Gillian has a little green blanket that Grandma crocheted for her baby dolls. Gillian uses the baby blanket all the time. A few weeks ago, she brought it too me and said "Can Grandma fix it?" And she held up the blanket.
I asked "Gillian how did that happen?" She said with a straight face "It did it all by itself!" We asked Grandma and she said she could fix it. I was supposed to bring it with us to the trunk or treat, but I couldn't find it.
Today I was doing laundry and I asked Gillian to bring me her Mankets and to look for baby green blanket. She said "Cause it's broken. Grandma needs to fix it." She told me "I can't find it. I look everywhere." I looked for it, but couldn't find it.
Tucked the kids into bed and about 45 minutes later, Gillian came into our room holding baby green blanket. "I found it. It was under my bed." I questioned her "Why were you under your bed, when you are supposed to be in your bed sleeping?" She didn't miss a beat and said "I didn't know."
The kids went to bed a little after 8 tonight. I could hear them still moving around by 8:45. So I went to check on them. Gillian was laying with her feet on her pillow. I giggled and gave her a kiss. She said "You know, I'm backwards!" I laughed. "Yes Gillian I can see that." She said "Whatcha doing in here?" I said "I just wanted one more hug. She did a reverse somersault and stood up. She jumped into my arms and gave me a big hug. I laid her back in her bed and tucked her in. I also checked on John. He was still awake, but now had two extra blankets on top of him. He said "I just wanted to get really warm!" I gave him a kiss and went back to my room.
I checked on them a little while ago. Gillian was asleep laying on top of her covers, but with her head on the pillow. John was also asleep, but was already sweating. Maybe he has just one too many blankets.
I always check on the kids before I go to sleep. I give them an extra kiss and make sure they are covered with their blankets. They are so innocent and sweet when they are asleep. Here are some of my favorite recent sleeping pictures.
Gillian doesn't take naps anymore. However everyday at school, her class still naps after lunch. Since Gillian can be a bit distracting, her mat is over by the play kitchen while all of her friends are on the other side of the room.
Tonight, Daddy and Gillian had the following conversation:
Daddy: Did you take a nap today?
Gillian: Yes
Daddy: Did you sleep IN the kitchen?
Gillian: No. I sleep BY the kitchen so I don't bother my friends.
We had to get up super early last Wednesday morning to get to the airport on time. We left our house at 3 am so that we could meet at Uncle T and Aunt Missy's house. We thought the kids would sleep in the car. We were wrong. They were wide awake by the time we reached Uncle T's.
Aunt Missy's dad drove us to the airport. It was raining so we were all a little nervous about the flight getting delayed (well at least the grown ups were). Gillian fell asleep on our way and as we approached the airport I whispered "Gilly, we are at the airport." She jerked awake and opened her eyes. We checked our bags (and realized we left the strollers on the van) and headed to security. John went with Uncle T while I had Gillian. John did awesome and was even given a TSA badge sticker. Gillian was also very good in security. She listened to the TSA agents and they were patient with her.
We had plenty of time to hang out at the gate. We picked up some breakfast sandwiches (and the egg fell out of Gillian's sandwich) and waited for our plane to board. Southwest does not assign seats, but since we were traveling with small children we were able to board early. We got two rows. The boys sat in front with John at the window while the girls sat behind them with Gillian at the window.
It was the kids first flight. We were not sure how they were going to like it. As we were taking off, John loudly told Daddy and Uncle T "The plane is going to catch on fire!" Gillian, on the other hand, repeated "We flying! We flying!"
Again, we thought the kids would sleep on the plane. That didn't happen. They were wide awake and colored in their new books or played on Daddy's iPad. Gillian enjoyed the snack. Well she enjoyed everyone's snack. She ate her cookies, my cookies and some of Aunt Missy's too!
As we were landing, John said "We're going down!" I felt the need to correct him and said "Yes, the plane is landing!" We landed and took the tram over go the main terminal and that's where we found Mimi and Poppy.
