Friday, January 25, 2013

Boys are just trouble!


Today Levi, my barely one year old, got stuck in the bathroom. My only guess... He crawled in there, looked behind the door, accidentally closed it by leaning on it. He didn't worry about it and moved on to his favorite bathroom activity. Brushing his teeth. (This requires climbing onto the step stool and hanging on to the counter for dear life!) Next,  he opened the drawer to find his toothbrush (and Chapstick, combs, floss, etc). 
This is when the problems started. He can't get off the stool, he usually whines for help. I heard him whine, went to the bathroom and couldn't open the door, even though it was obviously not locked. I pushed harder, nothing.  Then I pushed really hard, nothing! I knew exactly what the problem was...  When the bathroom drawer is open the door can't open!  I tried telling him to close the drawer, which was pointless. When the crying got louder I tried yelling at him to close the drawer, which was even more pointless! I looked under the door and couldn't see his feet, which is how I knew he was on the stool. Then I tried pushing the door really hard to try to see in. I caught a small glimpse of his hands clinging to the counter and to his tooth brush. I tried everything I could think of, no luck. With reinforcements on the way, I was seriously considering having to break the door, but couldn't figure out how to make sure Levi would be out of the way. Then our miracle happened... After 35 minutes of him screaming,  multiple phone calls, treats and colorful cards shoved under the door (to encourage him to get off the stool),  a yard stick, 2 marshmallow guns reassembled, a Swiffer handle, video taken under the door to assess the situation and absolutely no progress. Levi closed the drawer and I was able to go in and comfort my traumatized one year old. 
Oh what a morning! Glad he is safe and seems to have gotten over it... after all he was back at the counter again this afternoon! 

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Crazy dreams

Gage has been anticipating the day that Trevin would be old enough to appreciate Star Wars. Yesterday was the day. Gage and Trevin hunkered down on the couch and popped in Star Wars #4 (on VHS). Trevin was glued to his seat and had lots of questions. Is Chewbacca a bear? What are those light swords? Why are they talking like that? Did the bad guy really win? It was all very entertaining from my perspective!  When the movie got over, we quickly got ready for bed and tucked the kids in.
By 1:00am Trevin was waking me up to see if he could sleep in my bed. I let him climb in and he proceeded to tell me, " I had a dream about a dragon, at the end he bit my head off, but it's ok because that's just what dragons do, and it was just a dream." Poor kid. I feel right to sleep but apparently he didn't. Next thing I know he is waking up Gage to see if there really are "things" on our ceiling fan. (I talked to Trevin this morning and he said the "things were flying fish!).  We tried to reassure Trevin that there wasn't anything on the fan. But, pretty soon Trevin decided he should probably just go back to his bed.(I'm sure he was worried that fish would fall on him is he stayed in our bed!)
 I thought that would be the end of it. I was wrong. Next, I woke up to Trevin waking up Gage, telling him that their were monkeys under his bed! He climbed into bed next to Gage this time, but again never fell asleep. He kept asking, "Dad, can you see the monkeys under my bed?" Gage told him no and he tried to help Trevin understand and teach him "Sometimes at night we think things are real, but they aren't really real." It didn't help. Trevin suggested that they get a flashlight and just go check. Gage continued to explain that there weren't any monkeys. Trevin was persistent. After about the 6th time of suggesting the flashlight check, Gage finally gave in. The climbed out of bed, got a flashlight. Trevin turned it on... then he wouldn't walk past our doorway. He shined the light into his room and said, "I don't see them." Gage encouraged Trevin that they should get closer to look. They did and Trevin came back to report. "We didn't see any monkeys with the flashlight, but when I looked with just my eyes they were there! I saw the red lights! their eyes!"   Trevin wanted to sleep next to Gage. "Dad you will keep me safe." Gage promised he would and we finally all got settled, except Trevin. He decided it would be better if he slept in the middle of the bed. So we rearranged and Trevin had one more request. "Will you hold me tight with both arms?" Poor kid! I held him tight with both arms! He still didn't fall asleep, but apparently I did, which resulted in loosening my hold. He would wake me up and remind me to hold tight. He also woke Gage up regularly to ask, "Dad are you still keeping me safe?" and reminding him "Sometimes things aren't really real huh!" Eventually he did fall asleep. When he woke up this morning he looked around and said, "Whew, It's finally morning!"
I'm not sure if this is a result of Star Wars and all of the crazy characters... or maybe it's the treasure maps we made yesterday. (We made up all kinds of obstacles to pass though like Snake Forest, Mighty Monster Land, and Pirates in Alligator water.) Either way, I think we'll tone down the imagination toady so hopefully everyone can get some sleep tonight!