Change is good.

I like to think I'm a pretty easy going person. I take life as it comes. Sometimes it comes on a little faster than I expect, but that's not to say it's bad.

The boys are surprisingly good with change. Someone told me once children don't take well to change. But my boys have moved into the new house seamlessly, and are loving the puppy life. Sometimes I wonder if we were totally crazy moving and getting a puppy all within 8 days, but it really played out well. I anticipated the worst (ie. the cat and the dog hating each other, the boys not liking the puppy, the puppy being a TON of work and the boys displaying bad behavior as a result of the attention being shared with the puppy). We really figured that since we hadn't quite gotten into a new schedule/beat at the new house, that adding a puppy now would be the best idea, so we could all acclimate to the same schedule together, instead of getting settled, and then in a while adding a puppy and changing the whole daily schedule up again.

Thomas and Elliott are adjusting to their new room, and their new bunk beds. We decided that while Thomas was away for a week at nana and papa's, we'd tackle Elliott's soother. I've wanted to phase him out of it for awhile now, but decided it would be smarter to wait until we moved, and then once Thomas was away with nana and papa, Elliott wouldn't disturb him in the night if he had any issues without his soother. Before we got started, I explained to Elliott that he's a big boy now, sleeping in a big boy bed, and big boys don't use soothers anymore. In our conversation, he seemed on board, but when it was nap time, he definitely wasn't happy about it. He knew he was going to have a problem not being contained, so he asked to sleep in the play pen. It took him about 45 minutes to settle, but once he did, he had a good nap. At bedtime, it was the same struggle, he asked again to sleep in the playpen, but spent a good amount of time climbing out and banging on his bedroom door asking for his soother. After putting him back in the playpen 3 or 4 times and telling him it was time to sleep, I decided on a distraction tactic and gave him a bottle of milk. (I know, bottles in bed are a big no no, but in the name of getting rid of his soother, I made this exception.) The bottle worked! He went to sleep only 10 minutes after he'd been given the bottle. Success! We did this nap/bedtime dance for another 2 days, and now he is soother free, playpen free, and doesn't need a bottle (every time) to go to sleep. Sometimes he'll ask for a bottle at nap time, and to keep the peace, I'll indulge him in that, but I can tell he won't be asking for it much longer.

It really has been an easy adjustment period. I thought at least Thomas would tell me he missed our old house and wanted to move home, but so far he hasn't. They've picked out landmarks they recognize that are near the house, and exclaim "almost home!" when we near them on our way back. That makes me smile every time, because I know they like it here as much as I do.

Nothing is perfect, so there is one thing I don't like about Abbotsford. The outdoor pools are far and few between, and they're not free like the ones in Surrey. They also only take cash, and we rarely have any cash on us. Womp Womp Womp. But really, if that's the only fault I can find, so far, then I think we're in the clear. ;) Just wait until winter though, I may complain about the amount of snow. ;)

I hear the timer for dinner, so I'd better get the hungry monsters fed. :)

 Happy Monday!