today seb had a pretend conversation on his “play” cell phone, an old phone that is swankier than any real phone brian or i will ever have, with his dja-dja:

“oh, hi!…how are you?… oh, you went swimming? did you have a good day today?… well, can you come over?… oh, you can’t… oh, cause you’re going home now, apparently…well, ok, bye.”

it was very funny. i almost had tears springing out of my eyes. not good–i was driving. we had a great day today, hanging out at home and then swimming at the country club where brian’s dad is a member. we played, we splashed, we swam. hard to believe after the night that we had last night. seb has never had more trouble sleeping as he has since he turned two and a half years old–something has clicked in his brain giving him bad dreams and night terrors. last night, i gave up my side of the bed for him so one of us didn’t have to get up every time he screamed (we’re total pansies when it comes to seb–if it was oren crying, we’d just ignore him). and the sad thing is he screams out words like, “give it back! give it back!” or “i want it, i want it,” clearly in response to some conflict he’s had with either brian or me, or the kids i’ve forced him to play with during the day. so when we can have a truly fun moment with him, like today when he was “talking on the phone,” it just tickles us pink.

and after having such a great day, not many conflicts, lots of fun, we figured tonight would be a breeze. seb took a nap this afternoon, which doesn’t happen every day anymore. getting ready for bed was uneventful. i left seb’s room without an argument of “just one more teeny-tiny drink of water” or “i have to pee one more time,” and with the repeated overture, “i love you too, i love you too, i love you too,” following me down the stairs.

brian and i have a nightly unwinding ritual after the kids go to bed which involves dinner and television episodes of something brain numbing on dvd. tonight was no different. we were enjoying our quiet time, munching on grilled pizza, when the screaming began. first seb. then oren. i said, “we’re never going to get a really really good night’s sleep ever again, but we at least can finish watching tv.” that’s when the dvd we were watching began to skip, and skip, and skip. stupid scratchy, netflix dvd!

now it’s our turn to scream.

Posted on July 16th, 2006