A little conversation

So I've noticed that lately Isaiah has begun having conversations with his stuffed animals. He's really become quite a talker, actually, as he refuses to let us have phone conversations on our own these days too. He MUST speak to the person on the other end of the line, it is imperative. Anyhow, he is right now in a stubborn avoidance of sleep, talking with his In the Night Garden characters as he lays in the playpen alongside them. He is asking them what their name is and then, in a voice slightly changed, responds "in character." How can I tell him enough, that it's "na-nacka" time and he shouldn't be talking, when he is just too darn cute?

I've actually sometimes a really hard time getting him to sleep, particularly at night, and with Greg he is even worse. Monday night he was up 'til well past 11 pm because I'd gone into London for skating and he does not listen to daddy in the least. We're mostly to blame; because we're not home every single night with the same routine, he has not got the structure he needs to have a regular bedtime. But I find it hard to be home at a certain hour every single night and to have to be the one to sit with him through all that "bedtime" entails. Which is going to be worse come next week, my first full week back to work.

(Yes mom, I hear you now... attend the lecture you mentioned.)

Braylon is not so much a sleeper either. I really feel a bit of a failure as a parent about it, actually, when other babies are sleeping through the night within a few months, or weeks, while mine are hit and miss. Most nights we've two little bodies between us in our queen size bed. It's getting to be ridiculous. But at a certain point my body needs sleep, I need to function in the morning, so we eventually give in, after trip after trip to each boy's room in an attempt to convince them of sleeping there.

And I really hate to get mad. Having to raise my voice irritates me - as a teacher and a mom. Life is so much easier when children listen! Were it that easy. Isaiah sometimes has these fits about going to the potty, when at other moments he is desperate to show me what a big boy he is. He's been wearing underwear successfully, periodically, but pees in his pull-up worse than in his diaper. And we're far off from getting him to do anything more than pee in the potty. He gets so embarrassed about it, and won't even let us change him.

Anyhow, this blog has gotten fairly jumbled in the end, it seems. I began in one place and ended somewhere completely different. Sorry about that. Okay, I've got to deal with this stubborn toddler as it is now after his usual wake-up-from-my-nap hour. If I don't manage a blog or two in the next while, it is because I'll be back to work and likely very busy. (I'm on strike from anymore work at home at this point because I wanted to enjoy my last few days at home with the boys.)