Crying "Mama", Crying It Out #2 & Movie Listening

14 months & 2 weeks

Didn't take a lot of pictures again this week... sorry!  Last Friday Ty and I did a full cleaning of the house, which was desperately needed again.  Ty had a blast following the vacuum around, like usual.  I’m so glad that he isn’t scared of it!  But he loves it so much that it is a problem when I do the stairs.  I can’t vacuum with the gates closed – and Ty won’t stay off the stairs… so it’s a problem.  I decided to bring him upstairs and put him in his room with his toys with the door shut – JUST while I did the stairs.  I did that and when I turned off the vacuum – I had one of my proudest moments as a mother.  Unfortunately, it was at the expense of my son, but when the vacuum turned off… Tyson was wailing.  But he was crying, “Mama, Mama, Mama, Mama!!!!”  He was crying for me! (=  It was great! (=  Well, at least it was nice to know that he wanted me.  The poor thing.  On Friday night, the Frosts came over and we had chili and cornbread.  Ty has been fine with beans, but my chili had a bit too many, I guess.  It’s too bad because he ate it like it was going out of style!    But he was up crying for a good portion of the night with gas and I got 4 hours of sleep before work.  Great way to start the weekend.

On Sabbath I worked and Heath & Ty went to Conway church.  Sonia was preaching and then they went over to the Edwards’ house in the afternoon.  Whenever I work, I always tell Heath if he is going to be over his parents not to rush home – I am good for nothing when I get home after a 12 hour shift.  Well, unfortunately in this case, I screwed myself.  I had lost my house key earlier in the week and forgot to tell Heath to leave our basement door unlocked.  So I was calling to check in on the boys and I remembered the key situation … and my heart dropped.  Heath was just starting to feed Ty supper (that is a 1 hour ordeal) and the Edwards are about 1 hour and 15 minutes away from us.  So I went to Goodwill for about an hour and then over to Taco Bell.  To Heath’s credit, he killed himself to leave and didn’t even eat himself.  What a guy!  I rewarded him by bringing him some Taco Bell home.  I don’t know what exactly Ty ate at the Edwards’ (and Heath couldn’t remember) but he was up crying again until 2 AM – so I only got 3 hours of sleep on Saturday night.  7 hours of sleep for 2 days is just not enough.   

On Sunday I worked again and Heath & Ty did some projects around the house.  They also went over to his grandmother’s house first thing in the AM to drain pipes and went out to breakfast with the Edwards.  After work, I headed to the pharmacies and my highlights were the big Chex Mix bags for $0.63 each (I got 4 bags), a free Thermacare wrap, and free floss.  Ty gave us a break and slept the entire night.  Man, that was some major needed z’s for us.  We were so thankful.

On Monday, I had decided that we had to do “Crying It Out Take 2.”  I had been stupid, lazy, and giving Ty mixed messages.  I had been rocking him for 5 minutes and then putting him down to sleep.  Well, he got really efficient at going right to sleep within that 5 minutes of time… so he would already be asleep when I laid him down.  He wasn’t learning how to fall asleep on his own at all – which was really starting to bite us in the butt during the middle of the night.  But also, I think I was confusing Ty.  Because the rare times that he didn’t fall asleep in the 5 minutes of rocking, I would make him cry it out… but he wouldn’t get it – since he never had to do it.  So for his nap on Monday, we started it out.  Ty cried for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Crazy, just crazy.  Of course I was consoling him in 15 minutes, then 30 minute increments.  It was terrible.  He did sleep for 1 hour and 40 minutes afterwards – but it was such a long time that he was crying – it killed me.  It also killed me when we were running errands in the afternoon and Ty had a major melt-down in the fabric store – which made it very difficult to concentrate on picking fabrics out.  Everything I gave him to keep him occupied ended up getting chucked on the floor over and over again, including his binky.  After we escaped that fun time, we got home, made supper, and Ty loved the Frito casserole that I made so much!  So that was good.  The craziest thing happened while we were eating supper.  We were watching a movie and had moved Ty in his highchair to the family room – but facing us and not the TV.  One of the characters on the movie said, “See you later.  Bye.”  And Tyson starting waving “bye-bye.”  Heath & I just looked at each other.  We couldn’t believe it!  So if Tyson was able to understand that without even seeing it…it makes you stop and think and realize that EVERYTHING is seeping in.  It made us think of the type of language that he could have learned that night…Unreal.  Ty cried for an hour at bedtime and then went to sleep.  I really don’t enjoy this at all.

