Happy Easter!

This morning was Joel's turn to sleep in so I was hoping all morning that Lily wouldn't see her Easter basket sitting on the floor by the back door so that Joel would be there when she "opened" it.  

 

 

Somehow she didn't see it until right when Joel got up.  She said, "Awwww!  Is that a surprise for ME??"  Then she tore in to it!

 

Tyler was pretty excited too.

 Lily helped Tyler put his monies into his piggy.

Tyler got some yogurt melts in his Easter basket.  I tried to give him one and he spit out. 

So I put it in his mouth again.  And he spit it out again.  I think he freaks out over the texture of something solid in his mouth.

So I put it in his mouth one more time and this time it stayed in but he wasn't too happy with it.

He started gagging on it.

He REALLY is not a fan.

Finally, it dissolved enough for him to eat it but he was none too happy with me!

I guess Tyler's just not ready for totally solid food yet!

This afternoon, we had an Easter egg hunt in the back yard.  Lily was mostly interested in finding the eggs with chocolate in them.  She couldn't have cared less about the ones that had money in them!  One day, that will change.

Where are we going? (clap, clap, clap) Play Park!

Come on vamanos!  Everybody let's go! Today the weather was so nice.  FINALLY!  After what seems like the longest winter ever, we finally had a nice warm day to go outside and play!  We took the kiddos to the playground (or play park as Dora calls it).

Lily was tearing it up.  It's amazing how much stronger and braver she's gotten since we were at the playground last fall.  "I want to do it mySELF!"  Everything is "mySELF!" 

Tyler was also getting in on the action.  He was so good and happy the whole time we were there. 

 

Lily made some friends too while we were there.

I'd say we all had fun playing together!

 

I'm having a hard time writing this blog post because as I do, Lily's standing at her doorway screaming and crying and not wanting to go to bed (PLEASE don't wake up Tyler!!).  This has been going on for over 90 minutes now with no apparent end in sight.  It's enough to make anyone lose their mind. 

We were always so proud of our parenting tactics and bedtime routines because Lily was always so good about going to sleep on her own.  We have a routine, we read a story and all that jazz we'd shut the door and she used to just go to sleep.  But ever since we started Lily at daycare last August, we've had our ups and downs with going to bed and we are in a MAJOR down.  It seems we get her through the down period and back to normal and then something else will happen to mess us up again.

Lily got sick a few weeks ago and that's the latest thing that's got us all messed up again.  She freaks out....FREAKS OUT....if we close her door.  And she wants us to stand by the door until she falls asleep.  We've been doing this now for a several weeks and we're trying to find a way to break the habit.  Nothing is working.

I bought this baby gate a long time ago and we've never used it.  Tonight I thought we'd try this since she won't stay in bed if we're not standing by the door.  She stood at the gate for about 2 mintues before she tried to climb over it.  She wasn't successful at first.  But about 10 minutes later - over she went.

 

So I went back there.  Picked her up, set her down on the other side of the gate, then I followed her over.  She put herself back into bed and told me to stand by the door.  I never said word this whole time (Super Nanny style).  I stood by the door (out of her sight) for probably 20 minutes and she was finally snoring.  FINALLY.  It's 9:45pm.  We've been trying to put her to bed for 2 hours.  I'm in tears.  Joel was so over it I thought he was going to start shaking and turning green like the Hulk.

 

This brings me to the week Lily spent with her Grams.  Mom said she was so good all week, until I showed up on Thursday night.  I walked in the door and she was all sweet for about 10 minutes.....and then, she flipped.  The rest of the evening Thursday she was a bit unbearable but mostly she just didn't want me to leave her side.  But Friday, all day, she was the very definition of a terror.  She screamed.  She threw tantrums.  She kicked and hit.  She pulled the "yes/no" routine.  You name it, she did it.  But the time I got in the car to drive back to Columbus, my nerves were so raw.  At one point, Katie said she didn't know how I hadn't spanked her yet.  LOTS and LOTS of self control. 

 

I'll end the post with something more fun.  Tyler is so much fun to wach these days.  He just plays and plays.