Big Boy Bed

Little Bit's "big boy" bed arrived at the end of last week. We got an awesome bedset from RoomsToGo. Ours doesn't have the desk on the end, but is otherwise like the picture. It's like having a clubhouse indoors. Little Bit kept saying, "Come see my new bed!" several times a day. He wants to sleep on the top bunk, but we have made it clear that he can only play there during the day; when he's older, he can sleep up there. He loves climbing up the steps and throwing himself down on the bed.
For now, he has to sleep on the bed on the floor. Over the weekend I showed him how to hang a blanket from the top bunk to make a tent. Little Bit thought that was the coolest thing ever!
"Come on, Mommy! Come inside the tent!....This is fun!"

Now that he has his big boy bed, we've begun the transition to him sleeping in his room in his bed by himself. While it's been awesome having a snuggly little boy snoring quietly with us many nights, he also can be a flopper. Somehow he'll end up with his feet on his dad and his head on me. Or he'll be completely flipped with his head at the foot of the bed. He sometimes cries out or talks in his sleep if he's having a dream.

Little Bit loves his new bed so much that he'll excitedly run to his room when it's bedtime. When I go to bed, I sleep next to him for now. I tried just going back to my bed, but he toddled into our room in the middle of the night. The next day it took some convincing to get him to go to his own bed, even when I reassured him that I would sleep next to him. I think he got scared when he woke up by himself and then had to walk through the shadowy house to find me.

Next, I may sleep on the floor of his room, all the while during the day talking up him sleeping in his room by himself, and that mommy and daddy will be just in the next room.

He's at the age where he talks about monsters - more in an abstract way and possibly feeling the idea out. He'll make up stories or pretend play. "Mommy!! There's a monster! I'll hit it!!" Sometimes he hits the monster or dinosaur; sometimes the dinosaur goes stomp!stomp!stomp! through our house. I have been telling him that no monsters are actually allowed in our house.

Happy Birthday, Little Bit!

Who knew three years ago such a small being could hold my heart so tightly? Your birth wasn't the way I "planned" it, but that was just the first parenthood lesson in being flexible. When your father placed you on my chest, wailing and red-faced, I said in wonder, "Hi, there, little one..." You stopped crying and just looked at me. You looked into my heart with those big blue eyes. You knew my voice; you knew me.

Now I look at your long legs, and they are already longer than your whole body was when you were born. I look at your hands which still seem small, but you are learning to build things and draw things and throw things (you've got a rocket arm). You keep us on our toes. You surprise us with your sly humor and your thoughtful sharing. We weather the storms of toddler hood together. Through it all, I'm so glad to be your mother.

You say it's your birthday

Life has exploded again, so I haven't had a chance to post or read blogs lately...Little Bit's birthday party on May 26th was a great success. We had about 22 adults and a few toddlers running around. It was loud and hectic and fun and tiring and awesome.

Lil Bit got all sorts of great toys -- a bouncy/hopper ball with a horse cover, a large AquaDoodle pad for drawing, a toy firetruck which has a working siren, cool new books, a toy submarine for the bath, bath paints, etc. The most popular gift to buy was apparently a bubble blower lawnmower; he got two! and he'd already been given one last year, too! So, we took two back and kept the third one that he's already been using.

Of course, there was lots of good food and cake to eat.
Nom-nom-nom.

Updated to add: Our niece put up this funny video from the birthday party of Little Bit and his cousin Bethany and their Mexican standoff. In the video, you also get to see Lil Bit's new red tricyle!! He loves it. No video of the hair-pulling (by Lil Bit) and the pushing (by Bethany); maybe that's just as well. No evidence for court. ;-) It's kind of funny watching the two of them try to work things out. Watch for the part in the video where Lil Bit is telling his dad about the floor hurting him when he fell off the trike, and then Lil Bit saying, "No, no, no!" to the floor.

Birthdays, books, and bouncy what?

May is one of our busiest months. There is our wedding anniversary, Mother's Day, my birthday, and Little Bit's birthday to celebrate. We didn't get a babysitter for our anniversary, but got one for a few days after my birthday for our big celebration date. DH and I saw a movie (at the movie theater!), had dinner, and even browsed a bookstore. It was great. Little Bit got to run his little legs off. Two teenage girls, our babysitter and her friend, have enough energy to *almost* keep up with a toddler.

I love to wander around the bookstore with a cup of some sort of coffee flavored, creamy, sugary goodness. Sometimes I buy books. Other times I just window shop. I used to do it a lot after work, BC (before child). I had wanted to go bookstore browsing on Mother's Day, but it didn't work out. It's so nice to just be. To not have to be constantly watching where LB is and what he's gotten his hands on. Buying something for me isn't bad either.

At the beginning of May, Little Bit's daycare teachers had the class plant and then water seeds for several weeks. On Mother's Day weekend, they sent each child's sprouted plant home in its Styrofoam cup, decorated with stickers and crayons scribbles. It was my first 'flowers' from my baby boy. They are sitting on the back porch where I can see them everyday.

We are celebrating Little Bit's birthday with a party at our house - just snacks and cake, nothing fancy. It allows us to also have friends over for that housewarming party we never had last fall. Hopefully we won't have any accidents from little ones or adults tripping over the piles of still packed moving boxes.

Maybe one day we'll do a big birthday party for Little Bit, complete with water slide and a bouncy house. We saw one of those parties at a public park during our Hawaii vacation. I was really wishing they had an adult size water slide, and that I was brave enough to crash the party.

Speaking of bouncing, I noticed that most of my google hits have been for my post about boobs. I had to laugh at that. So, here ya go, it's time to draw in some more hits. :-)

I may have given Little Bit life, but he gave me boobs. For which I am very grateful. Not only is breastfeeding good for his health and mine, it's a natural breast enhancer. How cool is that?