Project: Conversion - Part 2

Today we had a mission! Mattress. Bedspring. Linens. Anything else was secondary! (Not entirely true – I had put off going to Costco and Meijer for a long time and our list was getting ridiculous.)

After a long day on yesterday, we took advantage of the morning and slept in. (After not a completely restful night, we needed it!) However, once we were awake and ready to go, we headed right out to finish Shawn’s bed. Raj and Shawn went in one car while I drove the van with the back seats flattened in hopes of bringing a mattress and box spring home with us.


Without too much hassle, we picked a full size mattress and bunkie board (a 2 inch box spring to keep the overall bed height low) from Back to Bed. We were able to bring the mattress home with us, but the bunkie board wasn’t in stock. So, we’ll have to pick that up on Tuesday. The salesman assured us that since Shawn is light, he’d be fine sleeping on the mattress without the bunkie board for a few days without the risk of caving the mattress into the support beams.


Next, we drove down the street to Bed, Bath, & Beyond to get linens. We found a great set that would’ve been perfect for his room – green spread with roads, street signs, cars, trucks, etc.

Kas Kids Raceway from
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=129861

"A colorful raceway gears your child up for a great night's sleep. The bed ensemble has a sham and comforter that reverses from a raceway to a black and white checkered pattern that matches the toss pillow, while the blue printed sheets and solid bed skirt complete the look..."

But of course, it was out of stock and discontinued. They just hadn’t taken the display of it down yet. Grr…


Instead, we found another set that’s just as fun. Though it doesn’t really go with his room, it doesn’t clash either and he does have a budding interest, so it’s fine. (We should have more than one set on hand anyway, so we’ll look for another car/truck themed one in the meantime. At least we have something for now.)

Kas Kids Dino from
http://calgary.flyerland.ca/products/bed-bath-and-beyond-kas-kids-dino-complete-product-7655293

"A land of colorful, playful dinosaurs comes to life with this exciting bed ensemble. Shades of navy, vibrant green, soft blue, purple and white adorn the sham and comforter in a prehistoric scene that reverses to a modern plaid. A plaid bed skirt and toss..."

On the way home, Shawn fell asleep in the car. While he napped, I went to Meijer and Costco (and picked up dinner while I shopped). When I got home, I threw the new bedding into the laundry and after putting away the goods, we had chicken salad on crescents a la Costco for dinner.


The new bedding took a little longer to dry than I had anticipated, so while there was a mattress to sleep on, Shawn still really had no place to sleep that night… so he joined us… again.

...We probably could’ve planned this better!

…Again.

Project: Conversion - Part 1

Shawn did a fantastic job at swimming class.  We got in the water about 15 minutes before class started, so he had a chance to warm up (and wake up).  I let him start with a float-belt with 3 floats on it, which he loves because his head stays above the water, but he does have to work a little, yet he has the freedom to ‘swim’ on his own.  Once class started, we traded the float-belt for a noodle.  (They do about the same thing, but the noodle is easier to use and not use it between activities.)  Shawn’s getting good at blowing bubbles, voluntarily putting each ear into the water, kicking is now second nature, and he’s starting to get the hang of doing arm circles while kicking.  He can easily use his arms or legs, but using them all together is a bit tricky – it’s a lot to keep track of!


The older kids in the class after ours were participating in a water safety exercise, which the teachers always hold on the second to last class of each session.  The teachers don’t actually get into the water at all, instead they coach from the deck.  The students put on life vests, learned how to jump into the water wearing one, how to swim on their fronts and backs wearing one, how to get into a canoe-type boat and maneuver it around the water.  Shawn was in awe.  Though we had been in the water for almost two hours, he didn’t want to leave!  He was amazed at what was going on in the other side of the pool – especially when the boat was involved.  Once I got him out of the pool, we of course had to warm up in the showers.  Apparently, it took a while for Shawn to thaw out because he didn’t want to get out of the shower either!  It appears that he’s either turning into a fish… or a human raisin!


