Sleep (or lack thereof)

Just a quick follow up on Max's new sleeping arrangement - mattress on the floor, gated into the corner of his room. Previous post on the start of this here.

The last couple weeks have been horrible. The first couple of days, he was amazingly fine. Then we went to Snowbird and Steve was bringing him home at night to sleep. He said he was still ok. But he wasn't taking naps since I didn't have any place to put him up at Snowbird, and we were always playing.
Since we've been home, he has the hardest time going to sleep in his room. He cries when we put him to bed, and even when he falls asleep watching tv with us in the living room, we'll put him to bed and he'll stay asleep for a while, but then wakes up crying at different times of the night, and super early in the morning. And, he's refusing naps, except in the car. He used to stay asleep if we brought him in after falling asleep in the car, but not anymore. It's driving me nuts! I layed by him the other night for over an hour to see if that would help. He didn't cry, but he tossed and turned and wouldn't settle down. It took him forever to fall asleep. I know half of his problem is that he is sooo overly tired from missing naps, that he is all out of sorts. Then he seemed to have a little bit of a tummy bug. He seems to be over that, and finally slept all night last night. But did wake up real early. Which is ok, since school starts next week. If he would just go to bed earlier! He's gonna have a rough school start I think ;)
There's a special needs tent bed that I'm debating about. http://myreadysetbloom.com/

One of the moms on a facebook group swears by hers. It's a lot cheaper than some of the other special needs beds out there ($160 vs $4000), but still enough money that I don't want to get it if it's not going to work for Max.
We'll see how the next few weeks go.
In the meantime, he'll just keep falling asleep on errands...

When he was sick, Piper helped by loading him up with stuffed animals ;)

And a random bee trap picture. Anyone else having a horrible bee/wasp/hornet problem this summer? We're filling traps weekly. Luckily, only Steve has been stung.

Lunch

Blogger is finally letting me upload pictures again so I can finish this post!

First up... lunch and crafts.
Piper invited a friend from school over last week (not that school for them has even started yet) (and coincidentally, her family is in the process of adopting a baby boy with Ds from Bulgaria - cool, huh?). They made bug catching necklaces (yes, via pinterest). And then set out to have a picnic in the backyard while they caught and released several moths.

Max sort of took over the picnic.

But at least he was sharing, sort of.

So out came the highchair ;) It's still fun eating outdoors, right?

The moth catching method:

Cousin Time at the Bird

One of Max's new things is to constantly be on the table. He realized that he has the strength to move the chairs so he can use them as climbing props. Awesome. Not. But finding leftover bowls of taco salad on the table seemed to help his utensil skilz. I was seriously amazed at how well he used this fork! And that he loves lettuce.

Immediately after our cousin, Dallas, arrived, Max cuddled right up to her with a book. So cute. (Unfortunately, the sound of her Dad's voice usually makes him cry.)

It was all fun and games until Uncle Brandon showed up to throw the girls in the pool. Yep, made Max cry.

Time for a nature walk.

Too many fires this summer. It was pretty hazy most of the week.

We saw a few deer.

And lots of wildflowers.

I attempted to let Max walk for a bit.

He wanted to go up or down, but not stay on the path.

So back in the stroller...

Beautiful afternoon.

Then more famdamily came up to celebrate my brother, Brandon's, birthday. The youngest of us is 40. Wow. We're all getting old.

My sister, Kimber, is in town from Texas. Max was full of kisses for everyone - except for Brandon who makes him cry ;)

Even Grandma got in on some Wii time.

We got in aother quick swim before the pool closed for the night.

Then it was time for Death by Chocolate. Mmmm.

And a way too long game of Phase 10.

Yeah - that's not dangerous. A 12 yr old can easily fit through the balcony railing. Super safe for toddlers - uh huh.

Piper was in heaven, spending two nights with her cousin!

And with that, the Snowbird vacation came to a close.

And hopefully, when it's our turn for the condo rotation again, Max will have grown up enough to actually stay the night in a bed, and not try to escape at every chance. Because really, I'm soooo over his two year stint hovering at the cognitive age of 12-15 months!