Lots of changes

Jakob has made some really big changes in the past few weeks and we are so proud of him.

As I mentioned before, he has been trying new foods. He has been trying and eating for the most part just about every dinner I have made (with the exception of my home made pot pie)- he even tried a cucumber and my Mom's American Chop Suey (wasn't too keen on the onions, so he could not continue).

Another big change for us is he has slept in his own bed all night by himself! This is a big thing for us as Jake has shared our bed or his with one or both of us since he was an infant. (There was a 2 month period when he was 10 months old that he did nap and sleep in his crib, but he stopped when we spent a week in Nashville and then Todd started a different shift when we returned...totally messed him up). We have tried as he got older to get him to stay in his toddler bed or his big boy bed for the last couple of years, the only way he would was if we put him in his bed AFTER he fell asleep- and then he would only last 2-6 hours at most. So, Sunday night Todd read him a story and laid down with him until he fell asleep (around 9:30 p.m.). He came in our room about 1:30 a.m. wanting to come in the bed (yeah, no room as Kaleb and I are now sharing the King size with Daddy rather than in Jake's Full size) and softly asked him to go back to bed and he did! I think he came in one more time and then finally went back to bed on his own until morning. As a "treat" we gave him one of the trains (Bulgie) we had stashed for a special occasion. He was so excited. Last night I wanted him to go to bed around 9 p.m., but with some compromise he went at 10 p.m. (normal for him). Kaleb and I read him a story and then came downstairs- he stayed in bed (called down to me once when I walked down the stairs) until around 4 a.m. He was a little more adamant this time about sleeping in our bed, with a little more persuasion than the night before I got him to go to bed- he actually stormed out and slammed our bedroom door. He stayed in his bed until morning. Pheew. Hopefully we have a good night tonight..he knows that there are more surprises coming from KinderTrains.com.

We are having a time getting him to stay clear of Kaleb as he has yet another cold. Do not want Kaleb to get sick (he has been congested in the mornings but usually clears up within an hour) again!

At times I feel like a broken record, constantly reminding him to do this or that, it's rather frustrating. After watching Nanny 911 last week (Todd watched it with me) for the first time. The couple had 3 out of control kids and the parents were not on the same page. The older child was blamed for a lot and the Mother would take her frustrations out on him. They determined that he was acting out with negative behavior because he was not getting enough "atta boys" for good behavior and he wasn't getting the one-on-one time with his parents that he used to get. The Mother was also nagging about every little thing rather than picking the important battles to fight. After one week of working with the family, things drastically changed for them. So looking at the footage gave us ideas on how we could change some things around here so it doesn't seem so "crazy" at times. Sometimes we forget what we should be doing when our "routines" are changed. With more positive encouragement and less nagging, we have seen a change in Jakob this week. Still lots of energy though!!