Once Upon a Mattress

Two and a half weeks ago one member of our family gained a significant amount of freedom and another member of our family had their sense of safety dramatically reduced. Each is coping with these changes as best they can, although we've had a few rough moments. You may be wondering, what happened at our house?

Cooper moved to the toddler bed.

It happened on a Monday night. You know how most kids learn to soothe themselves to sleep after a few weeks, maybe a month? Cooper had been crying himself to sleep every night for a year. And I don't mean five minutes of crying. I mean thirty minutes, an hour, sometimes an hour and a half. That didn't strike us as a healthy and normal thing.

That particular night Bryan checked on Cooper after he'd been crying for forty minutes. Apparently Cooper didn't look mad or tired or frustrated. He looked terrified. I learned this when Bryan walked into our room right after checking on Cooper and asked where the screws for the toddler bed were. I was on the phone and told him, but didn't get the whole explanation as to what he was doing. Bryan's theory was that Cooper was scared and felt trapped in his bed. We had been planning on moving Cooper to the toddler bed on his birthday next month anyway, so Bryan figured he'd give Cooper the freedom to come get us in the night by moving him slightly ahead of schedule.

Cooper helped Bryan put the bed together. He was absolutely delighted. And, amazingly, Peter slept through the whole process, light on and everything. I did my part by finding the bedding (and the screws) and we tucked Cooper into his new, big boy bed. He smiled at us, until he realized we were still going to walk out the door. And then he cried for another half hour.

Luckily, things have gotten better. I think Bryan's theory may have been correct. That same day Cooper had told me there were monsters in his closet, so maybe that's were the fear came from. I'm not sure. I was really nervous about not having a safe place to put him while I did things like open the oven and run to the bathroom. And by safe, I mean safe from his easily-overexcited big brother. Luckily, he and Peter have been playing a little better together, so my fears of Peter smashing Cooper into the floor have lessened. (Not gone away entirely, mind you, but lessened.) Also, Cooper is our climber, and he REALLY loves jumping on his bed. Peter has learned from personal experience not to do that (he has no qualms about jumping off all the other furniture in our house, but he only climbs on and off the toddler bed), but Cooper has no such scar to keep him from flying.

So, yeah, I'm the one that had a decrease in their sense of safety.

The best part though? Cooper rarely cries while he's going to sleep now. He doesn't even wake-up when he slides out during the night.


Good call, Bryan.

Money, Money, Money

Wow, you guys had some great advice about baby-sitters. And, since I have a calling with the Stake Young Women, I actually have six Young Women's Presidents at my disposal. Although, I did like the point about knowing the parents well. In fact, I mostly baby-sat for families that were good friends with my mom. Hmm... mental puzzle pieces are beginning to fit together.

I should have asked this yesterday, but since I didn't, you get two baby-sitting related posts in a row. And two question posts in a row. Bonus, eh?

The question: What's the going rate for baby-sitters these days? I know that I charged $1/hour/child back in the early-to-mid-nineties. At the time my rates were fairly common, although I knew girls that would watch one child and make $5/hour, sometimes more. But really, what's a fair wage for a baby-sitter?

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle

I've written before about my neurotic-mom tendencies. You know, how I won't let Cooper play in front of the TV cabinet if it's open, my desire to always be in charge, and my fear that a bump on the head will lead to a life-threatening injury. Well, Saturday during a church meeting I thought of another one.

I won't leave my boys with a baby-sitter. Correction: I won't leave them with a baby-sitter who is not also a blood relation that I know well and trust. Immediate family members are great. Too bad only two of them (and two VERY busy ones at that) live near us.

I thought about this because we were talking about attending the Temple regularly. And not just attending, but attending with your spouse. Thanks to my calling, I've been able to go to the Temple about once a month, but I don't think Bryan and I have been together in over a year. Sad, I know.

What got me was how easily the other women spoke about finding a baby-sitter. Leave my small children with a twelve-year-old? No problem! Actually, I was one of those twelve-year-olds. And I was a very good baby-sitter. I played with the kids, I fed them, I cleaned-up. I even let one of them cut my hair (Oops...). If I was such a beacon of child-care artistry, why am I so against leaving my boys with a baby-sitter?

Maybe because the one time I left Peter at a friend's house to play (we were moving and I was eight-months-pregnant with Cooper and I really needed to finish cleaning our old apartment) when we went to pick him up, the mom didn't know where they were. It turns out he had followed his friend out to their partially fenced backyard to play. And the friend was the oldest person out there. She was three.

Maybe it's because I know how crazy I am, and I don't think anyone is going to be as aware or safety conscious as I am. See, I'm letting the crazy out a little too much.

Or maybe it's because I've read too many stories about baby-sitters doing horrible things to children. I'm not going to go into any more detail than that.

