tristanisms

i took this picture the other day while tristan was eating his lunch. he is very caring about the toys he loves, and on this particular day, mater was with him non-stop. i watched from a distance as he carefully removed the bib from around his neck and lovingly draped it over mater, who he had propped up on the edge of his plate. before taking a bite of his food, he'd blow on it first and then offer it to mater. apparently, mater wasn't terribly hungry, but that didn't stop tristan from continuing to offer him food. little things like this melt my heart, especially when i think of him becoming a big brother.

ever since disneyland, he's been asking to see his cousin johnny every single day. thankfully, frequent phone calls seem to suffice. he also reminds me to pray for johnny ("and sis" johnny's mom) every time i say his bedtime prayers with him. if he's not very sleepy, he'll also go through the long line of things to pray for....buzz, woody, elmo, bear, mommy, daddy and sometimes he'll even say "ME!". i've been adding baby brother samuel to the list, and though he can say "brother" he doesn't quite remember to pray for him yet.

its been rainy here lately and i've felt challenged to come up with creative indoor activities that will allow him to get some energy out. a nearby mall would really come in handy to just let him run in, but we have nothing close by other than a couple of grocery stores and a kmart. what do you moms who live in rainier climates do to keep your kids from getting cabin fever? wrestling with daddy is tristan's favourite thing to do and, since josh has been around a lot more, tristan will often put his little hands into fists and say "DADDY! BITE" (which is how he says "fight") then, if he manages to hit josh, josh will fall on the ground and immediately tristan will start patting him on the back asking "daddy, okay? daddy alright?" (i posted a video of them fighting on tristan's picture blog)

we set up his big boy bed a few weeks ago. for some reason, he wasn't really into sleeping in his crib anymore. he'd fall asleep in it fine, but throughout the night he'd wake up crying and want me to hold him. even if i held him until he fell asleep, as soon as i'd put him back in his crib, he'd start screaming. i really felt as if he was afraid, so i made up a bed on the floor of his room with pillows and blankets. i'd lay next to him on the floor and usually he'd immediately fall asleep, allowing me to sleep in my own bed. it came to a point where he was spending more time sleeping on the floor than in his own crib, so josh and i decided to just go ahead and set the big boy bed up. its a really nice twin trundle bed, given to us by friends. its quite high, so we have a safety net-rail that attaches to the side of it and so far it seems he hasn't quite discovered that he could crawl out of it himself, so he stays put! it took him a few nights to get used to it and there were times where i was hauling my awkward big belly in and out of that little bed to comfort him, but now he's sleeping through the night again and happily falling asleep on his own. of course, his early morning habit hasn't changed, but after weeks of night wakings PLUS early mornings, i'm learning to count my blessings :) especially since it will only get worse a few months down the road!