Stairway sleeping

As I came up for bed tonight, this is what I found:

Reminds me a bit of another little one that I know!

She was so passed out that we simply moved her back to bed.

Sleeping angel

A Mia update

Again, it's been far too long and I have way too much to say about Mia at 16 (nearly 17 - where does the time go? - months).

Wow - she has SUCH a personality ... and by that I mean that she's a little Miss Sassy Pants. Yikes! I'm sort of starting to really worry about what she'll be like as a pre-teen. Crazy! She just knows what she wants and is not happy to settle. Perhaps this trait will serve her well one day - I hope so. For now, however, it makes life a lot more difficult for the rest of us! A few examples of things that Mia does NOT like:

• changing her diaper (um, sort of a necessity). This typically elicits a full out screaming, sometimes pulling my hair and scratching my face, kicking and rolling all over the floor fit


• putting on or changing clothes (similar reaction to aforementioned diaper change)


• getting in car when she doesn't feel like going "bye bye" (again, usually accompanied by a full out, blood curdling scream, arching of the back, flailing of the arms, fit)


• being picked up or having her hand held in a parking lot or other dangerous place for a one year old to be roaming alone (similar reaction as above, often including throwing self on the ground/pavement)


• having Luke take back a toy of his that she has previously "stolen"


• sitting in her highchair too long ...and by "too long" I mean more than 30 seconds after she has determined that she is finished (this results in throwing of food and yelling)


• going upstairs when she knows it is bed or naptime

And the list could go on and on. Needless to say, we have our work cut out for us. It seems that her tantrums have ramped up in recent weeks, so I am trying to be sure that she sees and begins to understand that that type of behavior will not alter what is about to happen.

All that aside, there are certainly times (most of the time) when Mia is a happy little girl. She loves to climb, play with Luke's toys (tools are a current favorite all around), feed her baby dolls, dance, splash in the tubby, be outside, and be read to. She is so happy to bring one book after another to us right now, plop down in our lap, and have us read ...and read....and read, which I LOVE. She also loves to "read" her books to herself (super cute!). Her favorite people: Daddy, Luke, and Paw.



Despite her little tantrums leading up to nap and bedtime, once she resigns herself to what is happening she is a complete snuggler. She loves to lay her head on my shoulder, twist my hair with one of her hands, and fall asleep while I rock. I don't think that there is anything better than having a sleeping baby on your chest.

According to our bathroom scale, Mia is between 20 and 21 pounds. She fits well into 12-18 month clothes now, is still wearing her medium size cloth diapers (or size 3 when in disposables), and her feet are now comfortably fitting into size 4s. Her 1 year molars are nearly all in now - the last one on the bottom left has been working its way up for the past few days, bringing the total count for teeth to 12.

Mia continues to be a pretty good eater, but she definitely goes through spurts when she doesn't eat much ... but I know that she'll make up for it later. In terms of sleeping she is ready for bed between 7:00 and 7:30 each night and typically sleeps for about 12 hours. She also takes a good afternoon nap for between 2.5 and 3 hours.



Vocabulary has not made any huge changes since I last posted. I think she's added a few more words, and she is certainly communicating better overall. She is using more hand gestures and putting them together with words to convey her wants/needs. One word that she has most definitely added to her repertoire in recent weeks: "no, no, no, no, no" (it is never just one "no"). What I do know is that her comprehension of what we talk about or ask her to do has increased significantly in recent weeks. She is now completely able to follow directions (when she feels like it, of course!).



Oh, Mia, we just adore you. There are no words for all of the ways that you light up our lives. What a sparkly little girl you are ... and how lucky we are to have you as part of us.

A Luke update

Wow, I feel so behind on updating the blog. I haven't been taking the same volume of pictures that I usually do, and I often gauge the necessity of updating the blog on the number of old photos I have sitting on the camera. So, this post and the subsequent one about Mia will be short on pictures, but full of descriptions of who they are and what they are like right now.

It is so hard for me to believe that in a few short months Luke will be 4. FOUR? Really? That sounds so old for me to have a 4 year old child. Unreal how quickly the time has passed. The reality is that the next year will be full of decisions in terms of where he will go to elementary school. Kindergarten ... it just doesn't seem possible, yet it is. In the meantime, Luke is finishing up his 2nd year at Mandala. He did so well this year in their morning preschool class. He has made some new friends (Christopher, Heather, and Noah are his "favorites"). His teacher, Miss Tabatha, has told us on several occasions that Luke has really started to develop his social skills, is coming out of his shell, and is initiating play with other children. This is all so good and I am so happy to hear that not only is he progressing academically, but also socially.

