Meet Pickles.

I mentioned in my previous post – and probably a few others as well since we converted the cribs – that my boys are not only able to get out of bed now but frequently do before they settle in for the night. 

The wooden dinosaurs ("DINE-SOARS!") above were the very first things they went for given the opportunity. And despite many soft cuddly toys readily at their disposal – toys I would venture to say they think of fondly and with affection – these are the first toys they've taken an interest in naming*.

And just so you know, Pickles and Pickles also happen to be "best friends"**.

I have no idea where they come up with these things***.

- L.

*The teddies that they've had forever are called "Teddy". The new teddies they received as a gift for their birthday (the ones that are super soft and are a big hit with Seth especially) are called "Soft Teddy". Sock Monkey is known as "Sock Monkey". Granted, these are all names of one sort or another – but "Pickles" is definitely the stand-out here.

**Teddy and Teddy, Soft Teddy and Soft Teddy, and Sock Monkey and Sock Monkey are also all "best friends".

***Really, I just don't know. The last time the boys ate pickles was early September. They weren't a huge hit so I haven't served them since, nor have I had any myself. I kind of forgot about the pickles in the fridge to be honest. There is a pickle in The Very Hungry Caterpillar book so I'm guessing that's where this came from since we read that book within a week of the "Pickles twins" (fraternal obviously) first significant appearance on the scene.

PS. Despite their un-cuddly aspects, Pickles and Pickles have been cuddled to sleep to no end. They are a bed-time essential at this point.

Poltergeists In The Nursery*

We have them.

If you're seen the movie Poltergeist, then you'll understand my reference to the moving chairs scene.

If not, here's everything you need to know:

– Mom surveys her relatively normal looking kitchen. 

– Mom turns her back for less than 10 seconds to get some "Mom work" done.

– Mom turns around to discover poltergeist handiwork. There is appropriate shock and horror plus dramatic sound effects. 

• • • • • • •

Of course, that's the Hollywood version circa 1982. Still, my expression when I discovered our poltergeists was eerily similar to that last shot. I think the only thing missing really was the creepy music.

It's been an interesting week since we converted the cribs. If you asked my boys they would tell you that the new beds are the best thing EVER. They were so excited about their new beds that we missed out on some serious sleep for the first 2 or 3 days (an even later bedtime than usual coupled with an early wake-up + no naps) and when they were up during the day all they wanted to do was hang out in their new beds (in a non-restful way) and drag all their toys in there and such.

If you asked me I would tell you that despite the lack of sleep it's been so much fun seeing my boys having so much fun enjoying their new beds it made the rest of it (less sleep, nods at suppertime, a bit of crankypants) tolerable – and a week later things have returned to a state of near normalcy.

Or a new normal at least.

Because obviously they can get out of bed now at will.

And they do.

And do and do and do.

Stern Mommy™ has had to make a few appearances this week. I don't care much for Stern Mommy™, but I have toddlers now and the reality is that her attendance is required here and there so as not to raise complete hooligans, so I'm on it.

Of course when the poltergeists showed up, Stern Mommy™ was nowhere to be found. Mostly because I was busy looking like Poltergeist movie Mommy – at least before I grabbed my camera and took pictures and had a laugh instead of being stern about it all. Bad form, I know.

Before I present the poltergeists, I should say that the boys have gotten a lot more "stealth" about getting out of bed since those first few nights when they gave themselves away time and again by announcing (loudly) what they were up to.

I should also say that the night I discovered we in fact have poltergeists was an especially exhausting evening. I'd been in and out of the nursery on average every 2 minutes or so putting someone back into their bed, reminding someone that "the toys are sleeping now so we need to leave them alone", and generally picking toddlers off the ceiling.

45 minutes in and I decided – come what may – that I was going to sit down for 5 minutes.

And I DID. 

I heard the pitter-patter of little feet around the 2 minute mark, but otherwise it was relatively quiet. I enjoyed the next 3 minutes of sit-down time imagining they were running off some energy and that this was a good thing because it lessened the odds of Stern Mommy™ making an appearance. 

And had what I walked into not been so completely unexpected and by it's nature both funny and camera worthy, I'm sure it had all the makings of a Stern Mommy™ moment.

The bed-formerly-known-as-Seth's-bed-which-is-now-Nate's-bed** was piled high with every single soft toy that we own. This was the first thing I noticed and I thought to myself, "well, that isn't so bad and this explains why things were relatively quiet".

Until I looked behind me and saw this:

Two completely empty shelves and the rest well picked over.

This was my poltergeist moment, everyone. 

