Once again - just did the minimum to get him to bed. I asked him if he wanted to read a book - he said "ya..." and we walked together into his room from the living room. Once in his room, he poked and prodded around to find a book and then he climbed into bed unassisted and started to read his book. I asked him if he wanted to be tucked in -

"ya...." so I obliged and asked for a Kiss... He's giving them away right now, so I thought I would push my luck! Yup - got one no problem!

I told him good night and I left the room. Same as last night. Same small protest and then he put himself to sleep once again.

I'm lovin' it...

Crossing my fingers again that he stays asleep all night. We'll see how he does.

Mac slept through the night for the first time in a while. I am so happy. The transfer to the Big Boy bed is still underway, but one night under his belt is GREAT! Last night I put him in and I asked if he wanted to be tucked in - "yaa.." was his answer. I asked him if he wanted me to read to him - "no!". I asked for a kiss - he obliged and laid back down again. I turned down the light, said good night and walked out of the room. He protested for about 30 seconds, and then started to put himself to sleep. The process included flopping around in bed, rolling from side to side, talking to some of the painted animals on his bed and reading a bit of his book.

In the past I have stayed in the room to ensure he says in bed. Now it seems that he is aware that it is bed time and he goes to sleep. I hope that the trend continues!

I'm crossing my fingers.

I've had a talk with Mac this week about Mom not being in the house. He's asked me a number of times where she is and he does the usual calling out for her at different stages of the day. I have explained to him that Momma is working and will be back to see him in a while. He responds with a singular "oh..." and it keeps him happy.

Tonight was a special occasion for him - he talked to Kelli on the phone from Toronto. He absolutely loved it! He was chatting away, pointing at the phone and Kelli was reacting to him and talking with him all along. He loved it. He was beaming and excited to talk with her. Surprisingly enough, he finished up his conversation (I guess he said what he needed to say) and he handed the phone back to me.

He is starting to have quite a little mindset to himself... He never ceases to amaze me!

Mark down another milestone. I taught Mac how to eat Jello. We had a great time having some after dinner together in the living room. I taught him the ever famous Jello Slurp! He found it hilarious but couldn't quite get the action down. He was trying to blow it out rather then slurping it in... He'll get the hang of it soon enough.

Speaking of after dinner treats (or in Mac's opinion, treats anytime) he has diversified from the singular top treat of Ice Cream. Jello is in and Ice Cream is a close second. I think it is because Kelli bought him the pre-made Jello in the single serving containers. If the fridge is open, he bee-lines it for the Jello shelf where he can see the multi-coloured containers. I've had to move them out of eyesight in order to have some peace when I am getting food out of the fridge.

He has moved on to realize that Jello is not just for eating, but also for mushing in his hands. I have to work on keeping a close eye on him, or else I have quite a bit of cleanup to do after the Jello has landed.

The put down process is getting shorter these days. I am gradually spending less time in the room. It seems to be working.

Kelli left for Toronto today in order to complete some contract work. She will be away until Wednesday evening. I hope Mac doesn't obsess about Momma not being around. I plan on telling him that she's "at work". We'll see how it goes.

Please sleep through the night

Transition to the big boy bed is ok, but he's up for some reason in the middle of the night. Twice... Might be his teeth, might be the new surroundings, who knows...

Patience, right? things will get worse before they get better. I have to swap out that DAMN rocking chair to the nice QUIET glider.

We decided to start Mac on a transition to the BigBoy Bed in his room. It has been set up for quite a while, but he only associates it with playing and putting his stuffed toys in it. I am concerned with the amount of climbing out that is possible since he is footloose and fancy free without any rails.

The going to bed process was a little stranger then normal. I felt that it required a little more coddling and assistance, since it was a transition for him. I decided to stay in the room with him, to ensure he knows that it's time to sleep and things like that. I setup the rocking chair and hung out with him for a while, until I felt he was starting to go to sleep.

