Adventures in Grandparenting -- Day 3

Today is day 3 of our adventure.  And, in case it's not obvious, I'm actually writing these blog entries in great detail for the benefit of Ted & Sara. This way they'll know what's going on while they're away!

Dinner last night went extremely well.  Cyrus (the bottomless pit) ate everything on his plate -- chicken, rice, peas, and strawberries.  But the best news was that Leili ate really well, too.  She even asked for seconds on her chicken and peas! (She wasn't interested in her rice so we didn't press it.) After finishing all that, she said she was still hungry and wanted cantaloupe.  I cut up a cantaloupe and she had three helpings of it. 

Since it wasn't "bath night" we had some time after dinner to just chill.  Leili and I did a sticker book that I brought out of my Grandma bag of tricks.   She really liked that.  We also let the kids watch some Nick, Jr. shows.  About 7:00 Leili again said she was hungry.  So she drank her chocolate milk mixture (Pediasure & milk) and that seemed to satisfy her. 

Cyrus went down without any problem.  However, Leili had her first mini-meltdown.  At 8:00 she said she wasn't ready for bed yet and wanted to do a puzzle.  We explained to her that it was bedtime and we took her upstairs.  She lost it and started crying for Mommy and then Daddy.  I tried the phone trick but she wasn't going to have any part of that.  I tried giving her lots of choices about what she wanted to wear to bed, which stories she wanted, etc.  We didn't even go near the toothbrush as that simply wasn't going to happen.  After about 5 minutes of crying she started pointing to some of the books she wanted -- actually they have been the same three books the whole time.  We decided to try to call Mommy and Daddy again, and this time it worked.  She knew it was "pretend" but seemed to feel better after that.  All was going well with books and then she got into bed.  We had 2 drinks of water, a request for a special "friend" to sleep with (which grandma had to go downstairs to find), 2 more drinks of water, and being covered up with her special scarf.  I could see that this was going to go on indefinitely.  When she said she wanted to look out the window, I said no, that it's time to go to sleep now.  She started to cry softly but I left the room anyway.  I watched her on the monitor and she got out of bed.  The next thing I saw, she was trying to put another shirt on and was still upset, even though she was quiet.  I went back upstairs and asked if I could help her.  She said she wanted to put on the "birthday pajamas" on top of the ones she was already wearing.  I helped her with them and she calmed down.  I left the room and then she was fine.  It wasn't long before she fell straight to sleep -- with two sets of PJs on.

Once again, both kids slept through the night.  Cyrus woke about 7:15 this morning.  Leili woke about 7:30.  Because today was preschool, I knew we'd have to be ready by about 8:45 when her ride was coming.  At 7:30 she did not want me to come get her yet so I went back downstairs where Chuck was feeding Cyrus.  At 7:45 I went back up and she told me she still wasn't ready to come down.  She said she "needed to finish singing her song first."  Knowing we had some decisions to be made (what to wear, what to eat for breakfast, what to pack for lunch, etc.) and were under a time constraint, I asked her if we could talk a minute before she finished her song.  She went along with that and we talked about what to wear, and eat, etc.  That bought me some time and I went downstairs and made her lunch and prepared her breakfast.  Meanwhile, she finished her song.  At about 8:00 I went back up and she was out of bed, playing with her babies.  She let me dress her in between fixing her baby and other stalling techniques.  We came downstairs and I tried giving her various breakfast choices.  Naturally, she wanted things like chocolate goldfish rather than more nutritious things.  I managed to get her to eat several bites of cantaloupe and one bite of a breakfast bar.  At the same time, we got her into some shoes and socks so she was ready to go.  At about 8:45 her ride arrived.  She started to cry and said she didn't want to go to school.  But Nanette, Sara's friend, was great -- she picked her up and took her to the car while talking soothingly to her.  Leili got into the car seat and Nanette took her to preschool.  I explained that she hadn't eaten much so we sent the rest of the breakfast bar with her in addition to her lunch and snack foods.

Cyrus was very active today.  We spent a lot of time "walking" around while he threw the ball.  He loved "running" after it to go pick it up and then throw it again.  All of this was done while holding one of my fingers.  He definitely wants to walk and run but isn't quite there yet.  He had another large lunch -- broccoli, pizza, a cheese stick and grapes.  He eats everything I put in front of him!

Leili came home from preschool about 1:15 and was in a better mood.  I let her unwind a little before talking about going down for a nap.  After putting Cyrus down, she also went in for a nap.  Cyrus slept about 2 1/2 hours and Leili about 2 hours. 

Once the kids got up after naps, we had a tea party in the kitchen.  Leili served us and we all sipped on tea cups.  We also played again "up high."  The two of them had a lot of fun playing in their nylon fabric tunnel as well as on their slide and with their little wooden train set.  We thought about taking them to Chick-Fil-A (Leili's favorite) for dinner but decided we didn't want to press our luck.  Both kids were a little whiny at times this afternoon so we decided to just stay home.  The kids dinner was mac & cheese again along with strawberries and mixed vegetables.  I had to chuckle when I first gave Leili her mac & cheese.  Before I could finish serving her she said "where's my vegetables?"  I then gave her the mixed vegetables I had prepared.  The next thing she said was "where's my strawberries?  They're supposed to go right there"  pointing to a spot on her plate.  She ate everything.  Then she said she was still hungry and wanted a hot dog so I gave her a turkey dog.  Naturally, when Cyrus saw it, he wanted one too.  Then, Leili suggested pudding so I gave both kids chocolate pudding for dessert. So, even though she didn't eat much this morning, she made up for it tonight.

Both kids took baths tonight.  I managed to bargain with Leili about doing her hair.  She had told me she didn't want me to wash her hair.  However, she did mention she wanted to take her bath before Cyrus.  I used that as a bargaining chip telling her she could be first if she let me wash her hair.  It worked. 

Our new phrase with Leili is "that's a good deal."  We've been doing a lot of bargaining with her to make sure she understands what will be happening and so there are no last minute surprises.  When we strike up a deal, we ask her "is that a good deal?" and she says, "yes, that's a good deal."

While today was a little more stressful at times, all in all, it's still going well.  Leili and Cyrus are a delight to be around.  We're really enjoying watching their little brains work -- they are both so smart!