Santa Lives in Richfield

Jason's latest fascination is with Disney's "Cars 2." He loves playing with his "Cars 2" cars, and he is always wanting to collect more. Unfortunately, we were a little late getting on the Cars 2 bandwagon, so Kyle and I have become the parents who are endlessly searching for more cars to buy since a lot of the cars are not being sold in the stores anymore.

Years ago, when Toy Story came out and Buzz Light-year and Woody toys were impossible to find for Christmas, my dad found two Buzz Light-years and a Woody at Christensen's department store down in Richfield after doing some surgeries there. He called up my Aunt Wendy (who had been searching for a Buzz to give to her son for Christmas) and asked her "Do you believe in Santa?"
Aunt Wendy said "Yes."
"Good," said my dad, "because he lives in Richfield."

In addition to the Toy Story toys my dad also found a Pocahontas doll. My sister Heather wanted a Pocahontas doll for Christmas, but the problem was the Disney movie "Pocahontas" had come out four years earlier, so the doll was not currently being manufactured or sold in stores. Except for Christensen's! They still had one left!!!!!

My dad bought the Pocahontas and Woody dolls, and he figured he should buy both Buzz Light-years since they were such a popular item.  He gave one to Aunt Wendy and one to my youngest sister, Karren. Karren couldn't figure out why Santa brought her a Buzz, but years later, Jason became the newest happy owner of that Buzz.

I remembered this story as I was searching through many stores for more Cars 2 characters, so I asked my dad if he would see if Santa still lives in Richfield. My dad said he would check, and guess what, Santa still lives in Richfield! My dad found 3 cars there that we didn't have.

Back to Jason. Jason asks all the time for new cars. As soon as he gets a new one, he calls it his favorite, plays all day with the new car, and then asks to get another new car. Kyle and I did not want to produce a spoiled child by giving him a new car every time he asked, but I did need the entertainment they provided while we are stuck at home with a newborn. We decided the solution was to create a star chart in which Jason could earn more cars. Jason had to earn more cars by cooperating at nap time and bedtime rather than putting up a big fight. For the first three weeks, we were really pleased with how the reward system was working, and our car collection was growing handsomely.

Then the night-wakings started.

We could not figure out why Jason was waking up so often in the middle of the night. And not only was he waking up, but he was staying up for two or more hours. After checking to make sure he was OK, we would leave him in his crib and listen to him talk or cry for the two or more hours until he fell asleep or we decided it was an appropriate time to get up and ready for the day.

We were exhausted parents. We had TWO babies waking up in the middle of the night, and the newborn was the easy one.

Part of the problem was certainly Jason's cough, which has lingered since November, because it would wake him up. Two nights he complained about his ears. Two nights he had a strange rash that kept him awake with itching. But the other nights were mysteries...One night after Jason had been awake for a while and Kyle went in to get him in the morning, Jason asked "Is it wake time?", after Kyle responded "Yes," Jason immediately asked "Is my new car here?" No-- it wasn't. He had not earned enough stars to get another one. But his comment clued us in to a possible cause of the wakings. Jason was waking up waiting to receive his reward, because we had been giving him his rewards after him waking up in the morning or right after his nap. After this revelation, we immediately ended the star-chart system. We told Jason we weren't getting any new cars for a long time.

I am pleased to report that for the past 4 nights, Jason has slept through the night. Ending the reward chart seems to have helped. Now if we can keep him healthy, I'm hoping the night-wakings will stop for good. We'll probably use reward charts again in the future, but now I know not to give him the reward when he first wakes up.