Academically Luke is very bright. He loves to count (he can count to 100, and also by 100s to 1,000, and by 2s), understands the difference between upper and lowercase letters, is able to match letter sounds to all of the letters, is beginning recognize sight words, his drawings are getting more detailed all the time (he now always adds a body, nose, eyes, ears, hair, arms, legs when he draws a person), he is constantly asking us what time it is (and really, questions are coming at us constantly pretty much all day), shapes, colors, seasons, and days of the week he seems to have mastered .... it's all pretty incredible really. I mean, when I think about how much and how quickly he is learning I am blown away. His vocabulary surprises me daily ... it's like I'm all of a sudden speaking with an adult. One of my favorites from just today was when I asked him if he would like to take off his jacket and he replied (full of expression), "I would love to, thanks." His articulation still lags slightly (I think), but his teachers are no longer concerned as they can usually understand what he is saying. I may still initiate another screening in the fall, just to be sure that he's on track.

He continues to be a very sweet boy. He is full of snuggles, hugs, and "I love yous." He told me as I was tucking him in bed the other night, "Mommy, thank you for being my best girl." I just about melted. Of course, along with his sweetness comes some brutal honesty ... he doesn't hold back from telling us when we smell :). He also has proclaimed that he will one day marry Mia and live here in our house forever (ha!).

Luke still doesn't eat much variety. He is very much a creature of habit and is not a huge fan of changing things up. He's happy to have the same meal each and every day for breakfast (banana milk and waffles). He has incorporated some new fruits and veggie (yes, that's singular ... as in carrots) into his diet. Despite all this, the kid has grown like a weed in recent months! I could not believe that the jeans he was swimming in in the fall I had to put away because they were too short. When it got warm here (for about a week), we had to go out and get some new summer outfits for him - size 4/4T. He can still wear his 3T shorts from last summer and a few pairs of 3T pants that happen to be long enough (they actually fit him better at the waist than the 4s, but the length just isn't enough in most cases). Shirts are most definitely now 4T. His feet are still size 10, but I know how that goes (they seem to grow a ton in a short amount of time, then his height catches up ... so I'm sure that they will be growing again very soon!). He seems HUGE to me lately ... such a boy, no longer a baby :(

Favorites right now include: Handy Manny (all of a sudden he loves to "fix" everything .... it's driving us a bit nuts to be honest), Cars, Toy Story (Buzz Lightyear), and Chuggington. He really enjoys playing soccer and going to swimming lessons (where he recently moved up a level, graduating from being a Sea Horse and moving up to the Octopus level!), and he often asks us to play baseball with him in the backyard. Oh, and he could still swing for hours and hours. Favorite books lately have been anything Dr. Seuss. He loves to read before bed at night and good behavior can often be encouraged just by threatening to take a book away at bedtime (that sounds horrible to discipline by taking away reading time, but I promise, he still gets read to a LOT).

Speaking of behavior, this year has brought several rough patches, but I think that is normal for 3 year olds. For the most part, he has been just testing the boundaries, and in recent weeks he seems to really want to be be good and make us happy, which is a good thing and has made life with Luke very easy (for the time being!). Sharing with his sister has also been a source of difficulty, but we continue to work on it. I can understand and relate to his frustrations with her since she is not yet capable of playing in the same way that he does. I know it will come in time.

Naps are officially gone with the rare exception on a day when he "accidently" falls asleep (usually in the car). He rests in his room most days, but also tends to do quite well through the afternoon with no rest. Bedtime has been moved up to, pretty strictly, between 7:00 and 7:30. He's ready by then, and so are we! He sleeps for about 12 hours every night. We still diaper at night, but never any other time.

He's doing great wearing his glasses. The transition really couldn't have been any smoother. He must feel pretty comfortable in them because he pretty much doesn't touch them all day. For this we are so grateful!

I could go on and on describing our sweet boy. He's such a joy and a delight, and we are incredibly lucky to have been given the gift of raising him. Loving, sweet, smart, cute, energetic, and full of personalitgy ... how could we ask for more? He makes loving him so very easy.

Sleeping with a "few" things?

