Jake's New BIG Big Boy Bed...

Just a quick post for now with some pictures of Jake's new "BIG big boy bed", as he likes to refer to it. On Christmas morning, Jake found a note by the chimney from Santa letting him know that he had a new big boy bed for him, but that he didn't want to wake him up by putting it in his room, so he was sending some of his "friends" the following Monday to set it up for him. Luckily, at 4 years old, this still seemed to make a lot of sense to him. Whew!!!!!!!!!

So, we counted the days from Friday to Monday and boy did they seem to go slowly for him. Then Monday rolled around and we counted the hours and waited, and waited and waited... And as luck would have it, at about 3 in the afternoon we received a call letting us know that the truck had broken down (now Jake's first question was "why don't they just borrow Santa's sleigh, he's not using it today?!?!...hmmm, good question) At first, the lady from the store asked if they could just deliver it tomorrow? To which I replied TOMORROW?!?!?!...obviously she had NO idea what kind of trauma that would cause for my anxious little 4 year old who was pacing back and forth by the front door!!!!! Not to mention the fact that I had already taken his toddler bed and moved it up to the attic and we had carefully prepared the spot. Oh, I just couldn't see myself bringing that bed back down and I saw nothing but a restless night of sleeping with a disappointed little boy in bed with me. So, I asked if she could do everything she could to TRY to get that bed to us that night some time and she said she would.

Well, at about 6 we received a call from the driver, letting us know he was still coming and that they would likely be at our house between 8:30 and 9. Hmmm, so much for the 7:30 bedtime, eh? Then 8:30 came and went, and 9 and 10 and at about 10:30, they rolled into our driveway. Well, Nanny and I were dead tired, but not the boy... oh, no, he was raring to go! And oh so excited to meet "Santa's friends".

So, in come the "friends" (from the look on his face, I have a feeling he was expecting elves...and that, these 2 men were not) and off he goes to get his tools and his construction helmet with the light on it and his measuring tape. Yes, these lucky men, out until almost midnight delivering beds, were blessed with an excited little 4 year old who was determined to "HELP". And I thought I was having a tough day...LOL

And help he did...he organized their screws and bolts and washers for them...by size, of course. And told them exactly how many they had of each. And he measured all of the pieces to be sure they knew exactly how long and tall they each were. And when threatened with his life (by me) to get OUT of their way (at the rate they were going, they were going to be sleeping over), he proceeded to draw them pictures to take with them...some for them and a special one for Santa. This, they definitely got a kick out of.

So, the bed was set up and nanny came up to inspect and when asked what she thought, she gave one of those looks that makes it VERY clear that you are trying to be supportive, but thinking "oh God, what moron puts a bed like this in a room like that?" But, the boy LOVED it...and I don't think there's a font size large enough to emphasize the word LOVE appropriately. So, we put him to bed and decided to deal with the possibility of rearranging it in the morning.

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a little bit of a perfectionist at heart... I just like things to work out... I'm a fixer...you have a problem, I'm going to be thinking about how to solve it before you finish telling me what it is. Just the way I'm wired. No problem too big and nothing is impossible. That said, as you might imagine, I did not sleep a wink that night thinking about all the possible ways to make that bed look good in that room.

Jake had an AWESOME first night in his bed, and thankfully, was totally oblivious to any issue with the bed, the room, Nanny or his neurotic Mommy. First thing in the morning, I used my little paper layout of the room to evaluate other possible configurations and with Nanny's help, we came up with what we thought would help. Only problem was, that the bed itself didn't just have to be moved, it had to be partially reassembled as the end with the dresser needed to now be at the opposite end, which meant the ladder had to move as well. Up came the tools, apart came the bed, and back together it went. Here's what it looked like after our first attempt...

Would you say he looks a little happy?!?!?!?

Then, while showering I thought to myself, now why should we waste all that empty space behind the dressers (since they are only deep enough to go half-way back under the bed)? So, I tried pushing them to the back of the underside of the bed and it created what he now considers his absolute favorite part of the bed...the cave, tent, special hiding place.

Then we added the "curtain" (the top sheet to his set) and WOW, now we had the magical space behind the curtain!!! Here's a picture of the improved configuration. And although we obviously would have a difficult time utilizing the top drawers, considering we replaced a 3 drawer changing table with 12 new draws (9 of which remain empty), I think we'll be ok without those 2.

See, no worries about it being dark under there either, he has his construction helmet on with the flood light on the front...LOL

That night, I knew that he must really, really love his new bed when he asked me at 7:00 if he could go up and get his pjs on (which he did ALL BY HIMSELF)? Then at about 7:30, he asked if he could go up to bed?!?!? Maybe I should have asked for the BIG big boy bed much sooner?!?! LOL

Wow, so much for a short post, eh? Anyway, looks like it's all worked out for the best... Nanny's happy and our boy is ecstatic which all equals mommy being very, very, very happy as well. More on Christmas later... hope everyone is enjoying the holidays and looking forward to the New Year!

The Story of Baby Jesus ... As Told by Aunt Bear

As they looked at our newly decorated Christmas tree tonight, Aunt Bear asked Jake if he knew the story of Baby Jesus? When his answer fell short of her expectations, she set off to tell him a somewhat more modern version of the story... as I was eavesdropping, it went something like this:

So, there was Mary and Joseph and they were married. Somehow Mary got pregnant, she drank from this river and then she was pregnant. Then there was an announcement that a census was going to be taken and so everyone had to go back to the place where they were born...but Mary was pregnant. So, they went back to where Joseph was born, but there weren't any rooms available in the hotels...not at the Holiday Inn, not at the Fairfield Inn, not at the Hyatt and not even at the Residence Inn, so they had to stay in a barn with all of the animals. Then Baby Jesus was born and then these guys came to visit and they had all kinds of presents for the baby.

