Wait, Where Did She Go?

AJU5 has changed a lot in the past few weeks. She went from a little girl who didn't want to socialize much at all and slept like a champ to one who does great at the library and won't go to bed at night.

A few weeks ago, after she refused to sit for story time and threw a big tantrum at the library, I decided to let her have a voice in what we do. I didn't expect her to want to go to story time or do much of anything except play outside or stay in the house. The next week she chose to go to story time two days in a row. Both days she sat with me and somewhat listened to everything. Then, this week she has even been happy to stay after story time is over and the instruments are put away. Yesterday we stayed for almost an hour, and she played with three other two year-olds most of the time. Today we only stayed for a little bit, but she happily read a book or two by herself and then played in the snow. She followed some big kids in the snow. Now, she is just as content to be by herself, but she isn't nearly as shy and reserved in public as she was just 3-4 weeks ago.

As for going to bed at night - it is a nightmare! She stays up until about 9 each night, when we finally give up and just put her in the crib. She will lay down 1-3 times before than in her big girl bed, but she gets up after about 15-30 minutes. Closing her door may work, but when I tried that for naps a month or two ago, she screamed the moment the door was shut. So, we haven't done that just yet. But, we are definitely missing our quiet evenings! AJU6 has been going to sleep around 7 or 8 each night, so if she would sleep we would be able to get in a couple of TV shows before our normal 9pm bedtime. Instead, we have been staying up until almost 10, watching the shows in little bits when she is up in bed.

I feel like i talk almost exclusively about AJU5 these days. I think that is because AJU6 is so laid back and not up to too much. He sleeps fairly well, so I don't have that to complain about. He isn't hitting any major milestones, so nothing to write about there either. But, he is such a great little guy! He giggles and coos and smiles are us. He wants to be where we are, so we have put the high chair in the reclining position so he can sit at the table with us. But, I can't think of anything that is "worthy" of a blog post for him just yet. But, I know in a few months he will be the "center" of attention...