Train Day

The only people that need to click on that music link above are family members---so yes you Sarah, Mom, Dad, Aunt Mary, Lori, Aunt Jane....

It brings me back to the days of visiting Grandpa and Grandpa Schneider (Schnooksie).  I think of them daily because we have restored their old dining room table and that is where we are creating new family memories-daily.  Listening to this compilation of songs makes me feel like I can smell skinny pancakes frying, the special taste of soda water, the non-stop games of bingo, hide and seek in the attic and looking through Grandma's old white purses,  They used to babysit for us and we would listen to those train songs over and over and over, while doing big ol' jig saw puzzles for hours.  I never realized Boxcar Willie was making those train sounds with his mouth.

Anyways, I don't even know if Grandpa Schneider liked trains or if he just loved Willie.  But I wanted to pay tribute because Hughie does seem to look a bit like Grandpa.  And Eli's love for trains came early and came hard.  He is still quite captivated by these machines.  And it was the perfect day to spend with HIS Grandpa and Grandma Schneider (Grandma Barb and Grandpa Bob) taking a good ol' train ride.  Let's just say-Hughie was pretty excited to go along for the ride.

Here is a big photo dump of the day.

Somehow I lost the pictures of the boys on the train.  Mom fail.....

This would have been the perfect spot for my sister to do a photo shoot.

Here is the only one Andy had, but I'll take it.

 

Hugh's new favorite word

Hugh likes to mimic mom and dad...and most often Eli. But this word he has started saying is TOTALLY mom and dad. And it's probably not the most correct way to get someone else's attention-but this word is used a lot around this part of the woods. I made him say it 3 times in a row in the video. Usually he always says it the exact same way. This time in the video he says it 3 different ways. His most natural and normal way to say this special word is the first version in the video. He says this when he you walk in front of him. He says this when he tries to unzip his jacket and doesn't quite get it. He says this when Eli gets to the sink to wash hands first. He says this when he gets water instead of milk. He is just always saying it. He is just always saying it. It's cute now because it's new. How long will that last. Again the video is pitch black because I took the video of him saying it while we were rocking to sleep.

He Sleeps

I've been waiting to post this for weeks, months, years.  And let's not jump the gun right away.  I sort of am knocking on wood while I type-hoping this is a "forever" and not just "for now" type of thing.

Hugh at nap time

I haven't told my closest friends, my sister or even my mom.

A few weeks ago Andy and I made another appointment at the sleep disorder clinic.  Hugh was getting worse again and we started to feel like we were giving in to him in the wrong way-comforting him at night to help him go back to sleep quickly so he could actually get some sleep.

we first tried a whole bunch of things-putting his bug nightlight IN his crib, unplugging the nightlight in his room, letting him cry for longer spurts of time, not picking him up, sticker chart etc.

And then Andy and I thought we would try something new and simple.  So here is what worked.
We made Hugh repeat the rules.
I'm not sure if this is actually what helped.  But the timing of it matches when he actually started sleeping better.

These are the rules-and I know he is hard to understand.   But it is totally clear to us.  And he usually talks more clear but taking a video is very exciting to him so he starts to talk more quiet and less clear.  And it's all dark because it's right before bedtime and we were rocking in the dark.
Here are the rules
1. No crying
2. No screaming
3. No throwing fits (I didn't have him say this one, because when he says it he can't say the "F" in fits, his F=T, so throwing __its isn't very polite.)
4. If you wake up, turn over and go back to sleep.  THIS one came from Eli and has REALLY really rocked our world.

Short and sweet and he repeats this before every bedtime.