Sleeping All on His Own

Yesterday, I started putting Dylan in his own room to sleep. To my surprise, he actually slept there without begging for nenen. At least for the second time around. I still had to give him the comfort at first. But when he woke up, I put him back to bed and sit on the chair. He was half asleep, checking me out if I still there. I sit still and he's drifted back to sleep. Like 5 seconds later, he tossed and turn, and peeked his way to see if mama still there. Yes, baby .. I'm still here.

Wow, no drama?
After about 10 minutes, I was kinda drifted to sleep myself on that chair. I just wanted him to feel comfortable in his own room. That I'd be there if he needed me. He was really in a deep sleep.
I moved my ass off quietly, heading to my room. I watched some TV, cause all the sudden I just didn't feel that sleepy anymore.
I'm so used having him by my side, I missed him by the time I finish the 30min show. Oh, how I wish I'd see his face on that door. Ironic, eh?

At around 2:30, the sleepiness hit me and I turned off the TV ... not much after that, maybe 15 min later or so, I heard a voice, .. I opened my eyes .. and saw a beautiful little face. There my son, on the edge of my bed, right in front of me. I scooped him right away, brought him up to bed and kissed him all over. Ohh, how I missed you son!

That sounds pathetic, cause after all sleeping on his own is definitely harder on me than him.

Right now, Day 2, 1:05 AM, he's sleeping in his room again. He was here before and woke up, I picked him up and carried him to his room. Wondering if it's the usual nenen time again. But as soon as his body touches the bed, there he is .. falling asleep again. Without struggle or whimper or nagging like he always does.

Wow ... that was easy.
I just have to be consistent, ... but I still miss him (a lot right now).
My son is a big boy now, eh.

Problem Solving

Summer is almost over. So everyday, I try to bring Dylan to the playground/park.

Seperti biasanya dia suka banget maen swing ... dia akan bilang, yeaaaa ... yeaaaa ... sambil 2 tangan kecilnya pegangan di rantai swing. Terus dia ngomong, ... "enak, enak" .. while the swing flies in the air .. hehehe. Iri aku nak. Enaknya maen swing.
Dia juga udah bisa duduk di swing utk anak2 gede yang alas duduknya cuman dari 1/2 lingkaran ban doang (jd nggak ada sandarannya). Lucuuuuuu banget, .. asli kayak Tweety yang lagi nyantai2 bertengger di sangkarnya. Hihi ... my little tweety beld.

Terus tadi pas maen di park, ada anak co kira2 umur 3-4 tahun, lagi cari2 mainannya di sebelah bench kita. Dan dia ngajak ngobrol (biasa .. anak kecil), nongkrong lah dia disitu ... Dylan tuh paling seneng maen ama anak cowok seumur dia gitu. Dibelakang bench kita itu kayak grass area yang posisinya ngetrap (kira2 setinggi 1 meter lah). Dari bench, kita bisa langsung naik ke atas paving dan ke grass area itu. Ni anak cowok, naik ke situ. Dylan, tentu aja mau ikut2. Aku bilang ... "Jangan nak, jangan, duduk aja sini, nanti kamu jatuh". Beberapa kali dia nyoba naik, tapi selalu kutarik turun.

Finally setelah dilarang terus, ... bukannya naik, eh sekarang Dy malah turun dari bench ... lari ke play area (kukira dia mau balik ke swing lagi). Ternyata ... dia ke tangga untuk menuju grass area itu ... dia naik sendiri, terus nyamperin anak cowok tadi yang udah sedari tadi ada di atas sambil ngoceh2 ria.

Oh my goodness, asli gue heraaan banget, kok Dy tahu ya .. bisa lewat tangga situ untuk access naik. Padahal seumur-umur kita belum pernah naik tangga itu. Jadi intinya, dia udah belajar problem solving.

Situation: pengen maen ama that 'little' boy

Problem: dia ada di atas, dan aku nggak boleh naek ke atas lewat bench ama mama.

Solution: I'm gonna go around and take the steps to get to that boy! Voila!

Oh Dy ... I'm so proud of you. How marvelous you use your tiny brain. I'm so impressed. (Thank you God!)

-Yang gini2 nih, mama nggak pengen lupa ... buat mengingatkan juga, kalo satu jalan kebentur nggak bisa2, and instead of being discouraged and give up, we can always try the other way. It can also surprise other people! Makasih ya nak.-

Music to Little Soul

Hey little one!
Sing and dance.
I hope you never lose that.

Dylan, my 22 months old son, loves music. And I love that fact. It's obvious that music soothes, energizes, relaxes, and inspires him.
If he's overtired, the "new-age" music will calm him down. He's falling asleep more easily. If he's cranky (in the car), we just have to put his ABC song, and a grin will show up on his face.

When he watches the TV show, he'll dance to the beat .. not just kiddie song, Rock n Roll, Disco, or Rap just do the same justice. He'll shake his head and his two little hands go up and down in the air. He'll spin around in circle.

I just notice recently, ... everytime Barney is almost ended, they always sing the .."I love you, you love me, we're a happy family .." song.
And everytime .. Everytime! he hears this song, he'll look for me, .. It doesn't matter what I do, he'll take my hand and he says "up, up". I have to drop and stop whatever I do, cause if I don't, .. he'll stand there persistently shaking my hand. So I give up, then still holding my hand he will lead me to the TV.

Why? Cause Barney and friends do this little dancing, hugging and kissing. And my son wants to dance, hug, and kiss me. His face is so happy and fulfilled. When the song ends, he lets go of my hand and let me back to whatever I did before.

Thanks for giving me that, son.
To remind me, that sometimes ... I have to drop everything I do just to dance, hug and kiss you.

P.S. I love this ritual!