We came home just long enough to pick up Baron for his grooming appointment.  While he was getting beautified, Shawn and I visited the library.  When we pulled into the parking lot, Shawn asked, “Is there a concert?” I think he was disappointed that we at the library just to get books this time.  He enjoys pulling books off shelves, occasionally reading a few, and putting others into our check-out basket, so he got over his regret pretty quickly.  The librarian helped us find a small stack of rebus books so Shawn can help read the stories.  He was very excited about them, which got her all a flutter!


On the way home, Yuppie Puppie called to say that Baron was ready to be picked up.  By the time we made it home, Raj was done with work.  It was a busy morning and I fell asleep with Shawn during his nap time.  Though sleeping in a rocking chair isn’t the best place for a nap, it was absolutely worth it (and cuddling made it an easy thing to do)!


Later in the evening, Raj started converting Shawn’s toddler bed to the next stage.  We couldn’t find anywhere on the boxes or papers what size bed the next level was.  So, we didn’t know if we needed a new mattress or what size it needed to be.  Not the best planning or design for the bed company!  The only thing we could do was – put the thing together and find out!


After a badly pinched finger (Raj’s) and an awfully bruised shin (mine), we discovered that Shawn’s new bed is… a full!  Not a twin!  The little man is going to get lost in the monstrosity!  The enormous converted bed not only required a mattress and bedspring (and linens), but we had to move other furniture around to get it to fit in his shrinking room.  Amazingly enough, we only had to move two bookshelves to a different wall and all his furniture is still in his room. However, since there was no mattress or bedspring, Shawn had no place to sleep that night… so he joined us again.

...We probably could’ve planned this better!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

In the wee hours this morning, Shawn woke up and joined Raj and me in bed. Luckily, he went right back to sleep and there was minimal tossing, turning, or kicking involved (at least that I’m aware of)! Recently, Shawn’s been waking up and wanting to come into our bed or not wanting to go to sleep in his bed at all. We haven’t made a big deal about it, but we don’t exactly welcome him in either. Since this didn’t used to be an issue and, in the last week or so, it’s been a frequent request, I wanted to talk to Shawn about what was going on.

So, later in the morning, when Shawn was fully awake, I asked him why he didn’t want to sleep in his own bed ‘last night’ (since it was still dark out). “Because my bed’s too small!” he explained, “I need a bigger bed!” Huh – well, then! That sounds simple enough! I’ll make sure he tells Raj himself tonight! Meanwhile, I have no idea how he got this idea or even knew a bigger bed was a possibility. We’ve never talked about it. There really is still plenty of room in the toddler bed for him – it’s not like he’s bumping his head and feet on the ends. As far as he knows, all kids have beds like his (cribs converted with a toddler railing)! Weird. When I told the teachers at Gymboree this afternoon, Ms. Mary Beth suggested maybe tying a ‘big boy’ bed to potty training… hmmmm...

We attended Art Class this afternoon and I felt like we got a little more ‘bang for our buck’ today. After a few minutes of free paint, the kids colored a cut-out heart with chunky shaped red crayons, glued it to a larger piece of construction paper, and then added glittery foam hearts to it. Shawn was engrossed with the new crayons that were about the size of his whole hand and shaped as hearts, bowls, and simply over-sized crayons. On the other hand, after a few seconds of scratching them across his paper, he lost interest in the actual project. I got him to glue the large heart to his construction paper when I showed him that he could pour the glue from his dixie cup and then spread it around, rather than neatly apply the glue with Q-tips, like the rest of the class. The foam hearts were lost on him entirely. In contrast, Abby went to town! She colored all over her heart cut-out, used her Q-tip to carefully cover the back with glue, and then did the same to add the foam hearts. All. Completely. Independently.

