Strange bedfellows

Owen has been sleeping in his "big boy bed" for about a month now and all is GREAT! We are all sleeping longer these days. Owen occasionally takes awhile longer to fall asleep at night as he must spend some time rearranging his bed, but we can usually count on sleeping in much later than before. It is not uncommon for him to wake up and then play quietly in his room for a half hour or more before letting us know it's time to get up. It is fabulous.

However, his newfound freedom has led Owen to make some pretty funny (if not, unusual) choices for sleeping partners. Each night, we go in just before we turn in for the night (typically a few hours after he's gone to bed) and retrieve all the random paraphenalia he's gathered and tucked in with him. While taking flash photos in a sleeping child's room is a risky behavior, we feel there is really no choice. These things simply MUST be recorded for future reference.

Here's how we found him one night a couple of weeks ago...















At first glance, it might be hard to appreciate the full contents of the bed. Here is everything that was removed.














That infant activity mat? He saw it way up in the top of a closet a month or so ago and absolutely insists that it remain set up in his room at all times. Frankly, if it means that he lies on the mat and "reads" for 30 minutes instead of waking us up, he can have it in his room until he graduates from high school!


A few other interesting things we've seen at night/nap time...











































You know what? As long as we're all getting some shut-eye, it's all fine with me!

School is Cool!

After much fretting and second-guessing on my part (for several months now), Owen started preschool last week. We prepared for and rehearsed his first day of school MANY times over before it was actually showtime. We ordered a first day of preschool video, read lots of books about the first day of school (including one starring a pig named "Owen") and even did dry-runs...packing a lunch, driving to school and walking to his classroom. When the actual first day of school arrived, Owen was pretty well versed in what would happen at each turn.

When we arrived at school, he was ready to go. It seemed that all the preparation had paid off. He walked into the classroom, handed paperwork to his teacher and immediately began playing with the toys. All was good...UNTIL he realized I was actually leaving. Not good. "No mommy go bye-bye!" It was all I could do to keep from joining him in the sobfest. After several minutes, I was able to peel him off of me and get out the door without too much trauma for either of us. Once I hit the pavement outside, I was a wreck. I think I cried more than he did. However, after about 10 minutes, I sent in a spy who said he was no longer crying and seemed to be doing just fine. I went and grabbed breakfast with a girlfriend (whose daughter is in Owen's class) with the intention of returning in an hour or so to check on him. We ended up gabbing and happily distracting each other until almost lunch time. When we went back up to the school to peek in, both kids were as content as could be. When I picked him up, Owen was so excited to tell me about his day and wanted me to come in the classroom and read him a book before going home! No signs of permanent damage at all. He was so wiped out that he fell asleep in the car about 3 minutes away from the school.

Day 2 brought some tears at home when we were getting ready to leave for school, but once we were there, he was perfectly comfortable leaving mommy's arms to go to Ms. Joann (his new favorite person on earth). Since then, it has been pretty smooth sailing. He talks about school all the time and tells me all the things he does there and what he'll do next time he goes. We hear about Ms. Joann all day long. When he woke from his nap on Tuesday, the first words out of his groggy little face were "SO much fun at school!!" I'd say we are feeling pretty good about the transition at this point. If you want the complete play-by-play, feel free to call...while I'd be happy to talk your ear off about it, the desire to type it all out isn't quite so compelling.

More updates to come, I'm sure. In the meantime, here are some shots from his first day...





































And you had to know that there would be a small video too. Yes, the video was taken while I was driving. No, I did not compromise our safety to take it. Chill.