It took about an hour of in room time with him. Not great, but worth the transition to the big bed, if it works... I'll see if he sleeps through the night.

Just wanted to touch base about Mac again. I am on Mac watch tonight (self imposed). He got up around 3:30... He couldn't shake it off so I went in and calmed him down - little guy was hanging over the side standing on the bottom part of the rail. Geezzz!

Might be teeth, might be scared - I don't know. I tried massaging his jaw muscles and stroking his hair. He seemed to like that.

He was definitely tired. I comforted him, got him something to drink and laid him down again. After a while when this wasn't working, he was calling out to me and Kelli - Kelli came in to help. She changed him and when he tried to leave the room, I put him back in the crib and explained it was time to go back to sleep and that Mommy and Daddy had to go to sleep too.

Kelli and I left the room and at his request, left the door open. It worked for a bit, then he decided to get out of the crib. I went in, calmed him down and told him to go to sleep.

That was 1/2 hour ago. Some calling, maybe climbing out and he has since fallen asleep on the floor or something. No sound for a while now, so I am going to bed.

Start of a process... I just hope I can figure it out.

I had to record this one for the online journal entries... Kelli called me at work this afternoon to inform me that MY son had decided that he didn't want to nap and climbed OUT of his crib with the railing in the upright position. We all know he is a good climber, but this is the first time he has managed to get all the way out, suspend himself until his arms were straight and drop to the floor. Mr. escape artist himself! I hope we can catch it on video!

Kelli wasn't impressed. This didn't happen just once, but THREE TIMES! She had a dentist appointment and had Jon and Allison from the back apartment coming over to watch over him. She decided that it wasn't worth the battle and let him stay up. She was amused to see that Mac felt that it was appropriate to tell Allison and Jon all about the incident in his babble speech before she left.

Mac, Jon and Allison had a great time... at one point they even gave Mac a bottle and he decided to have a power cat nap for a few minutes in the living room. Apparently that was enough for him. He was up and about in a bit and continued to play and have fun.

I worked later then normal and didn't get home until 6 ish. By then, Kelli was tired, hungry and eating leftovers... I found Mac in the kitchen obsessing about feeding Emma. He came running to the top of the stairs to show me how good of a helper he was. He then led me around the house and pointed and talked about a great number of things - all due to the delirious "lack of sleep" state I am sure. During dinner I managed to get him to eat by sharing some of my take out sub I had brought home. He loved the fact that he was eating some of Daddy's dinner.

As I type this, Mac is having a waking moment in his room. I don't know what to expect this evening - other then uncertainty. He could be up over and over again or he might work it out and sleep through - wouldn't that be nice! Kelli has a hard time with it due to her motherly bat senses. They are heightened due to her lighter then normal sleep patterns with the TWINS still developing.

Off to bed to get some sleep - wish me luck!

Just got back from a nice relaxing lunch with Kelli. We went out after having her 19 week ultrasound and first meeting with the multiple birth OB specialist. Mackenzie was home with John (neighbour) enjoying some play time and ice cream.

From the ultrasound, we discovered that "Baby Right" and "Baby Left" have separate placentas and separate membranes. Apparently this is the perfect situation for twins - each has their own superhighway of food supply from Kelli. All in all - the specialist said that everything is perfect and we should behave as if everything is normal and not to worry about a thing.

Oh yeah - we believe that "Baby Left" is a girl. Visual inspection has lead the ultrasound person to believe that there are no external signs of any boy parts. "Baby Right" was not as co-operative. She/He was not in the best viewing position. Interestingly enough, the ultrasound person said that she believes it is another girl as well.

WOW

I can't wait!

Oh yeah - why am I writing this online? I've decided to start this online journal as a record of what goes on with me, my family and whatever I am thinking about at the time. I have never been good with paper based journals, but I feel that this will be easier to do, since I will be able to update it from wherever I am, using email! It will be nice to have a record that I can share with my friends and family