Getting the Hang of Falling Asleep Alone and Waking Up at 7am

There were a couple of difficult nights between the first night Dexy finally fell asleep by himself and last night when he did it again.  But the Puppy Dream Light coupled with the Rocket Ship Alarm Clock seem to be the perfect combination. Last night, he only stalled a couple of times before sending Daddy out of his room so he could fall asleep alone with his Puppy Dream Light. Dexter also loves to wait until his Rocket Ship Alarm Clock goes off at 7am before he wakes us up (yippee!!!). This morning he needed help going to the bathroom at 6:15 but went back into his room and played quietly until his alarm beeped before insisting that it was time to get up.  He was right! 7am is a civilized hour for waking. 

Belated Birthday Celebration

Every year, Dexter gets a free meal at the Choo Choo Restaurant, where the food is delivered by model train. This year, we were able to get in just under the one-month-from-his-birthday window!

For the first time, we sat at the counter rather than a booth.  Dexter loved feeling like a big boy but the seat killed my back!

He really dug into his cheeseburger when we explained that he would only get a birthday cupcake if he ate his burger (not only his fries!).

 They make a big production of the cupcake delivery - blaring Happy Birthday music and singing and tooting the engine's horn. At the end, everybody clapped (and so did Dexy).

Turns out he couldn't finish his cupcake - but he did manage to eat all of the frosting off of it!

Demolition!

Ian came over today and helped Dexter tear apart that gingerbread train!

It was easier to lift the train car out of the tray than to break it into pieces (that was some good frosting glue!).

Candies were easier to pull off.

With Daddy and Elissa's help holding down the engine, Ian was able to yank off a wheel!

Sweet victory!

Stalling Falling Asleep Alone

Shortly after Dexter transferred to a big boy bed about a year ago, he started to have trouble falling asleep alone in his room. He insisted that Mommy or Daddy stay in the room and "take care" of him. The care-taking involved nothing more than our mere presence until he fell asleep. When Dexter began asking for a Puppy Dream Light I thought this might be the opportunity to transition him to falling asleep by himself. For the past few weeks, when Dexy brought up that he asked Santa for a Puppy Dream Light, Daddy and I would get very excited and say things like, "That will be great when you have a Dream Light! Then you can fall asleep with your Dream Light on and you won't need Mommy or Daddy to stay with you! You'll have your Dream Light to help you fall asleep!"

Last night was the test of whether or not this method would work. Dexter got ready for bed and we set up the Puppy Dream Light that Santa brought him in his room. Dexter was excited to fall asleep all by himself, even telling Mommy and Daddy that we could leave after tucking him in. Within two minutes, he was out of his room saying he was thirsty. We gave him a drink of water and shuffled him back to bed. The scene was repeated about a half a dozen times with various stalling techniques (my favorite of which was, "Daddy, I  have a surprise I want to show you," while scanning the room for something to give to Daddy as a "surprise"). We just kept patient through it all and ushered him back to him bed. The last time, I told him that I believed he could do it and that Mommy and Daddy would be right in the kitchen.  And he did it!  This morning we made a big deal about what a big boy he is and how he should feel very proud of himself. He certainly seemed very proud of himself. We'll see if the magic continues tonight.

One-Tenth of a House

The packaging on the gingerbread house noted that "one serving size = one-tenth of a house".

The three of us wolfed down more than half the house last night.  Mommy probably ate four-tenths all by herself!

It may have been a pain to make but it was a delight to eat!  One of the yummiest gingerbread houses (from a kit) that I've ever eaten.

This Little Piggy Had Roast Beef

For his Christmas dinner. With Daddy's help, Mommy made an awesome Christmas dinner of roast beef, roasted potatoes, roasted brussel sprouts and cauliflower, crescent rolls, and sauteed onions. We popped the Christmas crackers before dinner and wore our Christmas cracker crowns throughout the meal. Dexy wouldn't eat the brussel sprouts and only ate the cauliflower when we told him he had to have a bit before we would give him a second helping of roast beef.

Giving

Dexter made a Christmas book at school. One page lists the things he hopes Santa brings to the important people in his life.  Where the heck was I going to find a tuba for Daddy?!

...On Amazon! When I showed Dexy what I was ordering for Daddy on his behalf, he said, "Yes. A tuba that he can wear on his neck and pretend to play it."






While Christmas shopping, Dexter came up with some more ideas about gifts for his parents. Like motorcycles with a ramp that goes "round and around". 

And a toy train as well as a toy car for Mommy. Dexter didn't bat an eye when I said, "Thank you, Dexter! Mommy is going to keep these in their packages so they don't get VG'ed." And they WOULD get VG'ed in Dexy's hands! Not to worry, I will open them up and play with them "with Dexter."

Unwrapping

It took a while (from 7am - 2:30pm with a break for cinnamon rolls and neighborhood cookie deliveries) but we eventually unwrapped all of our Christmas gifts. There were plenty of gifts to be sure but the length of time was more an indicator of pace than quantity.

 And the pace was dictated not by Dexter's desire to meticulously unwrap each gift without tearing the paper (as was my tendency) - he tore into each gift's wrapping paper with sheer abandon. Dexter's pace was slowed by his desire to play with each gift as it was unwrapped. We managed to override some of those urges but gave into some. Hence the all-day unwrapping extravaganza.