Coming home from the grocery store - he was very excited about the bread, of course!

That bugger wants to watch the TV so bad! )=

On Tuesday AM, we started off the day on a frustrating note when I tried yet another fruit with Ty and he refused again.  I got honeydew melon and mashed it up – I didn’t even try to get him to eat it in pieces – and he immediately spit it out.  How does this make any sense?  It’s sweet!!!!  On the “crying it out” front, I didn’t see too much improvement on Day 2, at least for his nap – he cried for 1 hour and 10 minutes, but he did sleep for 2 hours, so that part of it was awesome!  In the afternoon, Shannon & Finley came over and hung out and then we drove over to see their  house that they are buying.  They are under contract with the bank (it is a foreclosure), so as long as the inspection and financing goes through – they will close in February!   I am super excited, since it’s only about 9 miles away, and takes about 15 minutes to get there!  It’s a very nice 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath colonial – and when everything is finalized I’ll put some pictures up on here so everyone can see!  Dinnertime was a success and Ty ate oatmeal patties (Nanny’s recipe) and mashed potatoes like a champ.  I was so happy about that.  I was also kind of thrilled when bedtime only consisted of 40 minutes of crying, then he laid right down and went to sleep!  Getting better!

This is Ty grinning at Auntie Shannon - he was very happy to see her when he woke up from his nap!

Happy because he's NOT eating fruit

Because he throws so much food on the floor when he doesn't like it - the puppies are always right at his feet!  

On Wednesday, I worked and Ty had a great day all around.  My mom was concerned about the “crying it out” and didn’t think that she could take his crying – and I definitely didn’t want to confuse him by having my Mom rock him to sleep – so I told her that she should drive somewhere during his nap time, so he would fall asleep in the car seat.  So that’s what she did.  The awesome thing was that Ty only cried for 5 minutes for Heath at bedtime and went right to sleep.  I just about cried with joy when I heard that, but I couldn’t help but wonder if it was different with Daddy vs. Mommy.  One funny thing did happen to me at the dumpster that night.  First of all, it was 31 degrees out – so it almost felt warm compared to last week.  But anyways, I was climbing out of the dumpster – trying to reach my stepstool – when somehow I hit my panic alarm button on my car keys that was in my jacket pocket!!!  Of course I am always trying to be so slick and stealthy when I get out of the dumpster, so I don’t bring attention to myself… so much for that!  Well, I was mid-way out of the dumpster and I pretty much threw myself down… ripped off my gloves, fiddled with my the zipper on my jacket pocket (which is difficult), to get my car keys and stop the wicked loud alarm!!!!  I was laughing so hard because I couldn’t believe that happened.  I was trying to high-tail it out of there, when a car drove by and slowed down.  I was freaking out!  There is a school right across the ballfield  - and I wondered if there was a night watchman there who noticed the ruckus.  Thank goodness the car was only turning into the neighborhood that is directly across from the dumpster.   Another close call.  I’ve got to do something different with the keys, obviously. 

On Thursday, I became emotionally drained with Tyson.  He cried for a record 1 hour and 40 minutes for his nap.  Wasn’t it supposed to get better?  I mean, I know that he is a stubborn kid, but really….  He slept for 1 hour and 45 minutes, so when he woke up… he was having lunch at about 4 PM!!!!  We got about 6 inches of snow that day – so Ty and I had a snow day at home and didn’t venture out.   Until Heath got home.  Then we headed to Concord – did some errands and went to the OG.  For some reason, Ty refused to eat pasta off Heath & my plate, which he has loved before.  This kid makes you scratch your head sometimes.  We went to Target after the OG and got a bunch of things – they were having a great sale, 70% a lot of things!  Thanks for the heads-up Corey & Camille! (=  We got home very late and Ty didn’t get to bed until nearly 11 PM, but at least he went right to sleep without any crying! 

At the OG - grinning at the people behind us!  He's such a social butterfly!

Have a great week!  Here's some random pics...

Tearing apart the diaper bag

Working hard to get his yogurt melt bag open - he can do it!

Look what he did - put two pitchers together - what a smarty! (=