Dave and I decided to try an 8 pm bedtime for Ajax and Noomi. We’ve tried doing this in the past, but its never seemed to work out and the kids never grew accustomed it. This came about in part because we want to spend more time with our children in the evenings after dinner (as we don’t get home till 6 pm) and because it’s summer and Ajax has been reminding us that he’s older now.
It seems that for the last few weeks right as we finish up dinner little kids congregate in our cul-de-sac. There are four little kids all around Ajax’s age. So of course after dinner one of us takes Ajax out to play with his friends. Ajax and the other kids play so well together. They ride bikes, race around, and follow each other. The other parents are quite pleasant as well. Last night when I was inside with Noomi, I watched Dave standing outside with two other dads talking, and no one seemed to be watching the kids zipping all over the place.
This later bedtime, however, is having a toll on Ajax. He’s just not used to being up that late (one night he wasn’t down till 9 pm), and is of course up at 6 am sharp. He’s been a bit of a handful because of the over-tiredness. At school his teachers have commented how wonderful he’s been. He’s been listening well, sleeping/eating, and always tells us about the books they read. His favorite right now is – Teacher from the Black Lagoon. He also tells me how he and his friends play “chaser” at school. After he explained it to me, I told him, Ajax that’s called “tag” I used to play that when I was a little girl. He honestly looked at me like I was crazy. No mom, chaser. He also told me that he still wants to be a dragon trainer when he grows up, so that should be fun.
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On Friday, Noomi scraped her thumb at school. Her thumb-sucking thumb. She is almost 11 months old and that is her way to settle herself and put herself to sleep. Therefore, last night was pretty rough. She went down ok, but a little after 3 am was up and crying and distraught over not being able to suck her thumb. She was up till 5 am, when Dave finally took her downstairs and let her sleep on his chest. He said that she was up at 5;55 am for the day. When she got up she immediately said – UP! And this morning she has used several new words – Up, bear, and ball. She can also say – lamp, grandpa, Ajax, hi. But her favorite words are still – dada and there. And she’ll then proceed to point. Anyways, after telling Dave that she was ready to get up, she ate a ton and then proceeded to pull herself up on one of Ajax’s large tractors. She then pushed the tractor forward and walked behind it. Dave said she did that several more times.
Ajax asked if we could have a “fancy” lunch today. So we went outside and picked some flowers and then lite a candle. It was pretty fancy.