Runnin' The Boy Ragged

Tommy has recently been waking up several times during the night and either climbing into bed with us or crying in his room until we went to get him. He has always been a great sleeper so this change of events has been disturbing for all of us, especially Ben and me who are now waking up at least twice per night with Lily and a few more times with Tommy. This makes us all grumpy.

Last Sunday night Tommy was wide awake from 11:30pm-2:30am, chatting us up about dinosaurs and the like. As I was trying to convince myself not to strangle the child an idea hit me: he's waking up because he doesn't get enough exercise. Duh, right? My one goal in life then became Get-Tommy-to-Run-as-Much-as-Possible-All-Day-Long. It's not like we are lazy, but when it's 110 degrees outside, the walk to the mailbox and back can be long and taxing.  We needed to get outside more often despite the heat. I decided every day that I was going to do one activity to engage his body and one to engage his mind and I figured this would probably leave him no option but to sleep right through the night. I was right.

So, here are the pictures of our week of being engaged in mind and body. It worked beautifully and we had a ton of fun on top of it. I am learning to be more of a yes-mom, to go with the flow, and to let Tommy lead me in his play and discovery. I don't actually have to be that creative (for those of you who know me well, this should come as a relief), I just have to listen for cues Tommy gives me about things he is interested in and things he wants to do. Nobody told me that actually playing with your child makes being a mom so much more fun!

We recently changed our bedtime routine to include me playing the piano after the kids have gone to bed. Tommy especially loves to lie down and listen to Debussy's "Clair de Lune" while he drifts off to dreamland. Surprise, surprise, once I started playing the piano consistently Tommy got interested in playing, too. I pulled out the old keyboard my grandma gave to me when I little and marked it up so that Tommy could start to explore it and see the patterns in the keys. I marked all the keys of the same letter the same color (ie. all the A's are red, the B's are purple, etc.). Then I wrote out "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" in the coordinating colors. Mostly I just let Tommy explore all the sounds the keyboard can make, but we played through "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" a couple of times together and he actually did really well! It is really fun to share my love of music with my talented little boy.

This is Tommy doing Car Paint. He drove his cars through the paint onto the cardboard. He had fun, but to be honest, I was a little disappointed it didn't last longer. Once he drove his entire fleet through the paint one time he decided he was done and then I had to wash off all the cars. Oh well, it was still fun.

Here is Tommy finger painting. We need lots of fun indoor activities during the summer! I went to Wal-Mart and spent a pretty penny on lots of new outdoor toys, including this awesome pool. It's actually big enough for more than one person to sit in! We also got a Slip 'n' Slide, some water guns, and some new balls. Perfect for summer. Going to the Splash Pad is a favorite summer activity for us. This year Tommy has been especially fearless. He runs through the whole thing and even waits under the buckets for the water to dump right onto his head. I love that I can sit back and relax with Lily while Tommy just runs and runs. Last week we had an pool party with the Activity Days Girls. In the past Tommy has always been very scared of the pool (this is a good thing in my opinion). This time he decided to be brave and jump off the side into my arms. He did this over and over and over again. I couldn't have been more proud. We worked on kicking and moving his arms, too, but I think the most important thing is that he has fun and overcomes his fears of the pool. Lily, however, did not like the pool, and spent almost the entire time watching from the sidelines.

I read the blog Play at Home Mom and it is truly a treasure house of awesome ideas to do with your kids!