Underneath what appeared to be the easy to tidy up blanket of soft toys was a solid sheet of not-so-soft toys including (but not limited to) dinosaurs and their accoutrements (10 pieces), at least 3 different dismembered stacking toys (32 pieces), a puzzle (5 pieces), assorted toys that did not involve pieces (7), every book in Seth's library™ (10-odd books), and a swath of legos (which I did not stop to count, but would estimate at around 30).

80+ pieces of stuff hidden under a tower of soft toys without making any noise other than the sound of running feet in under 5 minutes?

There's really only one explanation for it and it starts with a "p" and ends with "geists". Good thing I grabbed my camera when I did since I was able to capture the ghostly forms at work (thanks mainly to low level lighting and a long exposure).

In fact, I managed to capture at least 2 apparitions in the nursery that night. 

- L.

*I'm 80/20 currently on referring to the boys' room as "the nursery" vs. their bedroom. I know it's not really a nursery anymore and my babies aren't actually babies anymore. My boys respond to either term, but I know it's time to stop referring to their room as a nursery. Consider the post title my last hurrah.

**My boys have unreservedly switched beds without looking back, which A. means I really did have the sleeping arrangements wrong the entire time and B. I'm at a loss currently on referring to anyone's bed in particular to avoid confusion for anyone who is actually familiar (or was familiar) with the previous bed assignment. I'm a week in and it's still confusing to me.

• • • • • • • 

PS. Although Stern Mommy™ remained at bay that night, I will say that while I was clicking away with my good humor still about me I had yet to discover just how bad the devastation was under the heap of (mostly) soft toys. I imagined she stayed away because she was also suitably impressed at how much havoc my boys managed to wreak in 5 minutes. It's also possible she's seen Poltergeist (the movie) and didn't want to take any chances.

New Beds: The Past 24 Hours

Suffice it to say, my boys went fairly wild over their new beds. Not only did they spend all their time dashing back and forth between the beds and trying them out as though they really were new beds and not just their cribs with one side missing, there was a constant chorus of "'Dis is new! 'Dis is new! 'Dis is NEW!!!".

I imagined I'd pretty much be picking them off the ceiling when it came time to go to sleep.

The converted cribs were better than Christmas and their birthday all rolled into one (times roughly a million to the power of 10 minus the somber and stinkeroo aspects).

It was all very exciting!

At least until it was actually time to go to bed.

We have a pre-bed routine which is always a big hit, so I was a little caught off guard last night when the usual schtick was met with tears and resistance. I was even more caught off guard when the boys were OK with getting into bed without it.

To be honest, I wondered if I was going to be one of the lucky ones where the kids take to a bed like a fish to water and we'd have no troubles whatsoever because my boys would suddenly want to go to bed without an elaborate routine first.

Ah, it was a nice moment while it lasted.

Here's how things looked when I finally got everyone tucked in (do not let Nate's sleepy eye pose fool you – Seth's pose is a much more accurate representation of things to come). 

The next 45 minutes were filled with many thwarted attempts at shenanigans. I'm sure both my boys wondered how I always "knew", but they gave themselves away every time – and mostly verbally which was surprising. And although there were a few *crash, thud, bang!* moments as well (also a giveaway!), they were mostly busy ratting themselves out via their own vocabulary.

It made me laugh.

When everyone had finally had enough of getting busted, they settled in for the night. No one made a fuss about the sleep sacks at any point.

And truth be told, they were both soundly asleep by 10:15 – a regular night around here – despite the new beds, new blankets and new pillows.

Also new: they slept in each other's beds last night.

All night.

Or at least until 7:30 this morning when I heard the pitter patter of little feet* and realized it was time to get up.

• • • • • • • 

It's par for the course at the OP that cars ("CAHS!") are the first thing on everyone's mind in the morning. The whole car ("CAH!") obsession is a whole other post, but you should know that the cars get put away at night and taken out again in the morning. Typically the white box in the nursery is awash with cars within 10 minutes of waking up, but this morning something a little different happened: 

Cars. In a bed. Neatly lined up.

And clearly putting the white box to shame since no such neatness has ever happened over there. Of course the cars had been put there for a reason, which became clear by and by.

Seth was temporarily the "King of Cahs!" this morning (with a little help from Nate):

'Dis my CAH! empire everyone!

 At least until the fame of it all became too much to handle: 

*wheee!*

This morning's ventures into new bed territory mainly involved dragging various toys into bed and playing with them there. Typically together. 

There was also a lot of jumping. 