Abby's

Shawn's (sort of)

Once the Valentines were made, we returned to the ‘Circus’ theme that we’ve been doing for a few weeks. The next project was more fun (even to me). The kids covered the back of a paper plate with yellow, brown, and orange paint using a sponge brush. Then, they glued on eyes, a nose, a mouth (a piece of foam that looked like a packing peanut - ??), and a yarn mane to create a lion. Shawn didn’t care for the painting (so I did that part), but he really got into it when we started added the other features. Again, Abby needed little to no help. She did a great job thoroughly covering the plate with paint, leaving barely any white showing even around the edges. She added facial features on her own, but needed a little help with the mane because the yarn stuck more to her fingers than it did to the plate! I think the final products are among my favorites of all their art projects so far!

Abby's

Shawn's

Then, Ms. LouAnn gave the grownups a choice of either doing a third art project, which she explained may be more challenging than our typical projects, or having more time to play with the toys in the sand/water table. Almost unanimously, we opted for the third project. (I’ve never really understood why there’s so much time at the end of class for play time – we could easily do more projects, or better projects, with that time!) The kids were to use colored foam peanuts to make an elephant on black construction paper. (What? How?) Ms. LouAnn handed out sea sponges and explained that if the peanuts got a little damp, they’d get sticky. (Ooookay…? Still, not understanding what we’re supposed to do.) She also gave us glue. (Alrighty, not sure about this one, but he we go!) Shawn was completely lost, so while he played with the peanuts, I worked with Abby. We arranged the peanuts on her paper trying to shape the body of an elephant, but we weren’t being very successful. Instead, we started over and focused on just an elephant head. We made a long trunk (highlighted with a strip of aluminum foil), big ears, and hopefully, the rest of the head would just emerge as we went. As Ms. LouAnn explained, “The important thing is that the children know it’s an elephant and can tell you about it.” Then, it’s perfect! She knew exactly what it was and could tell me where the ears, nose, eyes, mouth, etc. were. Great job, Kiddo – better than what I would’ve done on my own! It turned out that Ms. LouAnn took the opportunity to help Shawn make his elephant… though the few times I glanced over, it looked like she was doing most of the work. (That made me feel better, since sometimes I wonder if I’m doing too much of the project for him, leading to his disinterest. But, it looked like he was already aloof about it and she just didn’t want him to go home empty handed!)

Abby's

Shawn's

There was still time for Ms. LouAnn to read See the Circus, by M. A. Rey, while the kids had a snack. Rather than our typical Winnie the Pooh cookies, one of the other children brought in Valentine’s Day cookies for everyone. The kids even still had time to play in the toys in the sand/water table, which just turned out to be red air bean bags that they pretended were “Valentines” to exchange with each other…  Glad we did the third project!

Raj and I agreed that we weren’t going to exchange Valentine’s gifts this year. However, I knew he’d still bring something, so I made a present for him – without spending a penny. I took a verse from ‘our’ song (Wonderful Tonight, by Eric Clapton), printed it on velum, layered with some fancy scrapbooking papers, and framed it. I’m glad I did it – it was fun to watch him realize what the verse was.

Raj brought me a lovely bouquet of roses and a very sweet card. He also had a Mylar heart balloon and a box of chocolate turtles, but Shawn claimed them for himself right away. I gave Shawn new toys for the bath tub: a basketball hoop with squirting balls, a motorboat, and a waterproof bath book about opposites. Then, we went out to an incredible dinner at Redstone American Grill (courtesy of a gift card from the team at Artistic Smiles). YUM!  However, as cliche as it may sound, the best part was spending the evening with two of my favorite men.  Cupid's arrows have struck me hard!  (Wish I had captured my two incredibly handsome Valentines on camera, but it didn't occur to me until it was too late!)

I did have Shawn tell Raj what he thought about his bed and why he didn’t want to sleep in it lately. Though a little surprised, Raj agreed that if it’s something Shawn thought he was ready for, then we may as well go for it! Looks like we have a project for this weekend…