I'm trying to figure out how to move past this, just a little bit. I've heard we have an excellent, reputable, responsible Young Woman in our ward that is a wonderful baby-sitter. I wonder if she'll still be in the ward by the time I work up the courage to leave my boys with her.

So, my friends, how do you find a baby-sitter you can trust? And once you've found one, how do you leave your children with her?

After all, I would like to go to the Temple with Bryan at least once a year...

I'm on a Horse

Thanks Krystal!

Another Installment of the Peter Lecture Series

Peter gave his third talk in Primary yesterday, which brings us up to a total of six public-speaking experiences if you count the Primary Sacrament Meeting Program. We really struggled with writing this one. His topic? "Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ all mankind may be saved." Any idea why we had trouble? That is a large topic for a four-year-old (or a twenty-nine-year-old) to deliver a talk on.

We talked about it a little throughout the week, but it wasn't until Saturday afternoon that I pulled this picture out.


Me: Peter, what's going on in this picture?

Peter: That's Jesus.

Me: That's right. What's he doing?

Peter: He's suffering.

True. Believe-it-or-not, that conversation helped me figure out his talk. It wasn't typed until Sunday morning and, since we now have 9am church, he only got to practice it twice, although we still set-up our fake podium so he could run through walking up and looking at the crowd. He held the picture up while I did the whisper-the-talk-in-his-ear trick. He did very well.

For those of you that are curious, here's the talk:

This is a picture of Jesus Christ as he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was praying for us because he loves us. He took our sins, all the bad things everyone has ever done or felt, and he felt them too. This was called the Atonement. He did this so that we could repent and return to live with Heavenly Father. When we repent we stop doing the wrong thing, we try to make it right, and we say sorry to those we may have hurt. Because of the atonement, I can repent when I’ve done something naughty and I can be forgiven. Because of the atonement my family can be together forever with Heavenly Father. I am thankful for Jesus and the atonement. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Simon Says

This week Cooper learned how to play Simon Says.



This movie was taken in the interim between dinner and bath, thus the food-covered boy. Also, he can count to eleven, but won't for the camera.

Here's a bonus Cooper movie, mostly for the grandparents and the aunts. He makes up songs and sings to himself. Often. Wow, with that hobby you'd think he was related to me and Bryan or something...

Coolsville Daddy-o

Peter has begun giving voice to whatever he's playing with. If he has two Duplo figures (we call them 'guys' at our house), he'll supply a dialogue for them. It's fun watching his imagination grow. I over heard this exchange last week:

Peter: (playing guy # 1) Did you say you're magic?

Peter: (now as guy # 2) I'm not magic. I'm just cool.

Yes, yes you are.

Architectural Design

Peter and Cooper both love building with blocks. Recently, Peter's creations have begun to grow more complex. He's very into building bridges and towers right now. He also loves levels and lots of stairs.





I wonder what Frank Lloyd Wright built when he was four...

A New Friend?

On Sunday evening, shortly before gathering for dinner, I thought I heard Cooper calling for me. I walked into the boys' room where he was playing with blocks and asked what he needed. He just kept repeating the word over and over again. It finally occurred to me that he wasn't saying mommy. He was saying Mya. (Apparently I respond to any word that starts with an M.)

I puzzled over this for a few minutes until I remembered that there's a cute little girl in our ward named Mya. She's got great big eyes and red, curly hair. I don't think that she's old enough to go to nursery on her own, but her dad is one of the nursery workers. I wondered if maybe Cooper was talking about someone he had met from nursery.

Me: Cooper, are you saying Mya?

Cooper: Yeah.

Me: Do you know a Mya?

Cooper: Yeah. Nursey. (Cooper-speak for Nursery.)

Me: Is Mya your friend from Nursery?

Cooper: Yeah.

I have no idea if she was really in Nursery with him on Sunday, but if she was, that's kind of sweet that he remembered her. And if she wasn't, where in the world did he learn the name Mya?

It's a Valentine's Day Miracle!

Guess who went to church yesterday! WE DID!

I know, I usually abstain from using all caps, but seriously, this is a big deal. Peter missed four consecutive Sundays due to illness. I hadn't been to our ward in as many weeks. And yesterday we were all well enough to go. It was wonderful!

I actually had to attend another ward yesterday (I have to go to all the ward conferences for my calling). However, because our ward meets at nine and the other ward meets at one, there was no conflict. I know I could have opted to just go to the ward conference, but I'm so glad I went to my ward too. And yes, six hours of church on one Sunday is a lot, but it was worth it to have all of us there!

I was a little bit nervous that the boys might have a hard time getting back into the reverent groove after so many weeks at home, but they did swimmingly.

The real Valentine's Day miracle? The boys made it through all three hours without any coughing or sniffling. As soon as we got home, their noses started to run.

I hope we can all go again next week.