If we ever had to publish a book, that would be the title.

NOTE: The Internet Gods are set to bestow DSL upon our household tomorrow which will allow us to update this site more frequently and include pictures. We will also be checking and responding to email on a regular basis. Mountain View is set up with Free WiFi via Google but it is free and behaves as if it is free and so we will pay.

Since the Night of Blood, Simon hasn't slept for more than a few hours at a stretch. He is ALWAYS up between 1 am and 3 or 4 or 5 am screaming, shouting, begging, or pleading to be released from his room. We've tried sleeping next to him (he couldn't sleep), sleeping somewhere near him (he wanted to be next to us and then he couldn't sleep), and letting him sleep in our bed. That last disaster led him to run out of our room in the middle of the night into the kitchen where we heard *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* giggles... when we ran out and asked what he was doing he said "Jumping and laughing!" Our downstairs neighbors must love us. We came up with and implemented a plan two nights ago that we hope will eventually solve the problem. Remember Ferberizing? We're Ferberizing our toddler: 30 minutes of crying, 15 minutes of soothing over and over and over again. And so we sit in the wee hours of the morning waiting to soothe, listening to the sounds of the torture chamber that is Simon's room.

During the day Simon really likes his room and he thinks his bed is SO COOL so we're perplexed. In the wee hours of the morning we have a strong desire to shout at the top of our lungs, "WHAT IS HIS PROBLEM!?!" He has never been good at sleeping outside his crib so we imagine this all had to happen sooner or later. We wish it had been sooner because, right now, we could really use some sleep. And come our dream vacation in June, we'd really like him to spend the wee hours of the morning snoring instead of turning us all into the living dead.

Luckily, Simon has had no more bloody noses (thanks to the tip provided by Grandmother Jill of rubbing the inside of his nose with Vaseline before bedtime) and, besides fluctuating between lethargic and hyperactive due to lack of sleep, he has had a great week.

He took his first art class in which he created a collage and a painting, he started his first gymnastics class in which he enjoyed swinging by the rings, he went out to eat without Mommy or Daddy for the first time (with Grandparents Kagle) which we imagine made him feel like such a big boy, he ate breakfast with Calvin and met baby Finn, he had two play dates with all of his long lost play date buddies, and he created his own imaginary friend (just today) named "K" or "Kay" or "Kei" (we're not yet sure how K.. spells his name and he is hard to find to ask the question).

As of now, if we could just get him to sleep regularly, deeply, and without interruption, we might just claim that Simon is perfect. But without sleep this whole experiment in child rearing is seeming like it wasn’t totally thought through.