There has been a lot of transitions going on in our household over the last 2 months. It started with the potty training in mid-January, which I of course blogged about. I have to tell you that Luke has not regressed one bit (yet!). He is doing so awesome. I can say that I 95% trust him. He will go when he has to go. I only 'make' him go before we leave the house or before he takes a nap or goes to bed. He actually worries me sometimes because he goes so infrequently. He has a really great bladder and is too stubborn to take time from playing to go potty.
He now sits forwards most of the time, but he still straddles hence why the pants have to come off (or at least one leg anyways)!
One funny story is that just this past Monday Luke was at the park a couple of blocks from Punky's house when he ran up to his teacher Jaime and said he had to "go poo poo". She quickly gathered the kids to walk back to the house. He did so great 'holding it' all the way back to Punky's. I have to laugh though because he probably didn't have many friends the rest of the afternoon since he made everyone leave the park - ha!
Another transition is the one to Luke's new room, which I posted pictures of previously. The first night in his big boy room was Sunday, February 20th (the day we came back from Key Lime Cove). He was more than excited to sleep in his big bed and fell asleep with no problems. He did not wake up once during the night! And that is pretty much the way it has gone since. Not once has he gotten out of his bed in the middle of the night or given us issues going to sleep at night.
Our nightly routine goes like this: put on jammies, brush Luke's teeth (which he has gotten so much better about!), go potty, he climbs into his bed and turn his lamp on, he crawls under the covers, grabs his paci, we all lay in his bed together and read 2-4 books, he crawls out from under the covers to turn his lamp off (he must do it, we can't), we sing songs, we giggle, we give kisses and say 'I love yous', mommy and daddy leave the room and Luke drifts off to dreamland.
Luke and I have a 'thing' at bedtime. It goes something like this:
Me: goodnight
Luke: goodnight
Me: sleep tight
Luke: sleep tight
Me: don't let the bed bugs bite
Luke: ok mommy
Most mornings Wally and I are awake already getting ready for work and Luke will get out of bed and come walk into our room (at the beginning he would call out for me, but not anymore). One morning though, Wally and I were both still sleeping when I could feel this 'presence'. Sure enough, I opened my eyes and Luke was just staring at me. It was very startling and funny though because I remember doing that to my parents when I was little. I wouldn't say a word, but just stare at them until they realized I was there.
The next big transition was to wearing big boy underwear at nap and bedtime. Our daycare makes the transition at naptime after they have started potty training for a couple of weeks. Luke did great aside from maybe 1 or 2 accidents at the beginning. I was never brave enough to make that transition at home. It was just 'easier' to put a pull-up or diaper on him. Finally, after 2 straight weeks of him waking up perfectly dry in the morning, I decided to go for it. We did nap time first with no problems at all and then on Saturday, March 12th, we went for it at bedtime too. I reminded Luke a million times before he went to sleep that he was wearing his underwear so he needed to call out for me if he needed to potty. The first night was a success!!! Night 2 was our first and only accident. I checked on him when I woke up at 5:30 and he was dry so somewhere between 5:30 and 6:3o he had an accident. That night I began sending Luke subliminal messages in the middle of the night. I would wake up to check on him and remind him that he had on big boy underwear so he needed to wake mommy up to go potty and in his sleep, he must have really heard me because he said "ok". It was too funny! But he has been great since! I just make sure to remind him every night.
Luke has also been making the transition himself to being Mr. Independent. This of course is a Jekyll and Hyde thing though because sometimes he MUST do everything himself and other times he acts completely helpless. One thing he is very independent about though is dressing himself. Ever since we started potty training he puts on his own underwear and pants each times he goes potty (he actually has to take everything off completely when he goes). He knows and repeats to himself and us that Big Bird or Elmo or Thomas (whoever he is wearing that day) goes in the back and that the tag goes in the back too. That is how he learned how to put his pants on. He does a really great job of this! Luke has also gotten pretty good about putting his own shoes on too. While I am loving how independent he is, it also makes it that much longer for us to get out the door. We definitely have to 'plan accordingly'!
It was pajama day at daycare!
We have started reading a "Big Brother" book a couple of nights a week. Luke is learning that things will change a bit when the baby gets here, but it is all for the better! He basically knows the book by heart already and will tell you that he has to put his toys away so the baby doesn't get hurt and that he is going to teach the baby to play basketball - 2 things that are mentioned in the book!
I am 100% aware of how lucky we are that Luke has met so many of these milestones already and that he adapts so well to whatever change we throw his way. I am also 100% aware that all of this could go out the window when the baby comes. I know there may be some regression, but I feel really good about how things have gone so far. We want the transition from an only child to a big brother to be smooth and fun for Luke.
I am just so proud of Luke and so amazed at how big he is getting. Both mine and Wally's parents are so amazed and proud too, but they keep warning us that we are going to be "in for it" with baby #2. Is it possible to be this lucky 2 times in a row?!?! Time will tell!!!
(I have been really bad about taking pictures lately...I need to get back into the swing of things!)
