My (Almost) Three Year Old

I just wanted to write to document a few major milestones for Caleb.

1. I am going to go ahead and announce it - Caleb is potty trained. I've been hesitant to call him that, but seeing as how he has gone all week without an accident, insists on wearing his "big boys" 24 hours a day, and has pooped outside this house (and not in his big boys), I think he's now officially potty trained.

We went through several trials over the last several months and he fought us on it. While it was frustrating to just give up, it was more frustrating cleaning up accidents and trying to "make" him go. Then one day he said he wanted to wear his big boys so we started trying and he went to the potty willingly - with expectation of a sucker of course.

Then we ran into another problem; he only wanted to go on his frog potty. So after a couple of accidents at school (where there was no frog potty), we took away the frog potty one weekend and Caleb happily went standing up. From that point on, he held no potty preference.

Our next semi-battle was with the treats. He got to the point where he would go whenever he wanted a treat. One time he asked me for a snack and when I said it was too close to dinner, he said, "okay, I need to potty." After about 4 drops came out, he asked for a sucker. So... we took away treats except for when he went all day at school with no accidents.

About a week ago, he looked up as I was putting him in his "night time big boys" (pull-ups) and said, "try big boys at night?" So, I reluctantly gave in and fully expected to be changing the sheets at 3 a.m., but he made it all night and has for several nights in a row now.

So now I will say it again, Caleb is potty trained!


2. We took him to Super Cuts on Monday night. He sat the entire time without crying. The event took some convincing and slight manipulation, like "we have to get your hair cut so you can go to your birthday party" and "do you want sprinkles on the ice cream you'll get when we are done" but hey, he didn't cry. I'm not sure if this behavior will be duplicated when a party is not involved, but we were happy for one hair cut without kicking, screaming, violent hand waving - you get the idea.

We are extremely proud of our little boy. I certainly never thought I would feel so much pride and excitement for normal, everyday events like going to the bathroom and getting a hair cut. I know there will be nights that sheets do have to be changed. And if he never cries during a haircut again, there will unnecessary, dramatic tears shed over something else (and probably very soon). But even during those frustrating times, we'll be proud of Caleb. That, I think, is parenthood.



Here is is trying to hold up the number 3. He can't get that pinkie to stay down!

Milestone Monday

Two milestones for you this Monday:

1. Caleb went pee-pee on the potty twice at school today! I worked with him all day on Saturday but all it got me was two puddles of pee-pee and a lot of frustration. Glad he performed for his teachers though!

2. Clara rolled over from back to stomach!


They grow up too fast....

Rites of Passage: 2 Down, 1 to Go

Some friends and I have been talking lately about the 3 rites of passage out of babyhood - dropping the pacifier, going to a big boy bed and potty training. Well we are two down and one to go!
Caleb moved to a full-size bed two weekends ago and has been doing really well. The first night we found out that he knows how to open a door if he really wants to, so we now have a doorknob cover on keep him locked in. Besides that, there haven't been too many issues. I think he is still getting used to it because he wakes up once a night, goes to the door and screams for Mama. One of us has to go up there and put him back in the bed, but he goes right back to sleep.
When we bought his crib two years ago, we went ahead and bought his bed, bookshelf and dresser. We used the same color scheme for his big boy room as we did the nursery, so really all we had to buy was the bedding - and we didn't even have to buy that thanks to an early birthday gift from the GrandWises. We also put his train table in his room, which often provides reason to not immediately take a nap...
His crib has been moved into Clara's room - still a HUGE work in progress, but we are getting there. Caleb doesn't seem to be confused about his crib being gone and seems proud of himself when you ask him about his big boy bed.

So our little boy is growing up - pacifier is gone, crib is gone - two fairly easy transitions so far. As for that third rite of passage, I'm not crazy ... maybe we'll try sometime late summer.

Update

Caleb did great in his crib last night, so it looks like we can hold off the big boy bed for a couple of months. I spent more time than usual reading to him and singing to him before putting him down. When it was time to get in the crib, he pointed to his door and said, "dada?" I told him that he had to sleep in the crib because Mommy was home. He whined for a little while but then went to sleep!

Bye bye Pacifier! Hello Big Boy Bed?

This past Saturday, our little family was being lazy in our bed watching cartoons. Caleb still had his pacifier (he usually only gets it at nap and bed times), so I took the opportunity to take it for a moment. After snipping the top, I handed it to Caleb and told him it was broken. He got a big kick out of saying “broke” and throwing it on the ground. Then I told him we could throw it in the trash, and he got an even bigger kick out of tossing it in the trash can. He took his nap and went to bed that night without his pacifier and without any fuss. When he asked for it, we told him it was broken. He then said, “paci broke trash.” I was feeling pretty good about the situation.

On Sunday I was heading out of town on business. (It had not occurred to me the day before when I cut the pacifier that this week might not be the best time to get rid of the pacifier as there would only be one caretaker in the house.) Before I left, I put him down for his nap. Again he went down without the pacifier. After checking in at the airport, I noticed that Seth had called. When I returned the call, I found out that Caleb had woke up after an hour nap (he usually naps for 2-3 hours) screaming for his pacifier. Seth held out and didn’t give it to him, but Caleb of course screamed uncontrollably for 25 minutes.

On Sunday night, Caleb just screamed when Seth put him in the crib. Caleb has never done this; he has always gone down immediately without any fuss at all. Seth rocked Caleb and some how mentioned the idea of sleeping with Daddy that night. Caleb got down from Seth’s lap, went downstairs and stood at our bed until Seth arrived. After Seth put him in the bed, he went to sleep. We couldn’t believe he even understood what Seth was talking about. The last two nights have gone about the same – Seth starts him in the crib and Caleb eventually ends up in our bed.

I get back home tonight. I usually put Caleb down, so it will be interesting to see if Caleb gets back into the routine or has developed a new habit of sleeping in our bed. If that is the case, I think we’ve decided to start the process of moving him to a big boy bed rather than fighting him to sleep in the crib. We were planning on moving him in 2 months anyway to get ready for his baby sister.