This week has been a tough week for me and Luke. For me, emotionally. For Luke, physically and a little emotionally. To make matters worse, Luke had some weird type of stomach irritation going on all week. He threw up 2 times on Monday morning (so I didn't send him to school on Tuesday), then we thought he was better until Wednesday when he had extremely bad diarrhea all day. He did like 10 bad poopy diapers in 3 hours. I called the doctor and they recommended that I add some Culturelle to Luke's pedialyte. I did that and by Thursday evening, he was back to normal. After that first 24 hours, the doctor didn't think Luke was contagious. They thought maybe some leftover bacteria was trapped or that the diarrhea could also be caused by some 2 year molars that are coming in. Oh well - at this point, I'm not concerned about what it was, just thankful that it's done. In between all that not feeling good stuff, Luke and I experienced several more "lasts" for him.
Probably the most emotional "last" for me and Luke was the last night of rocking him to sleep. I haven't written about it too much lately on the blog, but our night times were getting worse and worse. Luke barely fits on my lap so he's very uncomfortable when I'm rocking him. For some reason, when I rock him, he wants to lay there with his eyes open and not attempt to go to sleep. I think it's because he can't get settled and comfortable. So, after a long battle that took an hour and a half in his room on Saturday night to get him to sleep, I decided that our night time routine would change. Saturday, May 19th ended up being the last night that I rocked Luke to sleep! :)
On Sunday night, we tried a new routine....I read Luke books for about 15 minutes in the rocking chair. Then, we took 2 more books to his bed and I laid down beside of him and read 2 more books to him. Then, I continued to stay beside of him, snuggled with him, and rubbed his back for about 10 minutes until finally, I laid down in the floor and told him to lay down in his bed. He did not like that part at all. He was fine until I told him he had to stay in his bed by himself. He began to refuse to lay down so I told him that if he didn't lay down, I would have to leave the room completely. I guess he didn't believe me because he wouldn't lay down SO I left the room completely for about 2 minutes. For the entire 2 minutes, I could hear him crying at his door. After 2 minutes, I tried the same thing again - I laid down on the floor beside of him while he laid in the bed. Again, he refused to lay down SO AGAIN, I left the room completely. This time, I left for 3 minutes and he cried at his door the entire 3 minutes. On the third try, I laid down in the floor and he finally laid down in his bed but he cried and whined and sat up and cried and whined and sat up over and over for about 30 minutes. Finally, Daddy had enough (he had been listening from the living room) so he came in and was very stern with Luke. Luke got very upset and curled his lip under like he was going to bust out crying but he managed to hold it in. Daddy laid beside of him for a few minutes and then I returned to lay beside of him on the floor. After about 15 more minutes, with his lip still curled, he finally fell asleep. It was quite pitiful. He fell asleep with the most pitiful look of misery on his face. After this hour and a half battle, I lay down on the floor beside of him and cried and cried. Even though in my heart, I know that Luke needs me to make him learn how to fall asleep on his own, I still felt terrible. I felt terrible because it is my fault that he has to be rocked each night. Luke didn't ask me to rock him every night for the past 2 years - I chose to, so now, I'm the one that has caused this transition to be so hard. Quite frankly, the whole ordeal hurt my feelings. I prayed that night after night this change would get easier with the ultimate goal of Luke being able to fall asleep in his bed WITHOUT me in the room at all.
