O, So Much Love: Thanks a lot, Cars 2

When Owen and Keith saw Cars 2 in the theaters I was surprised at Owen's lack of enthusiasm for it. It was probably a bit overwhelming for him, being his first theater experience. Plus it usually takes a few iterations of something for Owen to get really into it. But I guess seeing scenes on youtube (we don't own the DVD yet) has done the trick, as Owen now requests only Cars 2 cars when we do "scenes". Which is fine, except Cars 2 was Owen's first introduction to violence (it has a James Bond theme to it, if you aren't familiar). Words like "fight", "shoot", & "bad guy" are new to his vocabulary now. Which, I know, was inevitable, he is a boy after all. But he has started using his cars as a front for doing bad things ("Grem did it, not me! He's a bad guy, so he does bad things!"). So we've had to explain a few times to him that if Grem does something bad (hit Sophie, hit the pictures on the wall,etc.), Owen will get in trouble since he is the one making Grem do it. It's only been a few days, so I don't know how well that logic is going to work with a toddler who I'm sure only half understands what "pretending" is.

Other than that, Owen has been pretty good, behavior wise. Sleep wise he's been getting more sleep now that it's darker in the mornings, but he still comes into our bed a lot. Keith and I are trying to decide how to handle that. We try and take him back to his room if he comes in, but it's much easier to let him in, and often times we don't even wake up when he climbs in. He tells us he feels "safe" with us near him, and lonely in his room (although he goes to bed in his own room fine). Sometimes he comes in crying with such fear in his voice I really feel sorry for him. We tried buying him a McQueen pillow (which he also uses for naps at school), but he doesn't show that much interest in it (or Pooh, or Teddy, or his Cars blanket, etc.). He's never had any attachment to an object, which may be the problem (maybe we're his attachment). We know we could just lock our door (and we'll probably try that at some point), but we're not looking forward to the few nights of no sleep that will bring and I'm afraid that will just lead him to needing us in his room. I'd like to think this is a phase that he will outgrow, but conventional wisdom seems to tell us that we need to do something about it. What would happen if we just continue to let him come into our room? We don't lose that much sleep when he does, and frankly, sometimes we enjoy it. But is this going to teach him bad sleeping habits long term? If you have any experience with this, I'd be interested to hear your story.

Sophie has had a cold the last few days, with a very runny nose. Which means that sometimes she only sleeps when Keith or I hold her upright in a chair. We can fall asleep in the chair, but not very well. Plus I felt sick yesterday as well. But it seems like it was a good weekend for it. This was the first weekend in a while that we didn't have a lot of plans, and today was a bit of a rainy day. I just hope she gets better by next weekend, when our busy schedule picks up again.

If you recall my last post (written a whole month ago! yikes! sorry!), Sophie also had a cold then. And eye surgery, and teething. And I explained how she wasn't eating or drinking well. Well, she is back to eating normally (at least for her), but her drinking has not really improved. She will only take a few sips of formula, and prefers to do it herself. Good news is that she has transitioned to sippy cups, which she can pick up and drink herself. She does drink more water, so it might be a taste thing, but even that she doesn't drink a whole lot of. We tried cow's milk, which she really liked, but it seemed to make her upset. We kept a food log to give to a nutritionist, so we'll see if they have any suggestions. She has had 3 of her 4 eye teeth (the most painful baby teeth) come in over the last month, so I'm hoping things get better after the last one comes in. She currently has 15 teeth already (which is a lot for her age), so only 5 more to go!!

We all made out pretty well at Halloween (well, all except our teeth and our scale). Owen did a lot more trick or treating than last year (with the help of his bike), so his pumpkin was pretty full. We are allowing him two treats a day, so his stash will last quite a while. We had less trick or treaters than we expected, so Keith and I have our own stash of goodies, which makes it less tempting to break into Owen's stash.

We've had lots of fun at various Fall/Halloween festivals (pictures below), and look forward to more fun over the coming holidays!