Throw er' in reverse!

Quentin has continued to revert back to the early days with his sleeping habits. We had a very trying weekend with him getting up 8 times a night wailing a way. We can't really figure it out because during the day he is fine. We were so exhausted and frustrated from the long nights little got accomplished over the weekend. It was a tough one. Last night he did a little better getting up at 11:30, 1:30 and 4 am. He keeps getting up around 3:30-4:30 and is raring to go. He's wide awake and doesn't fall back a sleep for 45-60 minutes making that shift a killer. We have tried several pieces of advice including letting him cry it out, which was a total disaster. We gave that one three days and this kid can really scream it out. I don't know how people can go that route. You still aren't sleeping and he's willing to go the distance so all you are doing is filling your house with a lot more screaming than usual. We went back to the picking up and soothing routine last night and there was a lot less tears. We're running through aspirin almost as fast as coffee around here. Eventually, I think we will end up with the hybrid method; letting him scream it out if it's too much to take and try to soothe him if not.

On a more positive note he is picking up crawling. He has got reverse down pretty good but continually gets lodged under the table, against the couch, under the recliner and against the mutt. Lucky isn't too sure what to think having to share his territory. Several times he got up in disgust and moved to a new locale. He doesn't have forward down yet but is scooting a bit. Q is also turning into Mr. Grabby. He gets up to the coffee table and was grabbing the top of it and latched onto the glass coasters trying to yank them off the table onto this head. So far we haven't dropped him or allowed him to knock himself out so we're pretty sure we're front runners for parents of the year. He is a little monkey right now and is just moving all the time. He climbs all over you, the couch, the chair and all over the floor. He's definitely moving out of the "sit and stay" mode and into see ya later I'm going to check out what's over there.

With all this mobility and expanding of his territory he's starting to get confused which toys are his. The dog has been fantastic about leaving Quentin's toys alone. We're not sure how or why but we've never busted the dog eating one of Quentin's stuffed animals or chew toys. We busted our little chomper twice chewing on the dog's toy this weekend. In a word, Ewwww. That's not good. Does the old adage of, "the dog's mouth is cleaner than yours" still apply? We're gonna blindly go ahead and agree that it does because he has mouthed some very old, very well chewed on toys. We recommend all pre-parents get a dog first. For one you can give it back if things don't work out but really the money you spend on the toys, training, and patience really pays off since your kid will use the same toys, training and will need more of your patience. It's a twofer.

Here is a picture of me falling asleep on one of Q's toys - a triangle as in not a good pillow with one of his books on top for padding - on the floor, next to one of Lucky's chew toys destroyed. Life - ain't it grand?! When exhausted anything will suffice. Carrie took the shot and I didn't even flinch but woke up about 30 minutes later with a headache and a stiff neck. I also put a shot out there of my folks with Q at "the land" swinging. By the way that picture out at the land, that's July in Wisconsin; notice the outfits. Not shorts and T-shirts but coats and long pants- in July! I don't want anyone telling me it's too hot in Florida ever again.