Sleeping rituals

Everyone has a ritual that helps them fall asleep, even if they're not aware of it. I, for example, always lie on my side, put my hand under the pillow and think of nice things that happened that day. Moki likes to have one dummy in her mouth and one in her hand and then change them around.
Bibbo, on the other hand, shrieks like a wounded bird, pulls his dummy out of his mouth unintentionally at least seven times then cries because he can't get it back in, flails his arms around, attempts to scratch his eyes out, turns his head left and right, bangs his legs against the mattress, all the while fighting me while I try to hold his hands down so that he doesn't hurt himself. Whatever works, I guess.

Setting the rules

Two new rules were set today:
1. Moki's not allowed to lick the train window. Or any window.
2. Mama's not allowed to tell Moki that she's not a monster.

Happy birthday to me

My day started perfectly with a neighbour driving Moki to the daycare and J, Bibbo and me having a lovely breakfast outside. I planned to spend the rest of the day walking around the centre, reading and having coffee in the sun. Unfortunately, around 10:30 I got a call from Moki's daycare to pick her up because she's been sick. Just at the thought of that, as a very empathic mother, I started feeling queasy myself. J picked Moki up and I rushed home where my empathy reached the highest peak when I started throwing up as well (goodbye overly expensive breakfast!). So we spent the rest of the day so far watching Shrek, puking, eating salty pretzels and sleeping, which is really not an entirely horrible way to spend a birthday, I guess.

Mealtimes are messy

One of my kids is dirty because she can't eat properly, the other one's dirty because I can't eat properly.

Mama self-punishing

You've reached a new low when your child wakes you up at 23:40 and you think to yourself: "This doesn't count as a wake up, I shouldn't have been asleep anyway."

How you change with the second baby, an empirical study, part IV: Rolling over

With the first baby, you read a lot about her physical and emotional development. You know each day not only what new skills she's acquiring but also how to help her develop those skills further. You perform a series of gentle physical exercises with your baby each day and you're really looking forward to her reaching her next big milestone: rolling over. You have a feeling it will happen soon so you video every play session because it would be a disaster if you didn't catch this special moment on film. You're excited for a week, announcing to all your friends and family that your baby might roll over soon. Then you're worried for a week because you would have expected her to roll over already, is there anything wrong? When she finally does roll over, you send that video to everyone in the family, followed by numerous videos of her getting even better at rolling over! Then you start getting excited about her sitting up by herself. You have to start reading about that!
With the second baby, all of a sudden you realise that your baby's as old as your first born was when she rolled over. When you come back into the lounge from the kitchen one day, you get a bit excited because your baby might have rolled over. You're not sure though because you can't remember if you left him on his tummy or on his back when you left the room - so he either rolled over or he hasn't moved at all. Mental note to self: avoid leaving the baby unattended on the bed for longer periods of time because he will roll over eventually.

Who's a better child

I knew that I wasn't going to be sleeping well once the baby was born and, needless to say, I was right. I get woken up at least three times a night and that pretty much fits with what I expected, based on our previous experience with Moki. But what I didn't expect was that two times out of three I'd be waking up because of Moki. She's literally the worst sleeper ever. Her four month old brother officially wins in the "Sleep" category.
...which brings us to the current results of our "Who's a better child" competition!
For those who are interested - Moki's currently in the lead in these categories: "Talking", "Walking", "Singing", "Using the toilet" and "Just generally using things". Besides "Sleep", Bibbo's currently doing better in "Flapping arms", "Anger management", "Headbutting mama" and "Staring at own hands". They both score equally very high in "Cuteness" and "Lovebility" so there's no clear winner at the moment. I'll keep you posted!

One of the truths about parenting

70% of parenting involves someone crying. If it's not a kid, it's a parent. 30% is peaceful and quiet. That's when kids are watching TV.