Not Sleeping and Other Happenings

I laughed to myself as I gave advice to a friend of mine with a little baby on sleep. Ha! Like I have it figured out. Elias has gotten up at least 5 times each night for the last 2 nights. He just finished getting 2 teeth in, so I would think he’s not getting more, but I could be wrong. He’s not getting up to cry, or to play. I don’t know how else to describe it besides “wild!”

He doesn’t stop moving. ALL. DAY. LONG. He only wants to play with things that are dangerous, and he always wants to be held, but as soon as you pick him up, he leans way down to try to reach the something on the floor.

He gets up at night, and I take him back to our bed to nurse him, but he hates being in our bed now to nurse. He just thrashes, and giggles, and kicks, and bites. When I pick him up to bring him back to his room, his feet are in constant jumping motion the whole way. It’s 3am, Elias. Give it a rest.

And the noise. He wants to be held all day, and if I set him down, he screams. He’s outgrown his baby carrier, so my arms are getting really, really strong. But now, he likes to “talk” loudly when I carry him around. It’s mostly just “Ahh. Ahhh. Ahh. Bababababa dadadadidididi.” Ending with vigorous kicking and pushing…in my arms.

So this morning, I was having a tough time pulling myself out of bed. Knut was good enough to get the kids started on breakfast while I was trying to convince myself the Bible study was worth the effort to going to today. When I came downstairs, I saw that Knut had set Elias on the kitchen floor so he could have 2 hands to cut some yummy apple bread for the kids’ breakfast this morning.

So, to give you a picture with words, since I had no motivation to descend another flight of stairs to get my camera: Elias had completely emptied out the tupperware cupboard, the pots cupboard, and most of the pan cupboard. He had taken several plastic grocery bags out of the drawer, and was playing with the handtowels in that drawer. All the while, experimenting with his vocal range and abilities. Silje and David were fighting over something as they almost always are these days, and there was my sweet husband, who saw me come downstairs from a long night of attempting to sleep.

“I need to go to work.” Knut said.

But fortunately for us, it seems that the kids don’t gang up on us all at once, or we would surely fall. David has been doing so much better. I don’t know if it’s the fact that he is no longer 3, or that he and Silje get a break from each other 3 days a week. The sweet boy actually offered to clean the basement for me the other day. Yesterday he raked leaves with Knut, and then Knut said they had the best time racing their bikes up and down the driveway.

However, while I was trying to fall asleep after finally getting Elias to sleep again I heard David walking down the stairs. I got up and creeped downstairs myself and found him in the basement playing cars. When asked what he was doing, he simply said, “Just playing, Mommy.” With Elias crying so much, he thought it was time to get up. He looked very relieved when I said it wasn’t morning yet, and very willingly went back to bed.

Silje continues to be her bright, insightful self. She sees things most people don’t notice, and is listening to conversations all the time. I pity the person who leaves the news on in the background. She WILL ask you about every single story. That balloon boy hoop-la had her worried sick for hours. She was practically in tears going to bed that night, because we had still not heard if he was found. She will ask you what a sex offender is, she will ask you about a bill being pushed through congress, and she will ask you what your doctor’s final diagnoisis was. So word to the wise–watch what you say around her! 😉