Luke's nightly ritual

Three and a half

Our little guy is three and a half. Time is flying. He is growing like a weed. His imagination and vocabulary are out of control. His naps are sparse. And we're more and more in love with him and feel so grateful to be able to watch him grow. Here's the mid-year recap on Luke:

The first half of 3 was "challenging," as many told me it would be. Several mommy friends warned me. I wasn't sure that I needed to worry ... I did. I can't put my finger on exactly what was the challenge. I guess because it was just EVERYTHING. Luke spent several months testing all of the limits and just being difficult in general. The good news is that we seem to have come through it and for the past few weeks he has been the most pleasant, agreeable, patient, kind boy. I hope that boy hangs around for a while :)!

Imagination and make-believe are the main parts of Luke's days. He LOVES to pretend. He has all sorts of scenarios playing out at all hours of the day. Some involve real people and real things, others involve things and characters that are most definitely not real (the pack of 10 dogs and 10 cats, for instance, who apparently live in our storage loft). Sam, Luke's pillow pet, is also a main player in all of the make believe. It is pretty cute and amazing to hear some of the stories that he comes up with ... then again, I don't find it quite so "cute" when he blames the shove that he just gave his sister on Sam.

After meeting with the social worker at Luke's school in November, we have completely figured out the potty situation. We basically gave the potty power back to Luke (since he had it all the time anyways) and it essentially "fixed" the accidents that he was still having. So, I can now say with complete confidence that he is potty trained and hasn't had an accident in 2 months! Woo hoo!

He's still the pickiest eater I know. In fact, things that he used to like have started to fall of the list - leaving an even shorter list of Luke-approved foods than before. I've decided that I'm giving Luke the power back on this one also (after all, he's in control - I can't force him to eat anything). So, I cater most meals to his tastes, adding in a non-approved food from time to time just to expose him to it. I sneak vegetables into fruit dishes and juices. Whatever ... hopefully he'll grow out of it. In the meantime, his growth is right on track....

Speaking of which, he seems to have grown a tremendous amount in the past month or two. I have no idea how tall he is, but I took one look at him a few weeks back and was shocked to notice that his 3T shirts are no longer fitting. They are all too short in the torso and arms. Amazing! 3T pants still seem to fit well. As of this month Luke weighs 34lbs.

Napping has been slowly dwindling down. For a while he was "resting" and falling asleep on most days, but we're down to a real nap about 1-2 days a week now. He takes a "rest" everyday from about 2/2:30 - 4:00, which means he's in his bed during that time with some books. The nice part of him not actually sleeping is that (after a short period of complete insanity before bedtime) he is 100% ready for bed at 7pm. He doesn't complain and there are no late-night antics. He just passes out immediately. :)

In terms of health - he's been relatively healthy this winter. Only one ear infection! One tube is out (right ear) and the other is still in. We'll just see how he does, but we are optimistic. Luke's speech sounds to us like it has improved dramatically. Most people seem to understand what he says the majority of the time. We'll double check with his teachers next month during our conference, but I'm hoping that he has made some progress and will continue to do so until he has caught up with his peers. He's at no loss for vocabulary! Some of the stuff to comes out of his mouth amazes me. This month his teachers at school did notice Luke having some trouble focusing his eyes and one of them wandering a bit, so he will be seeing a pediatric opthamologist in a few weeks to have them looked at.

At 3 and a 1/2 Luke has a full schedule - school 3 mornings a week, a pre-soccer class/program on Tuesday evenings, and swimming lessons on Thursdays. Although there are times when he tells me that he doesn't want to go (his favorite thing to do is to stay in his pjs all day long!), he really loves all of his activities once we get there. He's becoming more social at school, but overall is still pretty quiet in a group setting and takes a while to warm up. I say he saves all of his talking for Mommy and Daddys' ears!!!

What a sweet, sensitive, energetic, curious, loving, imaginative, silly, cute boy we have ... so lucky!

Our 10 month old

10 months have flown by and as Mia's personality really begins to emerge, we fall more and more in love with her. Here is the latest and greatest at 10 months old

Eating
She continues to be a good eater. She loves her pureed foods (I've continued to make all of her food, which has been easy and sort of fun), and has been a bit slower to take on finger foods than I anticipated. Perhaps it is because she is still working with only two teeth. Favorite breakfast foods include waffles, pureed fruits, yogurt, oatmeal, toast (I've tried eggs a few times, but without much luck). At lunch we try to serve only finger foods. She seems to love deli turkey. Her tray usually has quite the sampling on it - cheese, different types of diced fruits and veggies, small crackers, pasta, etc. At dinner she eats several ounces of pureed vegetables (she's not picky - loves them all, even brussel sprouts!) and rice cereal along with any finger foods that she can have from the regular dinner table. Her favorite finger foods are puffs - and she enjoys teething biscuits as well! She has a cup of water or half juice/half water with just about every meal, and I have started to offer formula in a sippy cup occasionally to prepare her for the transition to regular milk in a few months. She still nurses about 4 times a day (wake up, late morning, before afternoon nap, bedtime) and in the past week I have substituted one feeding (late afternoon, when my supply feels lowest anyways) for a bottle, which she seems happy to have.

