Day 2 – Sleepless Nights

Samuel was the first to rise on Monday morning. It was 7:30 and he had all the toys to himself. He reached into the toy box and pulled out the action figure he’d seen Isaac playing with yesterday. He played quietly for a little while but then went to wake up his parents.

Sonya had only been sleeping for a couple of hours, so Jesse got up with Samuel. He immediately put him on the potty and continued yesterday’s lessons.

All was going well until Jesse really needed to use the bathroom, too.

“Samuel, you almost done, buddy? Daddy has to use the potty, too.”

As soon as Samuel was finished, Jesse ran from the room, leaving Samuel looking puzzled as to why he wasn’t using the potty after all. Samuel shrugged his shoulders and went back to playing.

While there was only one toddler awake, Jesse took a shower. Then he helped himself to a serving of the breakfast that Sonya had thoughtfully prepared for the family before going back to bed a couple of hours ago.

Samuel, Annie and Isaac were the first of the toddlers to grab some breakfast while Jesse was eating at the kitchen table. They each took seats in the living room and began to eat while Isabel was in the kitchen getting her food.

Isabel joined Annie and Isaac on the sofa. Isaac had woken up hungry and wasn’t very happy about his empty belly.

When they were done eating, Annie shared a hug with Samuel.

Fiona had decided she wanted to eat outside and sat on the porch with her breakfast, basking in the sunlight.

When Jesse finished breakfast, he took a headcount and noticed Fiona was missing. He opened the front door and was happy to find her, safe and sound, on the porch.

“Fiona, sweetheart, there you are!  You had Daddy worried. Please don’t go outside by yourself.” Jesse picked up Fiona, hugged her and brought her back inside, locking the door behind him.

Sonya woke up and smiled as she entered the kitchen, seeing that Jesse had everything under control.

Jesse filled her in on Fiona’s disappearing act and said, “We should probably keep the doors locked from now on.”

Sonya agreed. “Yeah. It’ll be easier to keep track of everyone that way. They’ve got us outnumbered.”

When Sonya finished breakfast, she gathered up all the dirty dishes and washed them.

Jesse was concerned that he hadn’t seen Wyatt get up yet. He went into the kids’ bedroom and woke him up. It was 2:00 in the afternoon and he must be starving by now. Wyatt woke up very angry because he was, indeed, ravenous.

He ran into the kitchen and grabbed the last plate of food and sat down in the living room. As soon as he took his first bite, he was a happy boy again.

Sonya and Jesse had agreed that their first priority was potty training the kids. Getting rid of diapers once and for all is a big savings in time and expense for any new parents. By 12:30, Annie was the first to be potty trained and able use the potty independently. Later that afternoon, Fiona, Samuel and Isaac joined Annie in achieving that goal. They may still need reminders to choose the potties over their diapers, but they wouldn’t need any more hands-on training.

Meanwhile, out in the living room by the cozy fireplace, Annie, Wyatt and Fiona were having fun shaking their little booties to the music.

Annie got the urge to hug her sibling, as she often does, and Wyatt was her target this time. Fiona was all danced out and threw a tantrum. Who knew dancing could be so frustrating?

She found an unlikely place to play next — the toilet. Fiona splashed around in the water and got dirty, and then she cried about it. She wanted a bath and expected someone to come running to her aid immediately.

Unfortunately for Fiona, both Sonya and Jesse were busy. With Jesse’s help, Wyatt successfully learned to use the potty like his siblings had earlier. Samuel, our early riser, was tuckered out and laid down for a nap.

As soon as Sonya was free, she gave Fiona a bath, and then Jesse gave one to Wyatt. Next, Isabel completed her potty training.

Once Samuel woke up from his nap, Jesse gave him a bath, too, and then mopped up the large puddle on the bathroom floor.

Sonya started building something on the play table. When Jesse entered the room, he chuckled and said, “Playing with the kids’ toys, babe?”

“Yeah, you know, we should’ve read the directions better before we bought this. It’s actually for older kids. Unless we build some things, the kids won’t be able to use it.”

“Point taken. I don’t know if we’ll have much time for that, but we’ll see how it goes. Hopefully, we get the hang of this and it gets a little easier, but right now, I’m exhausted.”

“Why don’t you take a nap while I fix dinner? Some of the kids could use a nap, too. I know it’s already 9:00, but I don’t want to put them to bed with empty bellies.”

Jesse agreed with his wife and decided a quick nap would do him good. Annie, Fiona, Isaac and Isabel all took naps as well.

Sonya fixed BLTs for dinner while most of the house was napping. By the time everyone woke up and ate dinner, it was nearly midnight.

Annie hadn’t had a bath yet, so Sonya gave her one before putting her to bed. All the girls went to bed at around the same time. Sonya then gave Isaac a bath and put him to bed.

Samuel needed to finish eating and then use the potty before heading to bed as well. Wyatt finished dinner at 2:00 in the morning while watching TV. Jesse cleaned up the dirty dishes that were strewn around the living room.

At 3:00, Annie had a nightmare. Jesse was in bed, and Sonya was about to join him after cleaning the boys’ potty. Instead, she read Annie a bedtime story to help her fall sleep. Meanwhile, Wyatt was still on the potty, and Samuel had just finished eating.

By 3:30, Sonya finally got to bed, along with Samuel and Wyatt.

Isaac woke up at 4:40 from a nightmare and ran to wake up his Mommy. Jesse got up with him since Sonya had just gotten to bed. Isaac just wanted comfort and stopped crying when Jesse picked him up.

Jesse carried Isaac back to his room and read him a story until he fell back to sleep.

At 5:30 it was Samuel’s turn for a nightmare. Jesse had barely gotten back to sleep when he had to get up again with Samuel. Jesse was sad because he’d been woken up by a crying toddler yet again.

Samuel wanted his Mommy but Jesse attempted to comfort him with a hug. It didn’t go well as Samuel rebuffed his advances.

Jesse sighed and mumbled to himself, “Mommy’s sleeping, kiddo. You’re stuck with Daddy.” Then he put a smile back on his face and picked up Samuel.

“Come with me, buddy. You want Daddy to read you a story?”

Samuel nodded his head and cuddled against his Daddy’s warm chest. Jesse rubbed gentle circles on Samuel’s back as they walked.

Jesse read a few pages in Samuel’s favorite book, and Samuel fell back to sleep. Finally, Jesse was able to go back to bed himself. He mumbled to himself on the way, “Man, I hope these kids start sleeping through the night pretty soon.” It was another very long day for the Wilsons.

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Let’s see how everyone’s doing with their skills on Day 2.

First, the toddlers:

All toddlers gained a level in potty training, so we’re done with that now. The toddlers will continue to increase their skill level as they use the potties. The movement skill will also see gains without adult intervention. Little did I know how important it is to raise thinking skill early in the challenge. As I have since learned, thinking skill governs nightmares, tantrums, defiance and all that fun stuff. I think Sonya and Jesse would’ve appreciated it if I’d done a little more research up front. 😉

The parents:

Jesse gained a level in parenting. Sonya is nearly at level 4 as well, but this shows only those levels that are complete. They spent too much time on potty training, giving baths and dealing with nightmares to do much else today.

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