The big boy bed - night 3

I don't understand why my kid has restless sleep. What is on his mind? Overdue bills? Relationship drama? A weekend to-do list? Both nights (2 & 3) I went check on him at 10:30pm and his entire body is on the bed, but his head is resting on the floor. I usually get summoned back around 12:30 or so. I'll lay on the bed with him and here come the karate chops. He climbs across my face to reach his music box. He'll search his mattress for his second pacifier (Yes, he sleeps with two, sometimes three of them.) He'll sit straight up in bed then fall down and try to sleep in whatever position he lands in. Then he starts invading my space. My belly becomes a pillow. My pillow becomes his. My face becomes his footrest. After about 1 - 2 hours of his whirlwind of face slaps, scratches and roundhouse kicks, Cameron eventually caves in and falls asleep.

I don't even bother heading back to my bed because by this time Brian has drowned out the music box with his snores. As I am sleeping on the mattress next to Cameron, he starts crying.
It's 2:45am. Come on kid. Please.

Wait. Where is my kid?

He has rolled so much during the night that he has rolled himself into a burrito with his top sheet all the way to the end of his mattress. (I will start sleeping next to my camera.) No appendages are visible, and I can only see the top of his head. I just start unrolling and out he comes. I climb into bed with him to try and get him to spare just a few more hours of sleep. What is that smell? Why are all his sheets wet? You've got to be kidding me. Those three cups of milk before bed shot through my kid and were soaked up by the sheets and now by me. You want to know the worst part? We didn't even bother to get out of bed to change sheets and clothes. Surprised? The things we do for a few more hours of sleep.

The big boy bed - Night 1

We didn't even make it until midnight.

He went down like normal. After a little bit of rocking Brian put him down on his mattress, and he watched his crib aquarium (which we rigged to the bassinet which is against all warning labels on the thing) and fell asleep. Among the sheets I couldn't find him at first, but thank goodness he snores. At 10pm he starts crying and violently yanking on the gate outside his door. Here we go.

I managed to put him back on his mattress, hit play the aquarium and watch him fall asleep again. I helped myself to the other mattress in the room and decided to catch some shut eye. Then the music began. This kid spent what seemed to be a half an hour playing with the buttons on the aquarium. We'd listen to classical, then to nature, then hit nature again. I don't even think he realized I was in the room, but I sure was about to lose it.

At 11pm he was going for the gate to make his escape. I pulled him on the mattress with me, and after 15 minutes he is not someone you want to share a bed with. He used Jack as a pillow, I got kicked in the face, and he tried to claw my eyes out. I threw in the towel and put him back in his crib. On the brighter side of things, he slept until 7:15!!! I can't believe it. Usually I'm up at 5:20am with him. He finally got the hang of this crib, and we're trying to kick him out. That's about right.

The "big boy" bed

Over the past two weeks I have googled "transitioning from the crib to a bed" so much that the computer is about to block all searches. Most websites/parents say you should hype up the "big boy bed" thing. That's fine. Is a 14 month old a big boy? And by "big" are we looking at pounds or maturity. Pounds? We have that battle won. Maturity? Cameron just learned to give a high five yesterday, and he still doesn't know how to say "Mama" or wave bye bye. I say "doesn't know how" because I am not willing to believe that my child is already being stubborn and refuses to perform on our command.

I have 5 weeks to get this kid adjusted to life as a "big boy." 5 weeks! 5! What in the hell have I been doing for 9 months? Here's the worst part...Brian and I ordered bunk beds (I should just put a period at this part of the sentence.) from Rooms to Go. We found some that can be separated. The catch? Oh they won't be delivered until October 18. Upon reading the fine print, Rooms to Go doesn't like to cut down a tree until they have charged your credit card. Then they let the magic happen. Either that or I ordered a way too popular set of bunk beds. There cannot be that many insane parents out there.

You may be thinking...you really have 5 weeks plus the time when you bring the baby home from the hospital and he sleeps in the bassinet. Here's a little bit of info for you. The bassinet has a weight limit of 12 pounds. Cameron left the hospital at 8 pounds 3 ounces. In a week, he went up to 9 pounds 11 ounces. Since Jack will share the same genes as his father I fully expect him to come out of the womb snoring. So 5 weeks is what I'm counting on.

We have been trying to get him used to the two mattresses on the floor. He goes upstairs before bath time and proceeds to jump from one bed to another. Yup. He's adjusting to this "big boy" thing just fine. One night he fled from the tub to run full speed and belly flop on his mattress naked as a jay bird. Why was my video camera downstairs?

This will be an interesting 5 weeks of turning a 14-month old into a "big boy."

Weekends at the Rodrigue house

As you can imagine, the brainwashing has begun. My child sees more football games in a given weekend than most. He's still chasing the ticker at the bottom of the screen. Why? I don't know. It's mildly amusing until he grabs at Brian's 50 inch TV screen. Then the threats of a butt whooping begin.

Here's his game-ready mohawk. The sad part? I didn't have to add gel to create this look. This is how he woke up. I really wanted to go buy some eye black to give him a more complete look, but I held back.




My Who Dat boys!

This kid has a license?

Cruising for some ladies. Notice how I kept him inside. He's too young for all that girl drama.


Who looks more ready for bed?

33 weeks

This picture is not me at 33 weeks. It was taken several weeks back, but I got a little behind on uploading pictures. I have no excuses only a 14 month old and a ridiculously long nesting period. Cameron will almost never fall asleep with me because of the giant watermelon I'm keeping under my shirt. On the one hand, he's using his brother as a pillow. On the other hand, it almost looks like he's hugging baby Jack. Couldn't pass up the opportunity to capture some brotherly love.


This is 33 weeks. See a difference? And I have how long left? My poor belly button. Gone forever.

Daddy's shoulders

For the longest time Cameron refused to sit on Brian's shoulders. You can see the struggle in the very beginning of the video where he crosses his legs. Cameron finally gave in and he just loves riding on Brian's shoulders.

Outside

The tropical storm we experienced was pretty mild here in Prairieville. It didn't really flood just a lot of wind and a bit of rain oh and it left thousands of sticks in my yard. Thanks for that last part. My kid has tasted them all. There is no such thing as reasoning with a 14 month old as to why he cannot go outside. This is his reaction. No, my first instinct during a temper tantrum is not to run and get the camera, but I was hoping he would stop crying and go for the camera. At this point I had tried toys, food, drinks and even money (notice the checkbook in the first video) This is a very mild temper tantrum, but it paints the picture.

Would this be considered an eating disorder?

Big deal. It's a ripped book. Oh no, this comes with an explanation. Cameron reads Goodnight NOLA religiously. I read it to him. Then he "reads" it aloud back to me. The word "read" is used loosely because I can't understand his mixture of German and Hebrew. The majority of it sounds like this, "Yuck ah, yuck ah, yuck ah, da." A translator would be helpful. Back to the explanation...in case you haven't noticed, my child loves food. He is also not picky about the appearance or freshness of the food. The willpower just isn't there with Cameron. He finally caved and started giving in to the praline. It started with just a lick, which isn't all that unusual since all items are sampled first. Then he bent the page to see if the praline would fit in his mouth. The taste must have been just right because he ripped the praline out of the book and shoved it in his mouth. This was all I salvaged from his hunger attack. No, I haven't found the top half of the praline, which may explain the constipation Cameron's been having.