Will We EVER Sleep Through the Night Again?

Why do both of my children refuse to sleep through the night? I know that Landon is not going to waste away if he doesn't get fed once during the night. What I don't know is how to convince him of that. In the middle of the night he goes from 0 (peacefully sleeping)-60 (screaming at the top of his lungs) in a fraction of a second and he does not let up until a bottle is popped in his mouth. Then occasionally he will also wake up and cry until we help him find his binky (which has usually been tossed across the room). Thankfully this doesn't happen every night. On some nights he goes crazy tossing his binky and the floor is littered with them by the morning. See Exhibit "A".

EXHIBIT "A"

And then there is Allie. I don't know what has gotten into her lately but it is making Eric and I crazy. She has become a sleepwalker and it happens every single night. Of course it usually happens just as I am dozing off from being up and feeding Landon. She drifts into our room, usually crying, and begs us repeatedly "help me Mom" or "help me Dad". Initially it had me really concerned because I would wake up with her standing over me crying and pleading for help. I don't think she has ever been "awake" during one of these episodes, so technically I guess I can't claim that she isn't sleeping through the night. She does a lot of mumbling, walking, stumbling around, and crying but none of it makes any sense. The light is on but no one is home, so to speak. These episodes last anywhere from 10 minutes to about half an hour. And eventually we talk her into climbing back into bed and then we retreat to our bed where we lie wide awake and talk about how freaky it is. I have an Exhibit "B", Allie's blank stare conversation, but to tell you the truth it is just too scary to post :). You're just going to have to take my word for it. When I ask her about it the next day she has no recollection of anything but finds her antics extremely entertaining. I'm glad someone is getting some enjoyment out of this (not!). The other night she was slightly more coherent and she kept saying "I have to go" I finally asked her "Where?". Her reply? "Mass". That's right. Apparently in her sleep she has converted to Catholicism. Last night I had had enough. So after I finally got her settled back to sleep I spent the next hour on the internet researching sleepwalking. Fortunately I found some helpful information and I have an arsenal of things to try to alleviate this problem. Wish us luck! As for right now, I am off to take a nap while Landon takes his so that I can be ready for tonight's adventures.

B-U-S-T-E-D

I think I am going to start calling this kid Houdini. So much for an impenetrable barrier. At least he hasn't toppled the tree. Of course, there are still 14 days 'til Christmas.

I Wish My Name Was "Dada"

And this is why:

The funny thing is that Eric is positive that Landon's knows that "dada" refers to him. However, Landon says "dada" when I ask him to say Mommy or Allie or any other word. It could be worse...Allie's first and only word for a long time was "NO!".

Do You See What I See?

You're going to have to look close at the lower left hand side of Landon's gums. After playing hide and seek with us for quite a while, we think this one's here to stay. Now we have to teach him not to use his fingers or ours (or our arms, legs, shoulders, toes, or any other body part he puts his mouth on) as chew toys. Ouch!

It's a little hard to see in the picture, but believe me, it's there. I've felt it.

"Wow, Landon, Mom Didn't Tell Me You Could Do That!"

This is what I overheard Allie saying to Landon the other day. It got my attention because I couldn't imagine what cute little trick Allie was unaware her talented brother could perform. As I peeked around the corner I saw Allie and Landon making their way up the stairs. That's right...the stairs. The ones that we keep gated to preserve Landon's life and well-being. Landon was quickly crawling his way up them while Allie followed behind him with a laundry basket. I am still trying to piece together what happened because as far as I know it was his first encounter with a flight of stairs. I had asked Allie to go downstairs and get a load of laundry out of the dryer for me. She is usually very careful about keeping the gate closed but this time she hadn't latched it shut. She swears that she didn't help him get down the stairs but found him waiting at the bottom of them. I'm not buying it. But then again, I wouldn't have believed that Landon could crawl up the stairs either if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

Uh-Oh Here Comes Trouble

Should we be encouraging this? Landon went crazy this evening when he discovered what he can do with this toy that he got from his cousin Carson.