Last night I attempted to put The Boy in his crib while he was still awake. He protested. And I let him. For WAY longer than either Musical Daddy or I would normally tolerate.
It just wasn't worth it and he still ended up in our bed last night from bedtime to wake time.
Tonight I decided that I'd actually do it right and do bedtime-things, in keeping with the whole concept of a bedtime routine. 8:00 was a bath and teeth-brushing, followed by a book and a long nursing in the living room. Then we read a short book and a few poems out of a poetry book. I put on his favorite album and put him in the crib. Again, he protested.
A lot.
But I was prepared--I brought the computer in (can't exactly read a book in the dark) and sat with him, occasionally holding his hand. He didn't scream the whole time--sometimes he just sulked, and other times he pressed the button on his aquarium soother which, unfortunately, is rather low on batteries. But it did start the music and the fish display, which transfixed him for awhile.
All told, it took close to forty-five minutes to get him from the initial crib entry to asleep. And at the end I picked him up, put him down on his back, and he was holding my arm for awhile. He actually fell asleep without his thumb in his mouth either.
Hopefully we can make this 8:30 in bed thing a habit for The Boy. Preferably without all the screaming because I just can't take it. But, here are Musical Daddy's posts from June when we initially got The Boy back into the crib. You know, before the whole cancer thing. It's so strange, and it seems like ages ago, that our biggest concern in life was getting our son to sleep in his own crib and then sleep through the night reasonably. Not to mention rather haunting, because after the first night was when we discovered the tumor.
Day 1
Day 2
I don't think that either Musical Daddy or I do such a great job with our own sleep habits. Sometimes it can't be helped--if my stomach bothers me, which it used to do a lot more often than it does now, I can't sleep. More specifically, I can't lie down, so the easy chair is really the spot for me. Sometimes we just do dumb stuff like staying up too late. Sometimes we really have too much stuff to do and can't go to bed until it's done. I'm hoping that with The Boy having some sort of bedtime routine, I'll be able to a better job for myself of calming down before bed and, more importantly, going to bed earlier because I'll have to get up earlier in order to get The Boy ready to leave with Musical Daddy. Last schoolyear, all I had to do was get myself ready and the boys would usually go right back to sleep!
Anyhow, since I forgot to hit the "post" button, I can now say that it's been 45 minutes, the iPod is almost done with the Max Q albums, and The Boy is still sleeping.
Showing posts with label toys. Show all posts
Showing posts with label toys. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Play Value (from last week)
Don't know why I never finished this one (I started it last week), but I think I know where I was going to go with it.
Last week The Boy got a present from the wonderful people at the treatment center--a new truck! I thought that it was rather nice that when they got a bunch of toys donated for all the kids at the center, they thought of our boy when they saw this one.
Last week he also received a wooden puzzle toy from Aunt M. This is a triangular board with 3 pieces cut out--a plane, a train, and an automobile. Can't find a picture easily so you'll just have to use your imagination.
Looking around the room (today, now), I see a hodgepodge of The Boy's toys and it's so interesting what he plays with and how much use he gets out of the items in his collection.
He has three different walk-behind toys like the one that I mentioned above (one isn't opened yet and we will probably save it for later). They help little ones learn to walk. Does he ever use these toys to push around and practice walking? Yes, but it's not his idea. He much prefers his table or his chair (a hand-me-down from Aunt L.--2 gorgeous child-size upholstered chairs) to push across the floor. The walk-behind toys have other parts to play with; buttons to press and little gears to spin.
He LOVES his Mega-Bloks, which are giant-sized Legos (bigger than Duplo), that Musical Daddy got at a yard sale for $2. He can't build so much yet although he is just learning to take things apart. He likes to hold two pieces and bang them together or crawl around the house with one block in his hand. That way, you know he's coming.
In the bathtub (we still use this on the countertop, by the way), he has stacking cups. He loves these too. He bangs them together and throws them from the tub into the sink. Sometimes he misses and throws them on the floor. With or without water.
Since he loves the stacking cups, I picked up a package of 8 small plastic tumblers from The Dollar Tree. Another success. We played with these together--I built little towers and he would take cups from the tower and wonder why the cups kept appearing, stacked. I also showed him how to knock the towers down. These cups are all over the house; that's a measure of play value.
Think about this, when you buy toys for children--what are they going to do with the toys? What are all of the possibilities (think "outside the box" here)? If the toy is supposed to be for a certain age group, is it for developmental or safety reasons? Certainly The Boy was too young to build anything with the Mega Bloks when Musical Daddy purchased them, but because we could see that they were not unsafe for him, we let him play with the blocks and he discovered his own games.
Last week The Boy got a present from the wonderful people at the treatment center--a new truck! I thought that it was rather nice that when they got a bunch of toys donated for all the kids at the center, they thought of our boy when they saw this one.
Last week he also received a wooden puzzle toy from Aunt M. This is a triangular board with 3 pieces cut out--a plane, a train, and an automobile. Can't find a picture easily so you'll just have to use your imagination.
Looking around the room (today, now), I see a hodgepodge of The Boy's toys and it's so interesting what he plays with and how much use he gets out of the items in his collection.
