Sleep and potties and birthdays

Two things on my parenting mind..... sleep and potties.

We are currently potty training DJ and well it was rough going from the start, he's just such a different guy from his older siblings, so much more independent. Well about 2 weeks ago I had him peeing on command, which I always feel like is the first major hurdle in potty training, and now it's down the toilet! He's back to not peeing at all on the potty (or maybe once a day) and I'm just frustrated! I know he's still young, but he had been so interested in peeing on the potty that I didn't want to deny the opportunity. Oh well! He'll get the hang of it soon. I'm hoping that he will be somewhat trained by the time he starts his preschool in the next month- I can dream right?!

The other major parenting issue we are facing is sleep with B. She had been a pretty good sleeper up until the last month. Now she was never sleeping through the night (defined as 5 hours of continuous sleeping), but she did sleep a 2-3 hour chunk at a time. Well, lately it's been 90 minutes on average, which makes for a long night. The worst part has been that the first part of the evening, the time usually reserved for cleaning up dinner, working on school stuff and relaxing- she's been awake. Which can be pleasant because hubby and I can enjoy some quality one-on-one time with her, but most of the time we are just switching off who is working on putting her to sleep. I am praying with all my might, that most of the craziness has been due to building up to Al's 3rd birthday party, but I just don't know. I do know that these past two days I have been working really hard at making sure she is napping well (ie at least 1 hour) and she is settling easier at night. Hopefully we are finding a rhythm that works for her, because the lack of sleep is a major stress to hubby and I. We are also working at moving her out of our bed for some of the night, because, lets face it- babies are cuddly and warm and wonderful, but sometimes you just want to sleep and not cuddle.

On a tangent today is Al's third birthday. I can't believe he's 3! It seems like just yesterday he was a baby. We were sitting in the room he was born in (now his sister's) reminiscing a bit. He seems so grown-up now and I know in a few month DJ will be 2 and a few after that B will be 1. How the time does fly. It's so sad in many ways because we know these are the last of the baby/toddler/preschool years and they just fly. Hubby and I realized that we have to register S for kindergarten this fall, something I never thought I would have to do in the state of KY, but since we are still here it needs to be done, as well as applying for the lottery for the Spanish immersion program. My babies are growing up too quickly! WAAAH!

Well I clearly can't leave you all on such a sad note, so I'll say that I had a subject drop out of the study, but it was OK because I had another fill the space that evening!