More Time at Home with Peter and Jill

Oh my goodness. I just sat down to write and realized I can't form a coherent thought. I'm too tired. I'm going to try to rally.

For the most part, now that I mostly have Jill and Peter on my own --my mom tags in if she is home and something goes awry-- Jill is being so good and helpful. I think she knows now that I'm all she's got and if I lose control we're all in big trouble. Bryan and I held a discipline pow-wow this weekend deciding which offenses earn time outs, when we give them (never 30 minutes before nap or bedtime), and how the procedure goes. Ever since Jill has been really good. Jill only gets time outs for hitting/kicking, running away when we need to get her dressed or change her diaper, and for doing something dangerous like jumping on the stairs.

It used to be that when we wanted Jill to get dressed and she resisted we'd say, "Come here and get dressed or you're going to get a time out. If I count to three and you don't come, you're getting a time out." Then we would subconsciously adjust our counting rate to make her comply. Of course she totally worked that gray area. Now I say, "OK, you need to get dressed now. I'm going to count to three really fast and if you're not here, you get a time out." I say "One..." and Jill scampers over to me right away. It sounds like a little thing, but with Peter around this extra cooperation is great.

I've done a couple of outings by myself with Jill and Peter. The three of us went to BJs this week and today we went to the Hampton Beach playground. I had Peter in the baby carrier and I held Jill's hand as we walked to the playground. Jill played for about 45 minutes and then we started the walk back to the car. It was almost noon and Jill was starting to get tired and hungry. She stopped walking and held both my hands saying, "Mummy carry you?" It was really sad, but I had to say no because I already had Peter strapped to my chest. She didn't like it, but we counted as we walked back to the car and she did a great job!

So while this week Jill has been a little easier than I expected, Peter is getting tougher. We get a decent night sleep (two 3 hours stretches) about every other night. On the off nights Peter gets fussy from 2:30-4:00AM. Ouch. Hopefully that will improve in the next month or so.

Borrowing from Jill's language, we've been calling Peter "The Big Cute" and "The Big Messy." No need to explain the "cute" moniker, but about the messy... This little guy spits up so much and so often that I can't quite believe it. I changed my clothes three times today before noon. When Peter does spit up Jill looks a little horrified and says, "Oh no! The baby spit out! The baby a big messy!" Jill loves to help burp him though. She climbs on my nursing stool and goes, "Aaawww!" as she pats his back.