When Beavers Stop Being Dream Weavers and Start Being House Creepers



4:40 am- I'm bundled up to go for my morning run. Notice my Santa hat turtle neck and expression of pure joy. Decided to put it off for a little bit and make cinnamon rolls for breakfast after the Kagillionth attempt to get him back to bed.

I get up early. Every. Morning.  It's the how I get things done, including my runs.  My runs are how I keep my inner psycho from rearing her ugly head. Someone has decided that he too is an early riser.  If the weather were above 40, this would be no big deal.  I'd plop him in the running stroller and grunt my way through a few miles. BUT- it is not. 

It would also be no big deal if we woke up about the same time. BUT- we do not.  Davy Crocket straps on his coonskin hat at all hours of the night to head out and explore the wild frontier. Some nights I am ripped out of REM at 12 am to a slamming bathroom door, a noise I think I heard, possibly a dropping car to find him sitting on the couch meditating. He has become nocturnal. We took him out of his crib 2 months ago and into his first big boy bed, a transition that went way to smooth now that I think about it. The blue race car bed was met with pure glee, and now I know it was the realization that he would have nocturnal freedom.     

When he is discovered and led back to bed, he doesn't speak.  You see friends, Beaver #2 is a smart beaver. He's wise beyond his years. Wise, sneaky and cat like- not good qualities to have in a 2 year-old. He's not sleep walking, he's trying not to make the situation worse. He has also learned that the less you say, the better.

We've tried blackout curtains in his room, adjusting the temperature, no food or drinks an hour before bed, no afternoon nap.  Nothing is working. But this beaver is wise, sneaky and cat like so it's only a matter of time before he tries to expand his explorations beyond our home territory. I baby gated his bedroom door after we made cinnamon rolls this morning so at least he cannot claim new territory, like the backyard or the neighbors porch.

Beaver #2 is very different from Beaver #1. Beaver #1 would bellow from his car bed the second his eyes peeled open, "Mom, awake." He'd lay patiently in bed until I would open his door and lead his little biscuits over the side of the bed and into the freedom of the morning. Not #2. He's a whole new ballgame.  Because as I sit here typing, I see him inspecting the new contraption that I've drilled into his doorway, and I hear the gears turning. He's squatting down and checking out how he can use this new piece of equipment to his advantage. Lord help me.



I had given him his breakfast, a banana and one without icing because he said it was gross. After my shower, I found him like this- on his 5th.
 

Here are a few videos from this past week.  Last week I blogged about James' love/like/dislike relationship with reading.  The first video is of Toby with his favorite book. 

The second is when I overheard James reading to his brother, I had to tape it to remind myself to relax, take a deep breath and wait.