Sleeping
Ugh - this child has really put us in our place as far as the sleeping goes. I guess we were a bit over confident in our abilities to sleep train. Luke was such a difficult, fussy infant, but ended up being a champion sleeper by about 5 months old. Mia ... not so much. The good news: she is now very good at putting herself to sleep, both at night and for naps. The bad news: she still is not consistently sleeping through the night (and by that I mean, 11-12 hours). We often have a wake up somewhere between 2am and 4am about 4 nights out of every week. Until very recently, I would eventually respond to her because she could scream so loud and for so long that we weren't sleeping through it anyways (even without the monitor turned on), but we've made the decision with the go-ahead from our pediatrician to really put our foot down, so she's going to cry/yell it out at night. Earlier in the month I tried putting Mia to bed earlier (somewhere between 6:15 and 6:45), and this seemed to help her get through the night. So, her day looks something like: 6:45-7:00 wake up, 9:30-11:30 morning nap, 2:30-3:30/4:00 afternoon nap, and bedtime by 6:45.

Playing
Mia is very mobile. She is fast and often surprises people with how quickly she moves around given her size (since she looks so small). She can crawl at lightning speed, can cruise around furniture, and I even have caught her standing on her own without holding onto anything a few times in the past week. Her favorite game is climbing up the stairs while someone chases her. She also loves "helping Mommy" - putting laundry in the dryer, climbing into the open dishwasher, unloading newly folded laundry from the basket (onto the floor in one giant heap), and unrolling toilet paper from the rolls in all of the bathrooms. She doesn't seem to really love any one toy - in fact, she seems to like playing with all things that are NOT toys. And, of course, she loves anything her big brother is playing with, much to his dismay. Pat-a-cake and This Little Piggy are two of her favorite games and she has just recently started dancing (rocking) to music or singing.

Talking
This month has also brought with it some of Mia's first words. Her first word was "da-da," followed by "ma-ma." She also can now wave and knows the sign for "more." She loves to babble and "read" stories to us. We are working on learning many more new signs - Luke was such a great signer, and we loved to be able to communicate in that way with him when he was a baby, so hopefully it will be the same for Mia.

Growing
Ah, she's SUCH a peanut! People see her and almost always guess that she's about 6 months old (until they watch her take off crawling!). My guess is that she's about 16 pounds now. She is really fitting into the 6-12 month clothes, but sleepers in that size are still too big. Carter's 9 month clothes are still a bit big, but that's what she's wearing. When she wears disposable diapers they are size 2 ... although, I just bought a pack of size 3 this week for our upcoming trip to Cabo, and I just washed her medium sized BumGenius diapers and I'm going to put the smalls away. I am so savoring this time where she's still small and feels so much like a baby - I know it will be gone all too soon.

Just in general, Mia is a very happy and pretty easy baby. She definitely has a mind of her own, knows what she wants and isn't afraid to tell you, and is very short right now in the patience department (think yelling immediately upon waking or when she decides she has finished a meal). She can be very loud, loves to squeal, and is full of smiles and laughter. What a joy ... what a perfectly, well-rounded girl. We're in love!

Sweet sleepy boy

March 2008

August 2010

A day in the life of Mia: Eat, Sleep, Play

Eating:
The girl continues to love her food. She eats anything and everything we have offered to her. So far, she's eating: rice cereal, oatmeal, peaches, pears, apples, apricots, bananas, avocados, broccoli, green beans, sweet potatoes, peas, and carrots. Next up to try: zucchini! She currently eats two "solid" meals per day, one in the morning and one in the evening. She also nurses 5-6 times each day.

