Not So Funny Pages

I haven't decided yet if I think that the chaos occurring the Lane household right now is funny...or sad. I definitely know it's frustrating, mind-numbing, overwhelming and enough to throw myself off a cliff some days....but the funny vs. sad aspect is still questionable. Maybe if I start viewing it all as funny, it actually WILL be funny and then I won't go crazy? Hmmm...that's not a bad idea...

At the root of all of this insanity are Lili...and Will. A.K.A. Princess Pootin' Stank (PPS) and Manimal. What we have right now is a clashing of 2.5 year old bossiness and drama with 14 month old screaming.

Lili recently hit the stage where she loves to take care of her babies. This involves about a thousand 'accessories' (bottles, cups, blankies, bibs, clothes, strollers, beds, etc.) that are all HERS. Common phrases we hear from her sassy little mouth these days are, 'That's MINE!', 'You not take it away from me', 'I had it first!' and 'It's my turn!'. Manimal obviously has no comprehension of what any of that means. He is just zoned in on the pink and the purple and the sparkles. He wants to play too and if she doesn't let him, or throws a stink, he is at least kept amused by her reactions to whatever it is that he is touching. Usually these episodes involve Manimal taking something that 'belongs to' PPS...PPS freaking out...Manimal smiling and trying to get away as fast as he can...PPS running after Manimal and prying the object out of his hands...Manimal SCREAMING at the VERY.TOP.OF.HIS.LUNGS., but not letting go...PPS trying to 'outscream' Manimal, leaving Mommy and Daddy looking for the nearest escape route. It's fun times.

Will is testing everyone these days and as our daycare lady calls him, he is a WILD MAN! He's strong and crazy and TOTAL.BOY! I was just telling a friend of mine that when he was a baby, I thought he and Lili were polar opposites. Outside of some of the acid reflux issues, he was pretty even keeled. He always went to bed easy and overall, was a fairly mild kid. I don't know what happened, but now he and Lili are two peas in a pod! They are both feisty and full of personality. Persistent and stubborn are also words that fit them pretty well!

About a week ago, Will decided that he should start throwing stinkfits at bedtime every night. At first the screaming and crying only lasted 5 minutes or so, which we didn't think was bad. Then it increased to bouts of 20 and 30 minutes. Almost nothing will calm Little Man when he gets THAT worked up...except being comforted by Mom. After the last 30 minute fit, there was no sign of him calming down anytime soon, so we went in and got him. He fell asleep in my arms literally 2 minutes later. The next night when we were getting ready to put him down, Drew said, 'I don't want to let him cry anymore. I just don't feel good about it, so let's not do it.' Hearing him say those words actually lifted a pretty heavy weight off of my shoulders. Letting my babies cry makes me sick to my stomach, yet I keep trying to 'force' it...thinking that it's the right thing and the only way. Well, it's obviously not just affecting me...Drew is feeling it too! Of course, the same night we made this decision Manimal didn't wake up even once. Since then, things have gotten 1000 times worse and last night Dude was up pretty much every 30-60 minutes from the time he went to bed at 7:30pm until 5:30am this morning. Everyone in the house was disturbed by his carrying ons (several times we had Lili crying too), which means we are now contemplating the whole cry-it-out method again. Our biggest question is...how long is too long? 5 minutes feels like an eternity... All I know is that I CANNOT hold him all night like I did last night. I am E.X.H.A.U.S.T.E.D. Everyone in this house could use a solid nights sleep...though I'm already freaking out about how tonight will go...