Well, here comes the good news - the prayers worked! (Thanks, Lupe, for your prayers too! I know they also helped.) On Monday night, everything went great! Luke did not cry at all and he was asleep within 30 minutes (including the reading time). Then, on Tuesday night, he also did great! Ever since that first battle, Luke has really gotten the hang of it. There were a few nights that I had to leave the room completely for a few minutes because he refused to lay down in his bed, but, every time, after I returned to the room and got on the floor beside of him, he was asleep within 10 minutes. My total time in his bedroom has gone from over an hour each night to only 30 to 45 minutes. I am hoping to eventually leave the room completely while he's awake! I'll keep you posted on how that goes! :)
Another "last" that we encountered this week was Luke's last Playful Parenting class at gymnastics. I thought he had another class next week, but he doesn't, so the whole time that we played, I didn’t even realize it was his last class with me. Because of that, I feel like I didn’t take it all in like I should have. For the most part, Luke did fine. He still had a little bit of a belly ache so we had to leave for about 10 minutes to change a stinky diaper. He did get to jump in the pit and swing on the rope and he got a chance to jump on the trampoline - all of which are his favorite things! It wasn't his best class ever but he and I have had a million other great classes together so I will have to keep those in my memory bank. :) There is a preschool gymnastics class for 2 1/2 year olds that I might let him go to in the fall, but, for summer, we are going to take a break from gymnastics - we have too many other fun things planned. I can't tell yet if he's going to miss gymnastics or not. He definitely loves gymnastics. He told me the other night that he liked gymnastics better than the carnival. He also loves Ms. Amber and she wasn’t there on Tuesday night. We might make one special visit this summer just to tell her "good-bye."
Well, here comes the good news - the prayers worked! (Thanks, Lupe, for your prayers too! I know they also helped.) On Monday night, everything went great! Luke did not cry at all and he was asleep within 30 minutes (including the reading time). Then, on Tuesday night, he also did great! Ever since that first battle, Luke has really gotten the hang of it. There were a few nights that I had to leave the room completely for a few minutes because he refused to lay down in his bed, but, every time, after I returned to the room and got on the floor beside of him, he was asleep within 10 minutes. My total time in his bedroom has gone from over an hour each night to only 30 to 45 minutes. I am hoping to eventually leave the room completely while he's awake! I'll keep you posted on how that goes! :)
Another "last" that we encountered this week was Luke's last Playful Parenting class at gymnastics. I thought he had another class next week, but he doesn't, so the whole time that we played, I didn’t even realize it was his last class with me. Because of that, I feel like I didn’t take it all in like I should have. For the most part, Luke did fine. He still had a little bit of a belly ache so we had to leave for about 10 minutes to change a stinky diaper. He did get to jump in the pit and swing on the rope and he got a chance to jump on the trampoline - all of which are his favorite things! It wasn't his best class ever but he and I have had a million other great classes together so I will have to keep those in my memory bank. :) There is a preschool gymnastics class for 2 1/2 year olds that I might let him go to in the fall, but, for summer, we are going to take a break from gymnastics - we have too many other fun things planned. I can't tell yet if he's going to miss gymnastics or not. He definitely loves gymnastics. He told me the other night that he liked gymnastics better than the carnival. He also loves Ms. Amber and she wasn’t there on Tuesday night. We might make one special visit this summer just to tell her "good-bye."
Finally, on top of the last night of rocking him to sleep and the last night of Playful Parenting gymnastics, he also had his last day of preschool for this year, so in other words, his last day of preschool in the toddler room. To celebrate, there was an end of the year party that parents and grandparents were invited too. I took a 1/2 day off of work to attend and Landis and mammaw Carolyn were there too. Unfortunately, Luke still wasn’t
feeling 100% for the party. When I first arrived at his school, he was very clingy. He wouldn’t jump in the bounce house or play with his friends. All he wanted to do was go back to his classroom. I kept asking him what in the world was wrong and he all of a sudden said he was hungry. (This didn't surprise me because he had barely eaten in 3 days.) I was so thankful that he was hungry so I took him to get some food out of our lunch bag. He gobbled up 2 cheese sticks very quickly. Then, about 5 minutes later, it was time for all the families and toddlers to eat lunch together. We all brought lunches (picnic style) and sat at tables together to eat while we watched a DVD. The DVD had a ton of pictures of the toddlers throughout the year. While we watched, Luke ate great – peanut butter sandwich, pringles, cookies, cheese doodles,
