how to get Molly to sleep without a fuss

1. Set out on a road trip around nap-time.

2. Expect her to sleep in the car for most of the 2-hour trip, but really, she will only sleep for about half an hour.

3. Take her to the beach and let her boss you around (in and out of the water, up and down the sand).

4. Go to a BBQ with loads of the grandparents lake friends. Feed her off your plate. (she eats well - cheese and veggies, pickerel, pasta salad, part of a hot dog)

5. Let her have her own piece of cake. Laugh your but off when she says she is now "happy Molly".

6. Let grandma give her more desert.

7. Let her run around after the BBQ and throw rocks in the lake.

8. Put her in her pyjamas and get in the car around 8pm.

9. She falls asleep in the car almost immediately.

10. Drive home.

11. Carry her inside while she is crying because she woke up in the car.

12. Carry her straight to bed and cover her up.

13. Leave the room.

14. Let the wonder sink in - she has gone to sleep again!

a sad working (outside the home) parent moment

So, Noah learned to ride his two-wheeler without training wheels this week. He is so happy and proud of himself. The sad part is that he learned at daycare. Both Marc and I were looking forward to running with him, and letting go, and helping him get back up. It's just one of those moments, you know?

We've been meaning to take the training wheels off ever since the snow melted this year, but never seemed to find a spare moment. We live on a busy street, and people often drive quite fast down the back alley, so it needed to be an afternoon when one of us had time to take him to the park by himself. Well, it never happened.

Marc has been taking the kids to daycare on his bike whenever the weather permits, and Noah broke a training wheel along the way on Monday. That was the day they taught him to ride at daycare. By the time I picked him up at the end of the day, he was a pro.

Somehow I don't feel any sadness that Molly was potty-trained at daycare:)

i overheard . . .

Noah talking to 2 six-year olds at daycare today. He was telling them he didn't "really" believe in Santa Claus. Hmmmmm, I thought, interesting.

When we got in the car, I asked him about it. He said he didn't believe in Santa. I asked him how the presents got into his stocking on Christmas morning. "It's just magic," he replied.