Swings and Things (and a big sleep tangent)

Daylight savings! We did it. We saved the daylight. I'm happy that I can take Savvy dog for a walk while it's still light outside now instead of the creepy damp dark walks I've been doing for the past 4 months. Jared usually gets home from work kind of late (but he only works 4 days a week so it's a tradeoff). By the time he gets home it's a quick dinner and then the kids' bedtime. Jared does bedtime so he can have a little time with the kids while I take Savvy dog for her walk. 

The first week or two of this month, Jack was having a really rough time with sleep, which hasn't happened in years so it caught us off-guard. He was scared and would call out to us all evening until he fell asleep, and then he'd wander into our room sometime after midnight every night, scared, and spend the rest of the night with us. It got bad enough that Jared was having to lay in Jack's room until he fell asleep, which could take a while. This last week I had an epiphany and offered to take over the nightly "check-ins" instead of Jared and it immediately fixed the problem. When Jack was having his last bout of sleep issues nearly three years ago, what finally fixed it was doing regular check-ins (every 15 minutes in the beginning, then every 20 minutes, and finally every 30 minutes for the past two years). It's usually between 1 and 3 checks before he's asleep so not a huge deal. Jared would do the weekday check-ins, and I would do bedtime and check-ins on the weekends. When it's my turn, I always have Jack help me set a phone timer so I can be right on time for the next check. He has a clock in his room he can see from his bed, with dots at the 15, 30, 45, and 60 minute marks. This helps him to visualize when he'll see mom or dad again (on the top dot and bottom dot). 

Unfortunately, Jared has historically been kind of spotty about his check-ins. He has a harder time remembering to set his timer, or check a clock to be there on time. It's been a sticking point because not only is it frustrating for Jack, but it's frustrating for ME because when it happens multiple times Jack will get scared and leave his room to go looking for someone. Usually it's me he goes looking for, and then I basically have to do bedtime all over again when it's supposed to be my evening off. So anyway, Jack was getting deeper into this cycle of being scared alone in his room in the evenings and in the middle of the night, and it occurred to me that since he's still so young, having the routine of one of us being there reliably when we said we would be there might be more important than we realized (Jack's typically pretty flexible as far as routines go, but he's still just a young guy and having some reliability in a day is important for him). So we tried switching things up for a week--instead of Jared doing bedtime and check-ins on weekdays and me doing both on weekends, now Jared is doing bedtime every night and I am doing check-ins every night. Again, this fixed the problem pretty much immediately, and we'll continue with this pattern until it's time to tweak again. I love a quick parenting win. 

Well that was a long sleep tangent. Maybe it can help someone who has a young kid with sleep issues. The check-in method has helped us out of rough bedtime phases multiple times now. Worth a try. In Alice news, baby girl is communicating better and better every week. She is obsessed with the web swing we installed in Jack's playroom for his birthday. No real swing-related injuries so far, but we're going to put a hook on the ceiling to hang it up when both the kids are home together. They do great with the swing one at a time, but when they're both in there the chances of little bumps and toddler fits go up. Very cute when they're both on there and I'm pushing them, but if I can't be in there to supervise it feels dicey. It's been a fun week though. We love our happy babies.

^^Alice begging for books all day. Her favorite is "Where's Spot?"

^^The morning I woke up to this sweet, tender sleeping face next to me in the morning. He didn't even wake me up to squeeze in next to me in the middle of the night, but he spent the rest of the night kicking me in the back, so I definitely knew he was there haha. This was his last scared night before I took over all check-ins and he went back to sleeping through the night in his own bed. We have come so far. The bedtime struggles felt nearly constant in his early years. I'm proud of all of us.

^^The face Alice gave me when I gave her the stink eye for climbing up on the toilet and then into this sink all by herself when I wasn't looking. We have entered the climbing phase!

^^Jack and Alice playing "cats" and making cat dens under all our chairs after Jack taught Alice to "meow." Sheesh I love these two. I know the sibling conflicts will likely get worse as Alice gets deeper into toddlerhood, but the increased time they spend playing together is making me so happy. Feels like an acceptable tradeoff so far.

^^When Jack gets an idea in his head, homeboy sees it through. One of my favorite (and sometimes toughest) things about him. Isn't that so often true though? The thing we love most about a person can also be the thing that bugs us the most in a different scenario. A girl in Jack's class brought a St. Patrick's Day coloring page for everyone in the class to color and cut. Turns out her mom is a class volunteer so it was something the teacher asked her mom to print and send in with the girl, but Jack was VERY inspired to make an Easter art project for everyone in his class as soon as he got home from school. He had a very specific idea in his head, so while Alice finished up a nap he became a creative director. We spent all afternoon drawing 24 copies of Easter eggs and bunnies (I did the bunnies, Jack the eggs). The next morning he found some paperclips and made packets for everyone in his class, and he was so excited to take them to school. I warned him that his teacher probably already had a lesson plan and she might just send the kids home with them if there wasn't time in class. Luckily, I shot his teacher a message after he left for school to give her a head's up and she thought it was the sweetest thing she'd ever heard, and she made time in the day for those who finished their reading work early to do Jack's bunny craft. Teachers are the best.

^^We had a sunny day last week and Alice spent so much time running around the backyard while I sat and sittervised. I love this girl. 

^^She heads straight for the swing whenever we're upstairs, especially if she's winding down for bed. I am loving our indoor swing era. Our playroom is the perfect size for it. Jared can push Jack as hard as possible and there is no risk of crashing into anything. 

Jared's parents brought Sunday dinner to us last night. They are so good to us. They asked Jared on Saturday if they could come for dinner. They of course love to see the grandkids but since they live a full hour away we don't make it down to them more than about once a month. Since they were asking last minute and they knew I had stake meetings all day they insisted on cooking. It was a delicious beef and broccoli meal. Jack and Grandma made these fancy panoramic easter eggs together, and Alice wanted everyone to read to her. It was a wonderful evening.