Adjustments

It is taking all of us a bit of time to adjust to the new house, new neighborhood, etc. It's all very, well, new. But some of us are adjusting better than others, with Lucas falling solidly in the "not adjusting very well" category. It's actually rather surprising given that he is typically the one in the family who has the most go-with-the-flow attitude. But on the other hand, it's actually not that surprising considering that he is probably the one in the family who knows the least about what the heck is going on!

We have obviously been talking about the move for months, and then we owned the new house for a few weeks before moving in, so we had lots of time to visit and get used to the new surroundings. And while we talked about it a lot - Lucas included - I don't think that he was actually grasping the concepts behind the words. Because he's still asking questions like "when are we going back to our house?" and such. And never having experienced all this change before, he had no real idea what it would mean.

Lucas has been having trouble falling asleep ever since we moved to the new house. Napping and bedtime have become somewhat nightmarish - usually ending in crying and screaming and not sleeping - and that's just me and Marty! =) He doesn't seem to want to be alone in his room so he begs and begs for you to stay with him and then he just won't fall asleep. It has been a tough (and exhausting!) time for everyone, though I might possibly see a light at the end of the tunnel - it does feel like it's getting a little better (or maybe I am just getting used to it!)

He has also been acting out in other ways - though I can't be sure if they are related to moving or related to the fact that he his two. He has been, as of late, completely unable to demonstrate any impulse control AT ALL and has gone back to the day of hitting, kicking, randomly dumping things out of containers/drawers and onto the floor for no reason. It has been resulting in lots of time outs but not necessarily lots of "lessons learned" as he is continuing to demonstrate the behavior. Again, it could just be that he's two and stubborn, but it could also be his way of exhibiting control over a world he doesn't feel like he has control over anymore. Whatever it is, I am hoping that it is short lived!

It's not all doom and gloom and sleeplessness though! Lucas and Elise have actually been particularly lovely to each other since we've moved (not that they haven't had their moments) showing a wonderful "we're in this thing together" kind of bond that results in lots of hugging, kissing and laughing between the siblings. Kind of makes all those hard times worth it.