Nighttime Parenting....

I'm working on getting Sascha and Za to sleep together (and not with ME!). I've been putting them to bed at 8:00 the last few nights--and sleeping in a different room. (The different bedtime also gives me a lull to read to Taj and Aria before their bedtime.)

Sunday night they both slept all night--but were up at 6:00 (!) and no fun all day. We've also put Little Buddha in Tajir's room--and HE was up at 5:00 a.m. yesterday. Last night I got all three to bed at 8:00. All was well until Za woke up SCREAMING at 2:00 a.m. (sigh) So I went in there and lay down with the baby girls for awhile--until they were both back asleep. Then L. B. woke up so I got him a bottle and went back to my solo bed. At least they all slept until 7:00 this morning. I'm so much more civilized and happy when I can get up on my own at 6:00 a.m. and have at least an hour to myself.

The older kids have been SO excited for LB's birthday (his first one is soon.) They've been making him cards and pictures--and his very own private cardboard limo. We have a small party planned--some people are coming over for cake. I worked with him today to try to get him to crawl on his hands and knees (his preferred mode of transportation right now is a VERY FAST army crawl--on his belly.) He's strong enough, but stubborn. I can't believe how much a part of our family he has become in the last few months--I'm saddened to think about him leaving us. (One of the pitfalls of fostering....)

Speaking of fostering, our teenager is doing well. One of her friends is coming for a visit this weekend, and she's looking into getting a GED to avoid wasting her next two years in school. (She's reading the Teenage Liberation Handbook, which I finished and recommeded.) She's a neat kid!