This is only a test ...

... but feel free to read anyway.

My children are testing me. Both of them. At the same time.

DON'T THEY KNOW THEY'RE SUPPOSE TO TAKE TURNS??

This is one time I would prefer that they NOT share.

Let me explain.

Danny is almost three. The past week has been a melange of every stage he's been through the past year, alternating between the defiance and compliance, independence and helplessness, demanding and, well, there really is no alternative yet. It's like the two-year-old farewell tour without a good theme song. This weekend we instituted the rules. There are only two: Don't hurt each other and Listen. I even made a little picture chart for the fridge, as you can see. He understands it pretty well and often walks by the fridge and yells at the fighting boys, "Nooooo." Of course, the first night, poor Fiona took the brunt of his testing of the rules. Within 15 minutes of him discovering new poster on the fridge and us explaining the rules to him, he pushed his sister over and came to tell me about it and later threw a doll at her head right in front of me.

As for the baby, we've put her through sleep boot camp. Don't worry, it's not as cruel as it sounds and Fiona has adjusted quite well to no night feedings. She more than makes up for it during the day. We've had a minimum of extended real crying sessions and when those do occur someone (the one without the boobs) comforts her. Last night we had a bad night. She woke up two hours after I put her down and cried, no SCREAMED, for nearly an hour. She had been fed and snuggled and was not wet or poopy. Nothing could be done for her. She just wanted to be out of her crib. She woke again at 4:30 and whimpered on and off for two hours before I went in to get her up for the day. There was NO WAY IN HELL she was getting up for the day at 4:30 or even 5:30. Essentially she's had eight total hours of sleep.

And the day has only just begun ...