Some pics from the non-jumping moments (AKA: when it was still about the cars): 

If (for any reason) you are unable to see the look of shenanigans about to be afoot in the last picture, please have your eyes tested at once since this is an obvious "tell" from at least 100 paces. I am used to less obvious moments at this point, but I could practically draw lines between their shenanigan cortexes without effort when I took that picture. 

Which is why I put the camera down.

And my boys? They did not disappoint all day. It was definitely business as usual** for the most part.

- L.

*Although picture it with less pitter-patter and more *thump* *thump* *thump*. 

** Business as usual = all day shenanigans. Really, they did not disappoint.

PS. Nap-time today was unexpectedly difficult, although they napped well once I got everyone to stay in their beds. Getting to that point was admittedly tough though and involved a lot of pop-ins. They both slept in their usual beds this afternoon, but I did have to cave and bring out the sleep sacks to make it happen.

Tonight, the blankets were no trouble once again. And once again, my boys are sleeping in each other's beds – perhaps it's a night-time thing? – although it does give me pause to wonder if I've had the sleeping arrangements wrong the entire time.

Hello New Beds!

The cribs were converted while the boys had their supper – no drill required either, so it was a silent operation.

Suffice it to say, our stealth was rewarded with maximum effect.

A picture for posterity before the big reveal: 

New blanket, new pillow and a new (and potentially nightmare-inducing) stuffed toy.
Perfect!

Of course, this picture makes it look like the new beds were met with calmness, but trust me when I say it's a fluke shot: 

In fact, there weren't many pictures that weren't just a messy blur. This is the only one of my boys together where everyone is reasonably in focus (made possible by the discovery that the new blankets lift up): 

And then it was game on: 

... and on: 

 

... and on:

This is the only picture I could get of Nate by himself where he is at least nearly in focus: 

My boys had a good 90 minutes to check out their new beds before bedtime and they made good use of every single one of them. No one bothered with toys – it was all about the beds and the possibilities contained therein.

Or not so contained as it turned out.

But the hour is late, and how it all turned out is a story for another day.

Sleep tight.

- L.

Bye-Bye Sleep-Sacks!

To be honest, I have no idea if our nap this afternoon was really and truly the last time Nate and Seth will want to wear their sleep-sacks, or even the last time I will want them to wear their sleep-sacks, but as of tonight my boys are sleeping soundly (at least for now) with a blanket.

Some of the pics were taken pre-nap this afternoon and some were taken after. I've already forgotten mostly which was which regarding Seth, but Nate's are pretty obvious since his hair is an entirely different shape.

- L.

New Tricks (And A Mommy Confession)

As you probably already know, Nate and Seth are masters of shenanigans. And you probably also know that they like to climb stuff to meet such ends.

Further, you probably also know that they were fairly obsessed with "light switch" once upon a time.

After the nursery chair disappeared, the light switch was all but forgotten by appearances, but appearances can (and often are) deceiving, especially when it comes to my boys.

Let's just call all of that last part "obvious", because I knew it was never forgotten. They were just waiting for an opportunity coupled with a little ingenuity.

In the past week, I've caught one of my little engineers attempting to build either an unstable contraption out of random nursery toys and/or trying to climb up on a generally unstable device (the Fisher Price Farm™ to be specific) complete with ankle breaking opportunities as a means to an end.

And I got the message – they were bent on reaching that light switch no matter what.

So in the interest of ankles not being broken and heads un-concussed, I broke the Mommy Code.

In the interest of safety, I actually taught them a shenanigan.

Which they fully embraced by the way. 

I took the photos tonight, but it was February 29th when I instructed my boys on the finer points on safe structures to stand on. 

And much like a leap-year date, I hope I won't have to offer up shenanigan lessons for at least another 4 years.

- L

PS. "New tricks" is a favorite saying around here. Go figure.

Dirty Crackers & Dog Meat

Nothing – and I mean nothing – could convince my boys today that the nicely browned parts of their baked cheesy crackers wasn't dirt.

Of course they ate them anyway because they love a cheese cracker like nothing else. It was mostly just a litany of "Dirt! Dirt! Dirty Cracker!" after dinner which made me laugh.

Sort of.

Of course, I'd already heard about the "dog meat"* they ate at dinner (over and over and over again).

So even though I laughed, it might have been tinged with a hint of nervousness over the thought that my boys might tell someone I feed them dirty crackers and dog meat.

They also like to randomly declare food items as "mice".

I really hope we never find ourselves in the presence of someone from CPS when my boys decide to start talking about what I feed them.

- L.

*We had chicken for dinner. My boys are crazy about dark meat.