Defrosting

Nothing like some hot chocolate out of Santa's boot 

to warm you up after making deliveries on a cold Christmas morning.

Christmas Deliveries

We took deliveries of homemade Christmas cookies and dog cookies to some of our neighbors this morning.

Dexter got to try out his new scooter on the sidewalk. He's getting the hang of it!

Merry Christmas, My Bologna!

Despite eating all of his cookies, Santa didn't forget My Bologna (and neither did his extended family)!

Christmas Stocking

I couldn't believe how long it took for Dexter to open his stocking.

He wanted to play with each thing that he pulled out.

Christmas Morn

Dexy was delighted to see that Santa had come! Daddy was delighted that Dexter slept until almost 7! Mommy was delighted that Starbucks was open.

Dog Shaming

 While Ben and I were reading the end of "The Night Before Christmas" to Dexter in his room, we heard a racket coming from the living room. When I went to see what was going on I saw that My Bologna had eaten most of the cookies Dexter had so caringly put out for Santa. The reindeer's carrots remained untouched however.

Father Christmas Jammies

After Dexy got into his Christmas pajamas from his Grandparents Fowler, Daddy read Dexter the magic "The Night Before Christmas" book and, sure enough, there was a knock at the door during the reading!  My Bologna went nuts and Dexter jumped off the couch to see what was going on on the front porch.

As long as I remember, we never made it past the first few pages of this book when I was a child - we were all too distracted by the excitement of Father Christmas leaving the family a gift that we all but forgot about the book.

It turns out, Father Christmas had left the family a gift! Dexter was more interested in finishing the book than opening the gift but we eventually got him to turn his attention to the gift by promising to finish reading the book before bed. 

The gift that Father Christmas brought was an exciting game of Tumble! The anticipation...

  The thrill!!!

Santa Calling

Dexter was amazed when Santa called him this afternoon! He reported that he had been a good boy but gave up My Bologna telling Santa, "But My Bologna broke my train track. That's a little bit kind of naughty. But I was still happy."

An Eye for Detail

We ran into Santa at the grocery store today (actually, he was called over to aisle 9 by an eagle eye manager who spotted Dexter)!  Santa came running over to Dexter, exclaiming, "Ho Ho Ho!" and gave Dexter a candy cane.  Santa asked Dexter if he had been a good boy this year, well, mostly a good boy and Dexter replied, "Yes!" Then Santa wished Dexter a Merry Christmas and Dexter wished Santa a Merry Christmas and we all left aisle 9. As we were walking away, I said to Dexter, "How exciting to see Santa in the Jewel!" to which Dexy said, "Yes. But he wasn't the real Santa." When I asked why he wasn't the real Santa, Dexter said, "Because he wasn't wearing any Santa gloves!"

Appropriate Attire

Freezing Swings

After My Bologna's walk this morning, Mommy and Daddy were too cold to play with Dexter on the backyard swing set.  It was 30 degrees out! We both went inside and encouraged Dexter to join us. He refused. He went over to his swing set and climbed onto one of the swings. Dexy could see me watching from the window and kept repeating, "I want to swing, Mommy." Eventually, he stopped griping and started pushing himself off the ground and pumping his legs while Daddy and I watched from the sunroom. Because we weren't there to push him, he finally figured he would put some effort in. That's one way to get him to do it by himself!

We're Calling It a Rich Imagination

"Look, Mommy! It's a 'not on wheels' party!"

"Bug City has some construction going on."  When I asked why the Sears Tower was upside down, Dexter said, "It's not the Sears Tower. It's an X-Ray!"

Gingerbread City

A train, a house, and even some special reindeer food that Dexter made at school.

Faulty Design

We had a near-disaster this morning when Dexter saw that I had built the gingerbread house without him overnight. He was not happy. "But I wanted to build that house!"

I apologized and explained that I had to do it that way because of its faulty design and if we had tried to do it together it would have taken so long that we wouldn't have time to decorate it.

Dexy eventually warmed to the idea of decorating the gingerbread house and he and Daddy had a great time together.

Spreading Christmas Spirit at Starbucks

Dexter and I brought some of our homemade Christmas cookies to our favorite Barista at Starbucks.

Gingerbread Train!

While out looking for a gingerbread house kit, Ben and I found a gingerbread train kit!

This was, by far, the easiest gingerbread kit ever! It came with ready-to-use frosting that really held like glue AND a tray with divets for steadying the train pieces.

This resulted in a lovely experience building and decorating the gingerbread train with Dexy.

Dexter was really proud. He can't wait to have Ian over to eat it after Christmas. "Is it after Christmas now, Mommy?" Funny how eating the gingerbread train with Ian can overshadow a visit from Santa!

Snow Suited

We got about one-quarter of an inch of snow the other night (and none of it stuck on the roads) but since it was the first snow of the season, Dexter was excited to get suited up in his snow pants. My Bologna is always excited to go out in the snow.

Baking Christmas Cookies

Dexter was fascinated by the cookie-baking process: from covering the board with flour, to rolling out the dough, to pressing down evenly on the cookie cutter, to  carefully pulling the extra dough from the cookie shape.

This is such an interesting age - Dexy is absorbed when learning new things but impatient to show off what he has learned. When this happens before he has mastered the new skill he feels very frustrated. Luckily, the cookie baking experience was an enjoyable one for both Dexter and Mommy.