Growing up!

In my shock and dismay over how fast Alexander is growing up I have quite ignored the fact that at the same time my big boy is getting even bigger! Until this morning that is. Dan is drilling this weekend in Spokane and so, once again, it is just the boys and I. Last night was a rough one. It seems that our perfect, sleeping through the night baby is no more. It was decided last week that I would use Dan's absence as a sleep training night (since Dan cannot fathom the idea of letting Alex cry at night). Well, so much for best laid plans. Alex, in true fashion woke up at 0200. I, however, put my foot down and decided not to go in there. Well, an hour and 15 minutes later I gave in and quietly went in to replace the "plug" as I now like to call it. He went back to sleep with only a few whines. Not more than 15 minutes later I am awaken by my big boy in tears because his legs hurt (growing pains!). I got up, got him Tylenol and tucked him in. I crawled back in bed glancing at the clock and thinking to myself, ah, SLEEP! Not more than 20 minutes later Alex decides that sleep in completely over rated. And here we go again. I promptly placed Dan's earplug in my ears and pulled the sheets up over my head. I WAS NOT GOING IN THERE! I drifted in and out of what you may call sleep all the while listening to my little one scream to get my attention. Another hour and 15 minutes later it is now 0600 and I was done. I marched in there, picked him up and fed him knowing that this would buy me at least an hour of sleep until Tyler got up for the day.

This brings me to the point of my whole story. Tyler, being the big boy that he is, woke up and came in to get me. I asked him if he would please turn on the TV, watch some cartoons and let mommy get just a little more sleep. Well, he did just that and more. About 45 minutes later he came in and asked why he couldn't find George on channel 9. I informed him that it was sunday and George was not on. That's when he looked at me and said "okay, I am going to eat my cereal now that." Now, me having gotten very little sleep didn't think much of this. But when I finally got up headed out to the living room Tyler informed me that he had made him self a bowl of cereal. I went into the kitchen expecting to find a complete mess. Nope, not Tyler. He had indeed made him self a bowl of cereal (with milk!), put the cereal box away, put the milk away and even cleared his place when he was done! Well, it's good to know that some of the things we are teaching him stick! My baby is no longer a baby! And to top that I am off to fill out his applications to Kindergarten... Kindergarten!