And God, (at which point she asked, do you know who God is? To which he replied by pointing up to heaven) sent Baby Jesus down here so that he could save us all so that we could go to Heaven. And she summed it all up with a "ok, you got all that? make sense? good"

Let's just hope he doesn't recount that version during Sunday School some day in the not so distant future...LOL

"Momma, Best Friends Forever!!!!"

Just a short post about a very memorable moment during our Thanksgiving trip to Florida...

It had been a VERY long day and mommy, nanny and La La were all exhausted, sprawled around the hotel room. Jake, of course, was still running on 3/4 of a tank and was no where near ready for sleep or any form of rest. He was coloring busily and playing with his puzzles and running around from room to room making the rest of us even more tired just watching him go.

We were watching that tear jerker "The Dog Named Christmas" and of course, in the hotel room, we did not have the benefit of having our little Tivo remote to pause live TV or back-up if we missed something. The combination of that, having just finished packing, a long day and the thought of traveling the next morning had our nerves just a little bit frayed.

At that moment, Jake decided that he absolutely HAD to have the marker set that was already packed away for the airplane. He asked Nanny who said "no", he asked Mommy who said "no" and started to pace back and forth right in front of the TV asking please, please, please. Now, normally this would have triggered a "mommy meltdown" and believe you me, I was ripe for one. But I decided to just give in and get my tired self up off the couch and go and get them.

When Jake saw me get up, I honestly think the first thing he thought was that he was in BIG trouble, and he took a few steps back. (I think even Nanny was a bit nervous) When I went into the bedroom to my suitcase, he was only brave enough to watch from the doorway and dared not venture any closer. When I turned around and held out the markers he wanted so desperately, he came running in, jumped up into my arms, put a hand on each side of my face and said "thank you, thank you, thank you, momma...BEST FRIENDS FOREVER" and sealed it with a kiss.

It's moments like that that remind me that I'm the luckiest mommy in the world!!!

Our Boy Can READ!!!!!

So, I knew the day was coming and I knew he was very close to reading because he's been asking "what's that word?" "what's that say" type questions for quite some time now... BUT, and this is a BIG BUT, I never realized how quickly it would happen.

Last Thursday night when I put Jake to bed he was so excited about getting "his book" the next day. It sounded as though one of his teachers was making it for him to bring home to read over the weekend. I wasn't quite sure what to make of the whole "his book" thing because frankly, anything that consists of a few pages (no matter what's on them or not on them) stapled together is a "book" to Jake these days. And with the recent spike in creativity and affinity for arts/crafts, we've had quite a number of "books" being developed every hour in these here parts... which is probably why my printer and fax machine NEVER has any paper anymore.

So Friday afternoon when I arrived at school, he could NOT have been more excited to proudly show me "his book". It came in a very special "reading" folder that only the kindergarten children (usually) get and had instructions for his reading "homework" for the weekend. He held it in his hands the entire ride home and when we arrived, we sat at the table (me in my assigned "listening seat") and he READ the "book" to me!!!! OK, so truth be told, the "book" was simply 6-7 pages of a photocopied "story" with 3-4 word sentences and pictures. Yet, I could NOT have been any prouder!!!!!!!!! My boy, my just 4 year old boy, READING to me!!!!!

The next day, we were off to Jordan's 3rd bday party held at none other than 1 Todd Terrace and yes, we just had to bring the book with us. During an intermission between delicious courses, the Posse and some others (Goobie, Gail, Christiana, Andrew... etc) gathered round and Jake proudly read his "book" to everyone. It was one of those moments when I'm so touched by the loving friends (more like family, really) that we have in our lives. It felt as if they were just as proud of him as I was and the feeling could not have been any better.

Jake returned the book to school on Monday and spent the better part of this week getting in mischief. Every day I arrive to a report of someone he "harassed" or some teacher he didn't listen to and by the middle of the week I was online late at night researching boarding schools...LOL So, I had a little sit down with the Asst Head of Schools and we agreed that they would not force him to lay on his mat and nap during the day any longer...as this seemed to be the time when he got himself into the most trouble and frankly, I absolutely DON'T want him to nap. Instead of napping, they decided to try to give him a workbook that the kindergarten children use and wouldn't you know, he loved it!

Today, when I picked him up, though not a perfect report for the day, we certainly had a much better one and no nap time troubles at all. The best part of the pick up, however, was seeing him excitedly run over the show me the REAL BOOK that he was taking home this weekend for reading homework. His teacher came over and explained that he just blew through the whole first set earlier in the week (typically takes 2-3 months) and so she had no choice but to start him on this real series of books. Funnier still, she said that she caught him trying to sneak ALL of the books from this set into his backpack to take home and when she asked him what he was doing he said he "I really, really, really want to read them all please". She explained that she had to have some to send home with the other children and with a little bit of a struggle was able to get him to leave with just one.

We were lucky enough to have Aunt Bear come over to visit tonight and so Jakey actually had a 2 person audience for his first read through his new REAL BOOK. It was amazing and we were both stunned to be sitting there watching him read this book to us...a REAL book!!!

Days like this, it's just too cool to be a mommy...