Turning a Corner

Well, Little Man turned a corner a week or so ago. I don't know what happened, but he's suddenly all grown up and Mr. Thoughtful and Independent. I like it, but it's all I can do to conceal my wide-eyed amazement as he dresses himself from head to toe without being asked, feeds himself willingly at all three meals, and clears of the table without EVER having been asked!

Hmmm... doesn't sound so amazing to you, does it? Well, he's been dragging his heels in the independence area for probably over a year. I had chalked it up to the new baby that was coming, and then the new baby that was competing with him for our attention, but boy was it getting old! Making it worse has been that Little Man is actually quite tall for his age, so he appears to be about five, instead of his actual age of three and a half. So he LOOKS like he should be doing a LOT more than he has been doing...

I'll tell ya what I think the catalyst was... One night when he was going to bed, he just kept insisting that he didn't need to go to the bathroom. (For months he's been potty-trained -- mostly -- but each morning he would move his bowels while he was still wearing the nightly diaper. Occasionally at night he would hold out until after he was in bed.) So a few weeks ago after being met with MUCH resistance to the nightly potty ritual, I told him if he went in his diaper after he was in bed I would NOT put him back into another diaper. (Yes, it was a threat and I had hoped that he would have a change of heart!) Sure enough, about five minutes after he was in bed, he appeared on the stairs, wanting to be changed. I had to follow through on my "threat"... right?! So I put him in vinyl training pants for the night. When he woke up dry, he was genuinely gleeming! So we decided right then that we would do away with the diapers. Ever since then he has been TRULY potty-trained.

And NOW he's about to start Preschool! My generally shy, quiet boy is SO excited and not at all apprehensive. Wish I could say the same for his mother. :)