The Maple Leaf Parade

Last Saturday, Gianna and I were in La Crosse for Oktoberfest and went to the Maple Leaf Parade. I hadn't been to the parade in a few years and was excited to take Gianna for the first time. Andy and I both have fond memories of going to the parade when we were younger.

For those of you who don't know, the parade has a reputation for being a long one and for being very crowded. This year it was a little over 3 hours long, and when I got into town, I found out people started staking their place for the Saturday parade, Friday morning! With all this in mind, I was hoping Gianna would at least enjoy a good portion of it and that we would somehow find a seat on the curb. Well, in the end, it all worked out just fine. Gianna totally surprised me and made it through the whole thing, and my grandma and aunt and uncle got there a little before us and were able to find a little spot on the boulevard; the people in front of us were also kind enough to let the kids sit in front of them on the curb. We had a really good time!

Gianna was totally oblivious to the fact that the "Haunted House" Float should have been scary. When a guy with a bloody mask walked right past her she didn't even flinch. I'm sure it will eventually scare her, but right now she doesn't even know the concept. I know it use to scare me!

Weston on the other hand, knew full well to be scared of the "Haunted House" Float. He went back and sat on a chair with Maria and held onto her for dear life.

At the beginning of the parade he also bolted away really fast when he unexpectedly saw a big blow-up fireman walk past. (You can kind of see it in this picture in front of the bagpipers). When Maria went back to get him he said, "want to go home; want to go home." Maria and Mike took him to the parade as a reward for sleeping in his own bed all night; in the end, they were wondering how much of a reward it really was... Although, for the most part, I think he enjoyed it too:)

Now, for a little nap time update: 

Praise the Lord, we seem to be back on track!  Shortly after posting about our nap time struggle I decided to try the "cry it out" method.  I had never been a fan of this method in the past, but since nothing else seemed to be working, and I knew she had the ability to fall asleep on her own, I gave it a try. 

I knew if I was going to do it, I would have to leave the room and not step back in until she fell asleep.  Well, after 45 minutes of:  pouting, crying, little silence, crying, calling out "mommy," "mommy," me giving her a little assurance from our room, pouting, little silence, full out screams, yelling in desperation "mommy!," "mommy!," "mommy!," (this part nearly broke my heart), me reassuring her from our room again, screaming/crying, she finally fell asleep with the short breath breathing you get after you've been crying really hard.

As hard as it was to do, it seems to have worked, and when she woke up you would have never guessed she fell asleep in such a sad state. The next day she cried on and off for about 20 minutes (no screaming this time) then stayed awake playing for an hour.  From there on out, the crying got less and less and the sleeping increased, until we got to where we're at today: back to no crying and a 2 hour nap!

Ahh, such a sweet sight to see!