Why Won't He Sleep?

These days Austin will not go to sleep without freaking out. He wakes up during the night flipping out as well. In the morning he will not sleep in at all. He's averaging about 9 hours sleep per night and often will only napfor about a half hour or 45 minutes. It's totally draining; it's like I have an infant again. Listening to his screams and constant crying is just torture. I don't know what is going on with him. I know it's just a stage, but the past week has drug on like it's been a month.

The Fake Fingernail

Austin does many funny things. Today, however, he had me cracking up so hard I was crying. I was busy running from room to room doing housework. Austin was rummaging around in our spare bedroom. The room is a mess and he finds interesting things in there. When I went in to check on him he smiled really big and showed me his hand. He had found a fake fingertip, complete with a long red fingernail and put it on his finger. It looked so weird! It took me a moment to figure out what I was looking at. Why this item was in my house, I have no idea, but I'm so glad he found it, because it gave me a really good laugh.

Snow, Summersaults, & Artichokes

Austin is so super fun at this age. Tonight it is snowing - hard. And it's the middle of April. Very weird. Austin refused to sit in his high chair tonight. Also weird. So he sat on my lap for most of dinner. I had an artichoke, which I dipped in lemon butter sauce. He also chose to dip his meal in the butter sauce (his crackers, cheese, etc.) After I had pulled off all of the artichoke leaves, the heart remained. I had to eat it with one hand, ice cream cone style, since he was on my lap. Austin wanted some too so we sat and ate a yummy artichoke heart with as much enthusiasum as two people sharing an ice cream cone. (Austin does not actually eat ice cream because it is too cold.) We are two crazy vegetarians.
When it was time for bed he exercised his usual delay tactics, but tonight he was especially creative. Whenever I said it was time for bed he would do a summersault. In a rather urgent manner, like it was a pressing piece of business that had to get done before retiring for the night. We read Baby Signs for Bedtime before bed. He was doing the signs all exaggeratedly and cracking up.
He is so fun! I didn't want to put him to bed.

More Squirrel Please

This is my first time blogging ever. I've fought it for a long time, but now I have a story to share. Last weekend, Brian and I got food poisioning. It was HORRIBLE. We were sick ALL night long. The next day we took turns taking care of Austin and it was challenging to say the least. We were still very weak and nauseous. Of course Austin would not take a nap...all day long. But the thing that I remember most about that day is not that it was one of the worst days of my life, but one little thing that Austin did.
Austin has recently been signing "more" for things other than food; this is new. He'll use it when he wants his book read to him again, etc. He also has started signing "more" and "please" together, which pleases me as well.
That morning, he noticed a squirrel in our backyard. He laughed and squealed as he watched it run around our yard. When it ran out of his sight he quickly turned to me and signed, "More please." I had to laugh out loud and explain to him that I had no control over the squirrel.
I loved this moment and revel the fact that, overall, this moment was more powerful than a baterium of salonella.