I woke up this morning and there was a little girl in our bed. I'm not sure when she joined us, but there she was snuggling Daddy and I. I got up to get in the shower and told her "Don't worry, Daddy is here with you." But she started to cry. I asked her what was the matter. She said "I want Mommy!" Daddy tried to comfort her, but she cried. I picked her up and hugged her and told her again "I have to get in the shower, but you can snuggle with Daddy." She said "I go to my bed." I brought her to her bed. I got in the shower and got ready for work. I went to get Gillian ready for school and she was sound asleep. I'm sure she was exhausted from all of her late night adventures. Daddy got her dressed and he asked her "Why did you come into our room?" She said "There was something on manket." "What was on your manket?" She said "A starfish." We are still not sure when she climbed into our bed or why she climbed into our bed. But it was nice to get some early morning snuggles with our favorite little girl.
Daddy lets me sleep in on the weekends. I truly enjoy the extra time sleeping, but sometimes it isn't that simple. Daddy needs to remind John every night to "Not wake up Mommy. Do not go in and snuggle her, do not check on her, just go downstairs and play."
Saturday morning, John came downstairs and found Daddy in the living room. He said "Don't worry. I didn't go in and wake up Mommy. But I did blow her a kiss as I walked by."
This morning, I didn't hear John wake up. But I did hear Gillian wake up. She walked past our bedroom door and said "I awake now!" She then went downstairs and found Daddy. She told Daddy "I awake now! Where Mommy?" Daddy said "She is sleeping." Gillian asked "In her bed?" Daddy said "Of course!" Meanwhile, Johnny was looking for something to eat. Daddy told him, "There are pumpkin muffins in the kitchen." I guess John didn't trust Daddy and he stood at the bottom of the stairs and yelled "MOM! Can we have pumpkin muffins?" So much for sleeping in.
This morning, John came into our bed and snuggled up next to me. He grabbed my arm and started rolling back and forth. I was ok with the snuggling, but not when he was basically tugging my arm. I kicked him out of the bed. But of course I couldn't fall back to sleep after that.
Around 8:30 this morning, Gillian was still upstairs. We thought she was sleeping. I went upstairs to check on her. She was wide awake and sitting on her bed. She saw me and said "Morning!" I asked her why she didn't come find me. She said "I don't know. I no sleeping. The sun bother me." She picked up a baby, baby's blanket and pillow and asked me to pick her up. "I go see my Johnny!"
Both kids have their own agenda in the morning. John likes to wake everyone up and Gillian just wants to find her brother.
John is an early riser. On school days he wakes up before his alarm. On the weekends he tends to be the first one up. This morning was no different. He came into our room and started to climb into our bed. Daddy told him "John, go downstairs, open the backdoor for Duncan and then you can go downstairs and watch two shows." John made it to the hallway and he started whistling to get Duncan's attention. Even Duncan thought it was too early to be up and he didn't move. Daddy finally told John to stop. John said "But I can't get Duncan downstairs!" Daddy said "What did I tell you to do?" John yelled "Open the door for Duncan! Oh, ok." And he disappeared.
We really need to talk to him about being quiet in the morning and not waking up the entire house.
I went to give the kids some goodnight kisses tonight. Gillian was snug in her bed and she refused to let me snuggle with her. But she did give me a "kiss on my face" (aka a kiss on the lips) and a squeezie. I went to check on John. It was super quiet in John's room. With his new tent on his bed it was really dark in his room. I stuck my head in the tent and gave him a kiss on his cheek. He rolled over and said "Hi Mom!" I was surprised to see him awake and I said "You're awake?" He said "Of course, I couldn't go to sleep without giving you a kiss." He just melts my heart.