Sleeping:
Mia sleeps great during the day. We have two very established naps now. Her morning nap typically starts just after 9 and can last anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours. The afternoon nap start time really depends on how long her morning nap was that day, but I try to stretch her to as close to 2 o'clock as I can so that I have both kids napping at the same time. Her afternoon nap tends to last 2 hours. She is ready to go to bed for the night by around 7:30. This is all great ... it is the night time sleep that is not so wonderful. Up until a few weeks ago, Mia was sleeping from bedtime until around 3 or 4am, feeding, and then returning to sleep until 7 or 7:30 ... not too bad. Since she got her first tooth, her night sleep has not gone back to a regular pattern, she seems to be waking more frequently (think 12am, sometimes 4am, and then up for the morning at 6am) ... not so much fun for Mommy and Daddy. Hopefully we can work this out VERY soon!

Playing:
Mia loves to play with anything her brother is playing with. She has figured out that she can propel herself forward by pushing off the floor with her feet while on her belly, and also has gotten up on her knees in the past few days. Full-fledged crawling is just around the corner and I'm not sure I'm ready for it. Life with a preschooler and a crawler = YIKES! Mia also puts everything she finds in her mouth. Anything she can get in there quickly becomes her favorite toy. She likes to be in the exersaucer for limited amounts of time, but she definitely does not yet have the same love for it that Luke did at her age. She CAN sit up, but prefers not to. She only lasts for a minute or two and then will dive down, face first usually, to get onto her belly.

Other Mia stuff:
Mia just has one tooth. We're still waiting for the one next to it to come through. She is very vocal and will shout to let us know that she wants our attention or would like to change activities. I can't believe how quickly she is growing and changing. I want her to stop, or at least slow down, but at the same time, I can't wait to see the next stage...

Luke at 3

Luke's 3 year old well visit with Dr. Dugoni went great. He surpassed all of her three year old milestones. In fact, she was impressed with his ability to count (to 20), name all of the colors, and identify shapes, but I think what she was most surprised to see is how well he recognizes letters (he knows all of them - upper and lower case ... and can tell you how to spell his name and his sister's).

The only concern she voiced was that of his speech, which is not something new to us. His teachers at school have also expressed some concern, not with his comprehension or vocabulary, but with articulation of sounds. Back in February I asked one of our neighbors who is a speech pathologist to screen him. She thought that based on his age, he was normal, but suggested that we re-evaluate after his third birthday. She also suggested that we have his hearing re-tested, which had not been done since before he had the tubes put in last April (at which time, his hearing was likely pretty impacted by all the fluid). I took him back to the ENT and they tested his hearing and the results showed that it was normal. So, we have an appointment for later this month to have him screened by the local school district (they start screening and early intervention speech services at 3 years old). We'll see what they think... I don't have too much trouble understanding what he is saying most of the time, but he does stump me now and then. In fact, just the other day I was listening to him and was blown away by his phrasing and the complexity of his sentences. All of a sudden, I felt like I was talking with an adult ... and I love to hear the little quotes that come out of his mouth that sound exactly like something Michael or I would say. Cracks me up!

Luke is attending summer school at Mandala this summer. It has been a bit difficult for him to transition from his old, regular school year class, to this one with new kids. I am anticipating that the switch from the classroom he was in all year last year and this summer to the new "big kids" preschool room in the fall is also going to take some getting used to, but I know that eventually he will feel comfortable there and make new friends. Luke is still very sensitive and pretty shy, so all of this takes a little longer for him than it might for other kids.

Luke sleeps about 11-12 hours a night on average. He still takes a nap most afternoons for about 2 hours. There have been days in the past month where he has skipped a nap, or has "just rested" in his bed. On these days, he typically goes to bed at least an hour earlier, and generally then sleeps for 13 hours! He's our little sleeper! He is SO much better at staying in bed, both during nap and night time. We rarely have any problems with him coming out of his room anymore. He does still wear a pull-up to nap, and a diaper to bed (he's in underwear the rest of the day).

Luke continues to be a loving and sweet little boy. He is generally very well behaved, but of course, we are starting to experience those "three year old moments" that challenge us. He is sensitive and never hesitates to show us affection or tell us that he loves us. He is especially kind to his sister, who is starting to really get into his stuff! That all being said, he can also be completely wild and out of control :) ... he is, after all, a 3 year old boy!

