Not enjoying Time Outs...and that's a good thing

Andrei is in full swing of the terrible two's and with it brings a few trips to the corner (actually our front door which is the official Time Out spot). For awhile Andrei didn't seem to mind being in Time Out because the place we originally used allowed for visibility of the rest of the house. But now that he's truly isolated and doesn't have anything to do, he's recognizing that this Time Out thing isn't very pleasurable.

And that's a good thing.

He use to play during Time Outs. Now he screams at the top of his lungs showing us his displeasure.

It may sound bad, but I want him to be upset and, in essence, pissed off that he's in a Time Out. After all this is punishment. He's in Time Out (in our house) for doing something very objectionable, such as hitting (instant Time Out) or repeatedly throwing something (book, toys, etc.) when told not to.

So the fact that he's now getting really upset that he has to stand up against the front door for a minute or two is a damn good thing in my book. But the yelling he's doing now is almost comical. Plus it's now hard because I have to wait until I hear him quiet for a few seconds so he doesn't think the yelling is doing any good.

But Andrei is actually really good about the ending of the Time Outs. He doesn't hold a grudge at all. He's very sincere when we end them with hugs and kisses. He's not yet at the point where he can tell us why he made it into "time out land" but he does acknowledge when we tell him why (such as showing us a throwing motion and then says "no, no, no").

So at least we're making progress.

A house full of Russians

We had a little get together over the weekend to welcome yet another friend who just recently adopted their son from Russia. They just got back about a month ago and their little guy (I say that figuratively since he is going to be one big boy) is doing great.

We did a little playing and some swimming and it was a really great day. First of course were some snacks, that's our other friend's daughter (also adopted from Russia) with the new kid on the block.



When it was time to say goodbye, Andrei gave out his hugs (something he really enjoys doing) but of course his new little friend is a bit new to everything (not to mention under 2 years old) and so he's not quite sure why Andrei is grabbing him.

Andrei's Happy Mommy

Andrei has a very happy Mommy. Stef was buying some wine at Beverages and More (one of my favorite stores) and she was carded. Now, let me say that Stef does look very young for her age, although I'm not quite sure that young. But for whatever reason my wife born very late in the decade of the 1960's was in fact carded.

And yes, she is still beaming from ear to ear.

Mini vacation to LA

We took a little vacation down to LA so Andrei got a chance to visit both sets of grandparents as well as seeing some more aunts and uncles and cousins. On Saturday my sister thru a very nice pool party so Andrei got to play with all the cousins at the same time. We were so busy having a good time I completely forgot to take pictures but did manage to remember just as the party was wrapping up. Here's our happy hostess (Lesley, thanks again for a great day).



Here's Andrei's cousin Bellamy who is about to turn 4, Happy Birthday Beautiful Girl!


Unfortunately I didn't get any good shots of Andrei's only boy cousin Bennet (yep, the one with the back facing us in the last shot).

And here are Lesley's two daughters Sydney and Alyssa. These two cuties were just perfect hostesses and made sure all the little kids where happy and kept the entire group of kids playing and having fun.


Andrei also got to see his grandparents again. However, since this was his first trip down to LA to see them, and one group lives on the beach he also got his first trip to the beach. Yea, I know we live in the Bay Area but the beaches here a just a tad colder than those down in Southern California so we haven't yet taken him.

Anyway, for a kid who loves the water, he totally freaked about going into the ocean. I think he wasn't too keen on the water coming at him (aka waves). But he had a blast playing in the sand. He must have been thinking..."Gee Dad, why isn't my sandbox at home this big?"

First step towards a Big Boy Bed

We installed a crib rail last night onto Andrei's bed. The ordeal of buying the darn thing is a story in itself, but I'll let Stef tell that one as a follow up. We have been thinking about the move from a crib almost as soon as we had brought Andrei home (remember we're big on planning).

The debate for us was centered around the three options we determined we had:

1. A crib rail using his crib



2. A new toddler bed (using his existing crib mattress)



3. A full fledged Big Boy Bed (aka a regular twin or full size bed)

Like most toddlers Andrei is a creature of habit. And changes to his routine or norms are not always welcomed. So all of these options concerned us to some extent.

I should veer off and say that most of what you read about the move from a crib usually mentions that if your child tries to climb out of their crib they are probably ready for a toddler bed. However, in our case this was (and probably never would have been) an issue. Andrei likes his crib and is perfectly content waiting for us to come in after naps or in the morning and take him out. I think we've mentioned he has way too many stuffed animals in his bed and enjoys playing with them before he falls asleep and after he wakes up.

Having said that, our choice of moving out of the crib setup was more to continue to provide him with independence and self responsibility (that's the principled answer) and to help eliminate the need for one of us to go in and get him out of the crib at 6:50 in the morning, every morning, weekday or weekend (that's real alternate answer).

So we needed to determine which of the 3 options we wanted to try. We felt the third option (a twin or full size bed), although the least expensive (we have a full size bed we could use), was the most dramatic and might cause Andrei quite a bit of stress. The second option would require a new toddler bed frame but would use his existing crib mattress. But this too would be an altogether different bed and Andrei might reject it (and then we're stuck with a toddler bed frame).

But the first option seemed to most fluid way to progress out of the crib. We had to buy a crib rail for the bargain Pali crib we bought off Craigslist (we got it for $100). And so we went with this option and installed it last night. To say that Andrei was excited about it was an understatement. We recently added a pillow to his crib and he thought that was cool (I'm guessing in his mind his bed is beginning to look like Mommy and Daddy's bed). But the new crib rail which provides the opening to get in and out of the crib by himself was a huge hit.

Now for the nightly report.

We weren't overly concerned about him trying to get out of the crib, more just curious if he would. Which he didn't. In fact just before he fell asleep he dropped Elmo out of the crib (an all too often occurrence) and instead of climbing out to get it himself, he called for us to get it for him! So much for the worries about him climbing out and trying to get him to stay in the crib and sleep.

In the morning we were hopeful he'd recognize the fact that he could escape on his own and just come into our room. But alas, here to he waiting for us to come in and get him. Although Stef did show him that he could get out himself and made him climb out instead of picking him up.

During nap time later he did go into the crib by himself (helped by one of his step-stools). And as you can see, he sort of has the hang of this whole new "big boy bed" thing. Well at least he's using the pillow even though he obviously moved it from the position I put it in when the nap started. After the nap he climbed out himself so I have high hopes for tomorrow morning.