.

but, he is.

everything is always on 10...when he is happy he laughs and beams and jumps and yells. when he is sad (even over the tiniest thing) he acts as though you broke his heart...when he is mad...oh boy! kicking, crying...sometimes hitting...ugh.

what do you do?

i am used to it to a degree i guess because it doesn't bother me as much anymore...but hubby is a different story. he is easily embarrassed by things i don't even think about or that i just consider typical 2-year-old behavior.

i will admit...miller is a terrible listener. he ignores most of what you say if it is something he does not want to hear or do...and i know he hears me.

he goes through very frustrating bouts of hitting...not so much us anymore, but other kids.

we went to a get together with him this weekend and after leaving husband says that he thinks miller appears to be an ill-mannered child.

~sniff~

i mean maybe to folks who don't know him, or have kids, or maybe compared to other toddlers...but in reality i don't think he is ill-mannered. i think he is active...okay, maybe the listening part is a problem. i think i give him too many chances before just taking control of the situation. husband and i discussed this and plan on being more consistent with 1 warning before...whatever...making him come inside, taking a toy away, having a time out.

i wonder though...am i in denial? it made me a little sad to think that someone may find miller to be a "bad" child. i feel like i try to be pretty honest with myself about his behavior and our discipline...i don't want to have a disrespectful rug rat running around...god knows there are enough of those.

i just don't know...

weight loss progress

well, after my first "official" week of my weight loss attempts i can report a 1.6 lb loss. not earth shaking, but respectable...especially considering i didn't exactly as i should. i expect this week will be better....since i am more dedicated to seeing a decent result and i have done some attitude adjusting.

of course i totally blew it at s&j's carnitas party last night...but i have a week to make it up!

...i was working on a cute line graph for you all, but it only has one point so far...so i guess i'll wait...

*secret art saturday*