A quick interview with our three year old:
Favorite colors? Blue, green ... and sometimes pink
Favorite food? (ha!) Grilled cheese, banana milk (banana, milk, and yogurt), most fruit, ice cream, chocolate milk, string cheese, chicken fingers, crackers, cheerios, french toast, bagels.
Favorite TV show: Chuggington (after a LONG few months of only Dora and Diego!)
Favorite toys: Trains, blocks, ride-on/driving toys, tricycle, the swing. He loves to be outside watering plants or just playing in the yard. He's become very good at self-entertaining, which is wonderful!
Favorite place to visit: Happy Hollow and the swimming pool
What do you want to do tomorrow? "Stay home and play all day"

Little Yankees Fan

Sweet sleepy baby

"Mommy, I tired"

AH ... it's a milestone! For the first time EVER today, Luke admitted that he was tired!!!

Of course, I knew he was tired, because he refused to take a nap at Day's house this afternoon (probably my fault since I forgot his blanket at home). As we loaded him in the car after what should have been his naptime, I saw his poor tired eyes, and he started chewing on his finger (which has started happening recently due to his 2-year molars coming in), and I knew that we just needed to get through a few hours before we could put him to bed for the night.

He talked to me on the car ride home, but as we approached our house, very quietly and completely out of left field I hear, "Mommy, I tired." Then he asked me if he could lay on the couch with his blanket when we got home .... of course, and that's exactly what he did (right before going to bed for the night at 6:45!).

The Big Birthday Party!

Okay, well, compared to last year, it was quite small, but no less fun!

Luke had his 2nd birthday party at the local park that we visit just about every day on our walk. Given his love of trains (however, if I had known how much he would become obsessed with fire trucks, I may have opted for that route), the party had a train theme.

We invited primarily our friends with kids, and everyone had a great time. The weather was nice, and we all picnicked outside in the shade. We had Togo's sandwiches, fruit salad, chips, and potato salad. The kids had PB&J, string cheese, and Go-gurts. And, of course, cake and ice cream! The kids ran around, played on the playground, kicked balls, played with pinwheels, blew bubbles, fed the ducks, and had fun with the pinata. All in all, a great time.

After we got home, Luke had a quick shower because he was filthy. I quickly put his diaper on after the shower, and before I could even get him dressed he was gone. I went looking for him and found him, in just his diaper, in bed. He said, "Mommy, night night." It was the first time he has ever suggested that he should sleep - I guess he was tired. He ended up napping for 4 hours!

Doing some late night reading....

...to prepare for my new role.


The picture is a bit blurry, but you can see the title. The funny thing is, we hadn't even read that book together yet - he just randomly picked it out. In fact, most nights when I go in to check on Luke he has a number of books in his bed. I guess the few books that we read together everynight before I tuck him in just haven't been cutting it!

Bedtime chronicles

As you will see in my previous post, Luke is doing well sleeping in his bed at night. We have even gone a few nights without the pacifier (which I'm hoping to get rid of soon!).

First night without the bink:

Another night with no bink ... and quite the position, I just had to take a picture!

Last night it was honestly at least 80 degrees in the house. I dressed Luke in his coolest pjs for bed. When I went to check on him before I went to sleep, I found him completely wrapped up in his quilt, hot and sweaty:

Bedtime stories

Sometimes beds are overrated ...

...and sometimes they aren't.

After spending a couple of nights falling asleep on the floor, I've decided that it is actually quite a lot more comfortable to just sleep in the bed. Not to mention that somehow I always wake up in bed anyways (hmm?).

Occasionally, I still peek my head out of my room once after bedtime, just to be sure nothing exciting is going on, and if the coast is clear, I close my door and head to bed.

Operation BBB, days #3 & #4

Day #3 brought us a 3.5 hour nap, to which I rocked Luke to sleep. He was probably extra tired from his late night hallway escapades the night before! It also brought an easy bedtime because he fell asleep in my arms, and woke the next morning at 7:30 ... not too bad.

Day #4 brought another shorter than normal nap - 1.5 hours, but an easy bedtime. After our usual bedtime routine, I laid him in bed and he sat up and wanted to chat. So, I left the room, he followed, and I returned him one time to bed. Then I shut all the lights and doors in the hallway, locked the baby gate, and went downstairs. I heard him come out once, apparently looked around and saw nothing interesting was going on, and he went back into his room and closed the door! When I went to check on him, I found him asleep on the floor ... so he didn't quite make it back to bed, but closer than the other night in the hallway.

You can see in the picture that he is laying on clothes - I set out his clothes for tomorrow since we have to get up early to go to daycare/work. I guess he checked out his outfit, and then passed out.

If this is it, we are so lucky, and Luke let us off easy! If it continues, the crib tent is going back to the store!