Jace Never Stops. It's Exhausting For Everyone

Jace never stops moving. Running, jumping, climbing, rolling, investigating, climbing on one of us, rolling on one of us, rolling on his sister, climbing on his sister. It never stops. Our friend Alicia was here for coffee this weekend and after watching him not stop moving for an hour she remarked at how exhausting it was just watching him move that much. He never slows down, he barely stops to eat - he would prefer to eat on the run if that were permitted. This is the #1 reason he still gets strapped into the booster seat at the table to eat - he would never sit still long enough to get through a meal. Bath's are a nightmare - he's in and out and up and down a million times in the tub. It's just so much easier to bring him in the shower.
After the monster incident, bed times got easier. He has stayed in bed, calmed himself down and put himself to sleep almost every night since then. Nap times weren't going well, so I started laying down with him. If nothing else, I thought I could at least stop him from actually getting out of bed and coming upstairs and eventually maybe somehow entice him to close his eyes and go to sleep. It is the craziest thing, to watch him finally slow down enough to fall asleep. He is climbing on me, hiding under the blanket from the Puma that is sure to come, he's sitting up, laying down, sitting up, laying down, sitting up, standing up, back flopping, sitting up, turning sideways, trying to snuggle, trying to get away from the snuggle, hiding his head under the pillow, hiding one more time under the blanket from the Puma, then he is suddenly sleeping. It takes at least a half an hour before he will lay still for, at the most, one minute, and then he is asleep. It takes so much for him to slow down, calm down and relax, but when he finally does, he is so tired he can't last more than one minute. It's wild to watch.
Pretty much the only time we see him be still is in his carseat, or when he is really interested in a tv show or movie. Which seems to be few and far between right now - he is incredibly picky about what he watches these days and rarely has the attention span to sit through it anyways.


he was a wee bit under the weather this morning. so sad to see him laying on the couch, so out of sorts. 

Laying with him while he naps has actually worked out well for me. I get to see him be still. I have time to notice the little dimples on his knuckles and how long his eyelashes really are. I get to look closely at his little round face and see that it's sort of losing its roundness and instead is getting a few hard edges that weren't there before. I see that he needs a haircut and that he is for sure getting taller rather than rounder and that many of his shirts are resembling belly shirts these days. I get to hear his soft little snore and I get to snuggle him close, because now he can't fight me and bury my face into the back of his neck and breath deep. These days are not going to last long. He is getting so big. It was around this time two years ago that Maizey stopped napping. It was a big adjustment for all of us. I'm not ready for Buddy to stop, I like the quiet for an hour or two in the afternoon and he is a complete beast if he doesn't get the rest. But now I'm also not ready because I like this quiet time we are spending together where I am noticing things that I haven't had a chance to notice in so long and if I am being honest, I am just plain and simple, going to be a wee bit sad when this ends.