I definitely jinxed the sleep mojo! Things have settled, but we had a raucous couple of nights a few days ago, with Habtamu attempting to fly off his bed. The first night was an accident, the incident obviously happening as he slept. He was disoriented and fell right asleep when I comforted him. The second was an attempt (I'm only guessing here), to amuse his younger brother and to repeat the previous night's attention-grabbing. It happened 15 minutes post tuck-in, so they weren't asleep yet. Unfortunately, he hurt himself this time, landing on his knees. The screaming was reminiscent of our early days together. I had horrible visions of the tantrums returning, of the screaming never ending, which is what it feels like when one is in the middle of it. I have no idea what H. thought about the whole thing, since we weren't able to get any explanations from him that night or the next day, except he admitted that he "jumped." This was corroborated by Lire, who thought the whole thing was pretty exciting.
Today Alex had to leave for the city for the day, pretty short notice. I think the short notice helped, that and the fact that my MIL was here, so she could drop him at the bus stop while I took the guys to music class. H. did an AMAZING job of saying goodbye. He told Alex that he was sad, but he was able to give him soonki (kisses) and return to his alien housebuilding project. I immediately awarded him a sticker for being such a big boy (H. loves stickers, thankfully), which switched Lire into gear -- he let go of Alex's leg and said "Yiye ticker!" ("Lire sticker" for you "Lirese" novices out there).
We packed the day with music class, visiting our neighbor's piglets, lunch with grandma, rest/nap time, beach play, tv and dinner. TV is a rare treat for them, though picking out something they will watch all the way through is a challenge. Anything with a large amount of dialogue loses them, since they can't quite follow it. Baby @instein's generally work -- almost no talking, lots of images of children and puppets. I tried Fantasi@, but the only part they seemed interested in was the Sorcerer's @pprentice. "All done?" they suggested several times. So I switched to Blue's Clu@s ABC, which stuck. H. especially enjoyed it, as he adores the ABC song, is learning letters and their sounds, and is starting to write a few of them. This allowed me time to make dinner. Ahhh.
Bedtime tonight went well, despite last week's body-flinging fiasco, and despite Alex's absence. I actually removed H's boxspring and bed frame the other night, so he wouldn't hurt himself again. We promised him we would return it to its former splendor if he had a few nights of good "sleepys." This means that he stays in his bed and doesn't attempt to imitate the skateboarding boy he saw in a photograph the other day. "Boy flies?" he asked me. I tried to explain to him what the boy was doing. He answered with "Habtamu fly."
Gulp.
And he will, too. I will be one of those nail-biting mothers who shuts her eyes as her son completes 360 degree flips on the slopes or hang-glides off Machu Pichu.
Lire still wants to be "yiddle" though he's taken to showing new acquaintances his "muscles," and says he is a "bug mon!" (big man). He also keeps asking if we "Yike Yiye." I hope it's just him practicing his language skills and not massive insecurity. I do realize that they both are insecure about a lot of things, and understandably so. Thus we always answer him, always with "yes, I like Lire," or "I LOVE Lire," even when he is being especially pesty.
