A new approach

after two consecutive nights of being up with a certain short person in our home in the way too wee hours of morning, i've taken anew approach to bedtime. he can play a little bit after i tuck him in, but i set a timer and then go back in when the timer is done to make sure he's in bed. last night took three total tuck-ins. same thing so far tonight. he was asleep by 9:00 last night and slept clear through (yay!!!!!) and tonight he's down (after my second time of stopping the reading/playing/whatever) and i'm still listening to see if he gets up again.

i think we have a new favorite food. pasta. as long as it is coated in sauce, he's good. last night was chef boyardee. tonight was real pasta - buitoni tortolloni with a fancy carmelized onion and garlic tomato sauce. he gobbled it up! sweet!!!!! then at the mall he tried a bite of teriyaki chicken and thought that was pretty good, too. yippee!!!!

christmas break is officially here. we kicked the first group of kids out at 11:20 and the second group out at noon. teachers got to leave at noon-thirty. i met my friend katie for lunch (had to change the venue due to zero parking at our first choice). it was really nice to just sit and talk and not have to worry about little boys getting fussy or bored.

and the neighbors are officially gone. there is a pile of their stuff on the curb (public property). if they set foot onto the property, they're tresspassing. many of the immediate neighbors know this and will be keeping an eye on things over the next week or so. they apparently did some major damage inside the house (kicking in all of the doors, for example) prior to leaving. hopefully, we're done with them for good. good ridance