He-Man says “By the Power of Grayskull!”

Jaxon says “By the Power of Gray-cow”

Fun for…er….the whole family!?

There are a lot of changes going on around here at the moment.

Among them, we’re upgrading our spare bed from a blow up mattress to a proper bed for times when Grandma comes to visit.

We got our new bed frame, and Tim gave it a coat of vanish. It’s not wet anymore but it’s still a little grabby.

So as we’re in the room assembling it with Jaxon playing with Buzz Lightyear in the middle of us we tell him he’s not allowed to touch it.

Then we needed to leave to get the remaining bits to the bed and as we leave we reinforce our request for him not to touch while we’re gone.

On our way out to the shed Tim asks me how long I think it will be before he touches it. And I tell him he’ll do it just once “just to figure out WHY we asked him not to touch it”

When we return we fully expected that Jaxon would have his sticky little mits on the bed frame. Instead, there’s Jaxon holding Buzz in such a way that his hand was touching it!

He proclaims “Buzz touched it! Buzz touched it!”

Evil little genius he is!?

We’ve got a fairly solid bed time routine set up with Jaxon, even if we’re slightly lax during the day about when we have meals and naps and plays.

It was all too obvious tonight, given the conversation that Jaxon and I had as I left his room.

It’s normally ME saying this stuff to him and him repeating it to me!

Jaxon: Leave the door open a little bit Mum (peease)

Mum: Yes, I will Jaxon

Jaxon: See you in five minutes Mum.

Mum: Um, ok!?

Jaxon:  “I love you Mum”

Mum: I love you too Jaxon!

Jaxon: Sweet Dreams Mum

Mum: Sweet Dreams Jaxon

Jaxon: See you in the morning Mum

Mum: Yes Jaxon

Jaxon: Sleep tight Mum

Mum: Jaxon, you’re stalling. Go to sleep.

Jaxon: Yes Mum.

As I’m walking off, and now no where for him to see I can still hear him yelling out “Night Mum!!”

This is what happens on an ordinary night…when parents ASSUME that their child has gone quietly off to sleep.

At 11.30 tonight, after watching our normal nightly documentary…I went to check on Jaxon.  I didn’t panic so much when I saw from a distance that his light was on. Sometimes he does that. But normally, he’s asleep.

Tonight…not so much sleeping was happening.

When I walked in all I could say was “JAXON!”

He began to cry immediately. Like deep down inside he knew he was going to get in trouble all along.

But I couldn’t help but LAUGH! So much so that I had to stop to go to the toilet.

He cried to Daddy that he hurt his head, here…here…and here. And over there. And he wet his pants. And could we please change him now.

You gotta love em, right!?

That little blue cup of water on his bed side table looked like it had an inch of slim on the bottom of it. When I took the sheet off the bed the room was filled with white smoke. There is a layer of powder on EVERYTHING and it smells VERY pretty in there.

When the terrible threes hit hard here we found ourselves dealing with a very head strong little man. One who didn’t like being told it was bed time, or time to leave the park or time to do anything for that matter.One little boy, who would kick and scream all the way home if it wasn’t something he didn’t want to do.

So a few weeks ago we implemented the five minute warning. It’s fairly obvious what that is, but just in case you’re a little behind the 8-ball today…it means that we give Jaxon a five minute warning for something very specific that is going to happen. Five minutes until bed time Jaxon, five minutes until we leave Jaxon, five minutes left in the bath Jaxon. It’s not just a five minute warning, but a follow up of 4-3-2 and 1 minute warnings right up until it’s time he does what we’re telling him.

This method of warning Jaxon that we would soon expect him to do as he was told, or that something was about to change works very well. So well in fact that now, if we should happen to forget to give him his five minute warning….he will remind us.

Tonight, for instance, when  I told him it was bed time BEFORE telling him it was five minutes until bed time, Jaxon said “No Mum, three minutes till bedtime”

I used to think it was kind of cute. And truth be told I still do. But it’s also a little annoying because I know that after *I* have implemented the five minute warning, then it’s only fair that when I have forgotten to give him that warning…I should anyway. Especially, if he reminds me of it!

Has well and truly started in this house hold.So far, so good. I think.

I just thought I would drop in and say that I find it funny that Jaxon demands absolute privacy when he’s on the toilet. But thinks nothing of asking Mum for a HUG while she does her own thing.

Daddy and I can’t be within “looking distance” when he’s on the loo. He demands that we leave. And he wont do his thing until we’re out of sight. But then the minute either of us need to go to the toilet ourselves…there he is.

“What ya doing Mum?”

“I’m on the toilet Jaxon”

“Can I have a cuddle Mum?”

Ever since Daddy went back to school this has become our daily tradition.

Each morning as Tim get’s himself ready Jaxon goes through his little check list with him.

“Got helmet Daddy?”

“Got gloves Daddy?”

“Got keys Daddy?”

“Got wallet Daddy?”

The list goes on, right until Jaxon is satisfied that Daddy is in fact ready to leave the house.

Then we always make sure we go out and wave good bye. We wait until Daddy is out of the street and not a moment sooner will Jaxon let me start to walk inside.

When Daddy is coming home we can hear him from anywhere in the house. In this big shrill voice Jaxon will scream at me with bright eyes “Daddy’s come home!!!” and he rushes to the garage door to welcome him in.

Jaxon and I are extremely proud of Daddy, who is almost done with exam’s for his first semester back at Uni. It’s not been easy. In fact, there have been days where I honestly thought Tim wouldn’t be going back. But he stuck it out and I’m so proud of him.