Wednesday call

On a muted conference calling sitting in the dining room, getting ready to present I case I was a part of this past Saturday. My first case presentation of this type though I've done in the past, from different viewpoints. The TV is on and the bigs are watching. Two of the three doors to the courtyard are open, the cool air drifts in, at least one child is unclothed. I can't see any of them but I hear sings of movement and, most important for me at this moment, no whining at my side. . .

that's changed in the past 10-15 minutes. Now I have one on my lap. One is standing on the couch, playing with the keys, glasses of water and Yahtzee cup that sit on top of the out-of-tune piano. I've already picked up poop from cement outside. We're in a a spectrum of potty-training and it is a combination of amazing and insane. Their pack mentality is in full-display--the alph has learned to use the potty and the other three are following in line, taking their time but stepping to. Have to keep up. We aren't doing much other than reminding them to go sit on the potty. Wiping butts. Cleaning surfaces of poop and pee. Putting on and then taking off and then putting on diapers.  Spending way more time in the bathroom than I would ever choose to. But all things considered I will take it. I see the future and it looks good.

 Sleep-wise, we've given up for the moment. Again. There is a session of musical bed, couch, floor mattress, crib. This is all with the bigs--the littles remain firmly in their cribs and oh please oh please can that just stay that way for much more time? Bedtime is no longer, or not at this moment, a nightmare. They get pretty hyper but we're for the most part avoiding the screaming when it's actually time to go down. Sunday morning I told them we would stop locking the door. They seemed glad about that. They have really not liked the locked door and I don't blame them--we both agree we would hate being locked in a room. It's one of the few parenting decisions we've made that I've felt icky about. But we did it because they would.not. stay.in.bed.no.matter.what else we tried and I couldn't stand extending the time awake another minute. My husband probably would have chosen to let them stay up until they got tired, though he too was pretty done by bedtime. It felt important to me that they have a firm bedtime, that they learn to fall asleep in their beds. That they get the rest they need. But we've spent the past two months taking turns sleeping in their rooms, getting shoulder muscles and back muscles tightened and stiffened up. I couldn't do it anymore. So now we put them down, I sing them a song or two, we close the but don't lock the door. They usually come open the door at least once. I tell them it's time for bed, walk them back and give them something nice to think about while falling asleep--our upcoming trip to Vermont, our visit to the fire station today.

Call done. Many strings of cheese consumed. Kids all quiet and engaged now but of course for the 5 minutes I was talking they surrounded me like a hula skirt. I'm working on a post about tantrums but for now, unedited update for your sake and mine.