Miss me?

I know, I know. It's been a while! I am definitely falling off the blogging bandwagon. I will try to do better from now on!

Before I catch up on things like Avery's Pinkalicious birthday party, and such, this post will be dedicated to my big boy Logan.



Where do I even begin? Crazy kid! Over the past while...couple of months at least, Logan has been developing some insane attachment issues. He loves his daddy something fierce! Which is a good thing...except at 5:30 in the morning when daddy is either getting ready to leave for seminary, or has just left. Logan has decided that he needs to run around the house screaming "daddy! daddy! hugs and kisses! hugs and kisses!" like a mad child maniac who is out of control. This is horrible at 5:30 a.m. when the household should be calm and peaceful and everyone asleep! Logan will hear the garage door open or close and start in on his screams of despair.It is the worst thing to have to jump out of bed, and chase the child through the dark downstairs,pulling him away from the door where he is frantically trying to get outside and chase his daddy all the way to the church to make him come home. I have had to physically lay on the kid on the floor because he is so out of control. It's sad. I don't know why he gets in such a panic about it! He knows everyday daddy goes to seminary and to work, and then he comes home. It's not like he has never NOT come home. I don't get it. He will sometimes think daddy is hiding, and therefore run around yelling "daddy, are you hiding? daddy are you in the basement?"

Because of this attachment, he has also been HORRIBLE at going to bed and staying in his own bed. He eventually ends up in our room, so he can snuggle with his daddy.There are even plenty of times when Tony goes to bed around 8:30, and he will just let Logan lay by him to put him to bed, since he doesn't want to fight making Logan stay in his room. On several of these evenings, I will be gone for a RS activity or whatever, and come home to my two boys snoring peacefully all suggled up together in MY bed! I feel bad disturbing their slumber, and have ended up sleeping in Logan's bed, so we can all hopefully get a good, uninterrupted night's sleep. The only one so far to be unaffected by this craziness is my sweet girl Avery. She is the best sleeper, and hasn't YET been awakened by Logan's craziness. Which is shocking, because I swear the whole neighborhood can hear him.

I finally decided I wanted to reclaim my bed, and made a new rule for Logan. If he woke up in the night to come in our room, he could sleep on the floor, but couldn't get in our bed. I think this plan backfired, as he loves sleeping on the floor in our room, and would rather just start there than go to his own bed. He is almost 5 years old. This is ridiculous!

So...Tony went out of town for work yesterday, so I was all alone with the kids last night for bedtime. This is usually not a big deal for me, but because the last several nights it has taken over 2 hours of fighting, and chasing Logan back to his bed before he finally went to sleep...next to his daddy, I was NOT looking forward to dealing with that! I had heard of a little incentive program thingy that I decided to try. I found a little baby food jar that I had still, and told Logan it was going to be his penny jar. If he could stay in his bed all night, then in the morning he could put a penny in the jar. After he gets 20 pennies (he chose that number) he gets a reward. He chose to go to Chuck E. Cheese. I put Aves to bed with her book (she likes me to read to her first, and then take her book to read in bed...with only the hall light on, so she can't really see, but whatever!) I told Logan to choose 3 books and I layed by him in his bed to read to him. By the middle of the 3rd book he was snoring. Sweet! It was 7:50 p.m.! He hasn't been asleep before 10 the past several nights!I was nervous to see if this penny thing would really work, and how long it would last. Around 2 a.m. I heard a sweet voice calling "mommy...mommy" He didn't get out of bed, and he didn't yell and scream for me either! Amazing! I went in there to check on him, and he was anxious to find out if he had another penny in his jar yet. Sweet boy! I snuggled him for a few minutes, and told him he was being so good, and that if he stayed in his bed the rest of the night, then in the morning I would let him put his penny in his jar. He said "thanks mom!" then rolled over and went back to sleep!He didn't get up this morning until 8:15 a.m.! Happy Day!

I am so excited about this new method! I can't wait to see how much better things get around here. Let's hope the excitement lasts! He even has the ability to earn more pennies for doing other things, like clean up his toys, and stuff. Woo-hoo!