puffs, and ice cream. After stuffing his belly fully, he was
ready to play. He played with the
bowling pins – he would kick the ball into the pins or use his body to knock
over the pins, he jumped in the bounce house, he threw the bean bags at the tic
tac toe board, and he fished. He was in a great mood and played for as hard as he could for the last 30 minutes. I was so glad to see him enjoying himself and feeling better. He was having so much fun that he ran from us when it was
time to leave. Reluctantly, he hugged his teachers
and told them that we would see them next year. We walked out of the preschool together holding hands, once again, done celebrating another "last." :(
The saddest part about all of these "last" events are that Luke has no idea what is happening. He has no idea that he will never be in the same preschool class again and may never see those same classmates again. Luke has no idea how sad Mommy is that he will no longer be able to climb the ladders at gymnastics with me or I can no longer go jumping in the pit with him. As he clung to me at his preschool party, I found myself wanting him to play like the other children but then I stopped and thought, “No, this is okay because one day he’s not going to want me to hold him and all he will want to do is run off with his friends.” So, I just took in the moment and held him as he laid his head on my shoulder. I enjoyed holding him on my lap during lunch. I enjoyed watching him play. This little fellow is the light of my life and he is growing up way too fast. On the DVD of pictures, it showed pictures of him back in October and Luke looked so little. I couldn’t believe how much he has changed. The pictures seemed like they were taken just yesterday but really it was over 6 months ago – sometimes I think I go through day to day too quickly. I get my mind on what has to be done in a day and I rush the days by. I don’t want to do that. My Luke is growing fast enough as it is. This summer, we are going to enjoy everyday we have together because there will never be another summer 2012 just like there will never be another 2011-12 preschool year or another 2011-12 gymnastics year. It’s sad but true! Slow down world! I want to keep my little boy just that – LITTLE! J
Here are a few pictures of some of the "lasts"....
The first few pictures were taken last Saturday at the Hasty Elementary carnival. My mom is the PTO president at Hasty so we attended in support of her and so that Luke could spend some time with memaw! Luke had a blast! The highlights of the carnival were...
-hearing Luke squeal out loud when he went down the big yellow slide all by himself
-watching his face light up when he "fished" and he got a small slinky
-watching him climb the walls of the bounce houses all by himself. He's such a strong man.
-sitting on the steps with Luke eating pizza and Cheetos together
-watching Luke play inside the train bounce house
-watching Luke climb up the ladder and go down the slide on the Hasty playground
-holding Luke on my lap while we swung. He would tell me that we were going "high" and then "low"
-watching Luke throw rocks (in the grassy area away from other kids) - he is getting better at throwing over handed. We have been working with him on this.
Here are the carnival pictures...
The first few pictures were taken last Saturday at the Hasty Elementary carnival. My mom is the PTO president at Hasty so we attended in support of her and so that Luke could spend some time with memaw! Luke had a blast! The highlights of the carnival were...
-hearing Luke squeal out loud when he went down the big yellow slide all by himself
-watching his face light up when he "fished" and he got a small slinky
-watching him climb the walls of the bounce houses all by himself. He's such a strong man.
-sitting on the steps with Luke eating pizza and Cheetos together
-watching Luke play inside the train bounce house
-watching Luke climb up the ladder and go down the slide on the Hasty playground
-holding Luke on my lap while we swung. He would tell me that we were going "high" and then "low"
-watching Luke throw rocks (in the grassy area away from other kids) - he is getting better at throwing over handed. We have been working with him on this.
Here are the carnival pictures...
And...before I go....I have a special announcement to make - this one is about me and my job in the Davidson County school system. Yesterday, I announced to the Fair Grove staff that I will have a new job next year - beginning in August 2012, I will be a Title I reading specialist at Brier Creek Elementary. This change is one that I have prayed about for months. I have been an assistant principal for 5 years and I wanted to teach again. A reading specialist position will allow me to teach again but will also allow me to continue to lead teachers with instructional support. Brier Creek is in Thomasville and is only a 10 minute drive from my house. I will miss my Fair Grove family tremendously, but I am very excited about this new role!
Have an awesome Memorial Day everyone! The pool is OPEN and we will be celebrating our Memorial Day by the water! :)
Toddy
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