My daughter ain't no sharpshooter

Last couple of nights AnnaRose has been waking up in the middle of the night. 12:30 to be exact. Which is unusual because she always sleeps through the night. Has since about 3 months old. We got really lucky with her or maybe someone was making up for Matthew's sleeping habits when he was young. Anyway, back to the story, I went in last night to try to calm her down. I usually will not pick her up or feed her in the middle of the night because I don't want her to get in the habit of waking us up. I rubbed her back and told her she needed to lie down because it was still night. She promptly hurled the Nuk she had in her hand at me. That wasn't sufficient though so she took the one out of her mouth and threw that at me. Fortunately she has my athletic skills and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with a shotgun. I calmly reached down to the floor and gathered up the Nuks. I tried to give one back to her but she just screamed and refused to take it. I tossed the two in the crib and watched as she literally body slammed the crib mattress, hunted around in the dark for the Nuk, stood up and hurled at me again. Unfazed I told her I wasn't going to play games but I would sleep on the floor in her room until she fell asleep. A trick I used to use with Matthew a lot. She fell asleep about 10 minutes later and I got to go back to bed. Before I left, I snuck the Nuk back into her crib knowing she would thank me in the morning.

Test night

For the past two months, Matthew has announced each night what kind of night it is.  For instance, cardboard night.  This is a night where I have to design and construct something out of cardboard.  Some nights are easy, such as Movie Theater night where we turn off the lights, make popcorn and watch a show on TV.  Others are more difficult, such as Contraption Night where I have to help him design and build a contraption on the living room floor.  All without letting AnnRose tear it down.  There are many other 'nights': Store Night, Tent Night, Sleeping by the door Night, etc.  He usually plans these out weeks in advance and writes them on his calendar with symbols that only he can decipher.  And he knows what night is coming up and refuses to alter the plans.

Tonight is a new night called Test Night.  This is a night where we have to think of a new night and test it out.  I guess to determine if it will make it into the regular rotation.  I'm a little afraid of what this night might be.  I'm hoping for something simple like Chicken Nuggets Night and not something like, Make a movie Night.

You want to do what to me?

San Diego is a great outdoors city.  Everyone know about the beaches and the large park in the middle of the city, but the city also has a several canyons that criss-cross the city.  These canyons are reserved for wildlife and so cannot be built in.  They make great hiking areas.

Jen asked Matthew if he wanted to go for a hike in the canyon on Sunday.

"But Mommy, canyons kill people."

"Canyons don't kill people, what are you talking about?"

"On the pirate ships they explode and kill people."

"Those are Canons. We are going to the canyon. It's like a small valley."

"Is a valley what's behind Alex's house?"

"No, that's an alley."

Time for a re-negotiation

At the age of 5 Matthew has his good days and his bad.  Actually they go in cycles where he will have 3 to 4 bad days followed by 3 to 4 good days.  For punishment, we have tried many different approaches but the one that up till now we felt worked the best is the time out.  He is sent to a chair in the dining room to sit and we set the timer.  

He had been good for a few days with no timeout when we were driving home the other day.  We stopped the car and as I was helping him out of the car he said to me, "Daddy, I don't think you should put me in timeout anymore when I am naughty because I don't think timeouts are making me be better."

So he is telling me, "Dad, we need to re-negotiate the whole punishment thing.  Cause what we got here isn't working for me or you."