Update: Dispatches from Toddlerhood

Thank you for letting me dump my problems on all of you last week. As another mom pointed out to me, we have toddlers. Why should we expect life to be easy?

Well, I don't, but at least I have a place where I can whine and complain and throw my own fit for a change.

Your tips and support on the "toddler bed transition" were super helpful, but we decided to just throw money at the problem and hope it goes away.

'Cuz that always works, right? Right?!!

We're still waiting for our shipment from home to arrive, which happens include my son's books, toys, puzzles, etc. In the meantime, we've been making do with the "basics" and empty plain white walls left to us by our landlords.

It's been like camping in a sanitarium...

I've held off on making any purchases until our things arrive and we figure out what exactly was packed. In the blur of what went, what stayed, and what was sold, we've actually forgotten what we shipped. (Well, that and it's taken for freakin' forever to arrive...)

Last weekend, it finally occurred to us that of course our son doesn't want to stay in his room. It's BO-RING, while waking up Mommy and Daddy is FUN.

Everything we brought with us on the plane has been played out by now. Sure, a few shiny new objects would brighten the place up, but we already have stuff coming any day now and...

Well, as my husband has been saying lately, "We can't put a price tag on sleep. BUY IT."

I like that mindset. I like it a lot, so I've spent the better part of this past week trolling the Internet and local shops for things to make my son's room (and life) more exciting...

Thanks to freecycle.org, I've replaced the train table he had to leave behind and got him a new-to-us tricycle for absolutely NOTHING!

At TK Maxx (TJ Maxx's evil British twin brother), I found books, blocks, a train set, little cars and trucks, and best find of all...

A pop-up tent just his size! (Creepy gnome children not included)

..and guess what? He loves to sleep in it. I put a pillow and a blanket in there and he crawls right in and lays down. It's like magic.

We'll just have to see how long it lasts...

Like Zephra suggested in her comment, we've also started telling our son, "You don't have to go to bed, but you do have to stay in your room". Except now it sound more like a reward instead of a threat.

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And for something that has absolutely nothing to do with toddlers...

Can we all please repeat for Grey?

Alaska. 63. Sunny. Alaska. 63. Sunny. Alaska. 63. Sunny. Alaska. 63. Sunny.