Gillian is very difficult to get out of bed in the morning. On the weekends we just let her sleep until she is ready to get up. However on the weekdays, either Daddy or I get the pleasure of waking her up. Some mornings she rolls over and tells me "Two more minutes." Other days, she doesn't say anything and rolls over and puts her manket on her head. This morning, John was awake before his alarm. He got dressed and then offered to wake up Gillian. He went into her room and I could hear him say "Gill! It's time to get up!" She must not have responded because again we heard him say "Come On Gill! It's time to wake up!" He then came running back to me and said "I've got nothing!" Sorry, it's not easy to get The Bean out of bed.
I picked the kids up from school today. In the car on our way home, I asked the kids about their day. Gillian said "I don't wanna talk about it now!" She crossed her arms and refused to talk to me. I asked John about his day. He said "It was great. Mom, can I tell you something?" I said of course. He said "I saw Gillian in timeout today. I was walking past her classroom and she was in the hallway." I asked Gillian if she went to timeout today. She said "No!" I asked John if he was sure she was in timeout. He said "I think so. She was all by herself in the hallway. And then she took a nap." I said maybe that was the problem. Maybe she didn't take a nap and she was in the hallway because she was making too much noise. Gillian did you take nap? Then Gillian burst into tears. She calmed down and John and I stopped talking for a little while. I looked back at the kids and told them that they looked like sleepyheads. Gillian said "Not me! Johnny is sleepy! Not me!" I said you look sleepy to me. She again burst into tears "I not sleepy. I don't wanna nap!" Clearly someone did not nap at school today.
I love tucking the kids in bed. They are so sweet. They try to prolong the goodnight as long as possible. They give tons of kisses and squeezies. Gillian will fuss over which blanket goes where or which pillow to use. John will want me to snuggle in his bed and then after 30 seconds he will kick me out. He will want the smallest random stuffed animal (that we can't ever find). He will finally settle down and fall asleep. John falls asleep quickly, but Gillian does not. She takes her time and talks to herself and her toys. I always go back and check on them before I go to sleep. I love how sweet they look when they are sleeping.
One silver lining to being stuck at home for Hurricane Sandy, was that Gillian has finally come to terms with the fire whistle. I'm sure I have mentioned it before, but we have a fire station behind our house. The fire whistle goes off occasionally and Gillian has been afraid of it for awhile now. When the whistle would go off, Daddy and I would go running to find Gillian paralyzed and crying. She would shake and cry until the whistle stopped. During Hurricane Sandy, the whistle went off every couple of hours. She progressively got better with the whistle every time it went off. We are now at the point where she covers her ears and says "Whistle Not Nice!" Even though she is really cool with the whistle now, it went off during her nap today. Daddy went running to find her very upset. That I can totally understand why she was upset, I would be crying too if a whistle woke me up from a nap.
I put Gillian to bed tonight. I tucked her in, gave her Kermit to snuggle and turned on her doggie that plays music. I gave her a few kisses. She turns to me and says "Hug?" I leaned over and gave her a hug. "Kiss?" I give her another kiss. I say goodnight and go next door to John's room. I start to tuck him in and I can hear Gillian say "Kiss, Kiss?" I run back into Gillian's room and give her another kiss. I turn to walk out and she says "Kiss Rella?" (Gillian has a Cinderella doll that she calls Rella). Of course Rella gets a kiss and Kermit and doggie too. Once again I leave her and head back into John's room. I tuck John in and give him plenty of snuggles and kisses. After all of those kisses, I realize that I left my phone in Gillian's room. I went back in and again I hear her say "Kiss? Kiss!" How can you deny that request? I gave her tons of kisses and to make sure I was being fair I stopped in Johns room. I'm glad I did. He hopped up and said "I forgot something!" He gave me a giant hug. Love my sweet babies.
I love that Gillian is becoming like John. She has her little group of "friends" that have to join her in bed. John calls his stuffed animals his "friends." Every night when I check on her I take some of the friends out of her bed, but yet every morning she has them in bed with her. Right now she has Kermit, Scout, butterfly pillow pet, Eeyore, rag doll, lambie, and bear. There is barely any room for Gillian. I think we need a bigger bed.