He has three different walk-behind toys like the one that I mentioned above (one isn't opened yet and we will probably save it for later). They help little ones learn to walk. Does he ever use these toys to push around and practice walking? Yes, but it's not his idea. He much prefers his table or his chair (a hand-me-down from Aunt L.--2 gorgeous child-size upholstered chairs) to push across the floor. The walk-behind toys have other parts to play with; buttons to press and little gears to spin.
He LOVES his Mega-Bloks, which are giant-sized Legos (bigger than Duplo), that Musical Daddy got at a yard sale for $2. He can't build so much yet although he is just learning to take things apart. He likes to hold two pieces and bang them together or crawl around the house with one block in his hand. That way, you know he's coming.
In the bathtub (we still use this on the countertop, by the way), he has stacking cups. He loves these too. He bangs them together and throws them from the tub into the sink. Sometimes he misses and throws them on the floor. With or without water.
Since he loves the stacking cups, I picked up a package of 8 small plastic tumblers from The Dollar Tree. Another success. We played with these together--I built little towers and he would take cups from the tower and wonder why the cups kept appearing, stacked. I also showed him how to knock the towers down. These cups are all over the house; that's a measure of play value.
Think about this, when you buy toys for children--what are they going to do with the toys? What are all of the possibilities (think "outside the box" here)? If the toy is supposed to be for a certain age group, is it for developmental or safety reasons? Certainly The Boy was too young to build anything with the Mega Bloks when Musical Daddy purchased them, but because we could see that they were not unsafe for him, we let him play with the blocks and he discovered his own games.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Free Energy!
It's not like there's this big ball up in the sky, beaming down free energy for everyone...
If anyone remembers where that quote comes from, if it is, in fact, a quote from somewhere else and not just the sharp wit of The Musical Daddy, let me know.
It's great weather to line-dry diapers! But then, every day when it's not raining or freezing is a great day to line-dry diapers. It's good for getting rid of any stains and odors (geez I sound like a commercial for The Sun).
While hanging up diapers this morning and while taking them down this evening, The Boy played with his little boat toy. I can't imagine that this big clunky thing was meant for water play. Musical Daddy got it at a yard sale so, of course, the price was right. I'd post a link but it looks like a pretty old toy that they aren't making anymore.
If anyone remembers where that quote comes from, if it is, in fact, a quote from somewhere else and not just the sharp wit of The Musical Daddy, let me know.
It's great weather to line-dry diapers! But then, every day when it's not raining or freezing is a great day to line-dry diapers. It's good for getting rid of any stains and odors (geez I sound like a commercial for The Sun).
While hanging up diapers this morning and while taking them down this evening, The Boy played with his little boat toy. I can't imagine that this big clunky thing was meant for water play. Musical Daddy got it at a yard sale so, of course, the price was right. I'd post a link but it looks like a pretty old toy that they aren't making anymore.
They just don't make 'em like they used to...
I was noticing today, while washing the frying pan in which I cook eggs, that my frying pan really looks crappy. We've really only had this frying pan since we moved into this house, and that was less than four years ago. How many of you can remember pieces of equipment that have just lasted for decades? From the big stuff to the small stuff, nothing is really built to last.
Like our dishwasher, which threw a hissy fit only a few weeks after the warranty ran out. The dishwasher that had been in the kitchen when we moved in was probably older than I am.
Many of the toys look cheaper too. Just looking at some of the plastic parts, they just don't seem sturdy like some of the toys that we had. Or maybe that's my perspective having changed, since everything looks big when you're small and everything looks small when you're big.
I've had a sore back all day, so I've been trying to take it easy. Except, of course, for going to the grocery store. I saved 35¢ by using my own shopping bags instead of the plastic ones. It used to be that you'd get 2¢; now you get 5 for each bag! Good deal. New Jersey is phasing out plastic shopping bags entirely, under new legislation, so I'd imagine that encouraging consumers to use their own or at least reuse the ones that they have (still gets you that 2¢) is a good idea.
Fortunately, The Boy had mercy on me and we napped together for about 2 hours this afternoon, and I did feel somewhat better. We went to the bank and then to get Musical Daddy's glasses fixed. I was considering a trip to the playground but neither The Boy nor I were in any mood to spend more time in the heat.
Like our dishwasher, which threw a hissy fit only a few weeks after the warranty ran out. The dishwasher that had been in the kitchen when we moved in was probably older than I am.
Many of the toys look cheaper too. Just looking at some of the plastic parts, they just don't seem sturdy like some of the toys that we had. Or maybe that's my perspective having changed, since everything looks big when you're small and everything looks small when you're big.
I've had a sore back all day, so I've been trying to take it easy. Except, of course, for going to the grocery store. I saved 35¢ by using my own shopping bags instead of the plastic ones. It used to be that you'd get 2¢; now you get 5 for each bag! Good deal. New Jersey is phasing out plastic shopping bags entirely, under new legislation, so I'd imagine that encouraging consumers to use their own or at least reuse the ones that they have (still gets you that 2¢) is a good idea.
Fortunately, The Boy had mercy on me and we napped together for about 2 hours this afternoon, and I did feel somewhat better. We went to the bank and then to get Musical Daddy's glasses fixed. I was considering a trip to the playground but neither The Boy nor I were in any mood to spend more time in the heat.
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