This is the last week before the kids go back to school; Ethan to kindergarten and Ian back to his preschool.  We’ve been doing fun activities this week to end out the summer on a fun note.  Yesterday we went to an indoor play place, today we’re going to the science museum.

I’ve seen hints here and there that I am entering a new chapter in this mom thing but it really hit me today.  The boys were so excited about going to the play place that Ethan decided to get Ian dressed and brush his teeth before I ever told them they needed to get ready.  When we were there, I looked around and realized I didn’t need to watch them.  Ethan took it upon himself to keep an eye on Ian and instead of making new friends, he and Ian played together and he took Ian from one activity to the next.  It was packed and I noticed that most of the moms were having to follow their kids around and keep up with them.  Many had infants and toddlers.  It wasn’t that long ago that I was having to constantly watch the kids when we were doing some activity whether it was at the park, a playdate, church, etc.  I was struck by the fact that I wasn’t really needed and I could have brought a book and sat and read for two hours.  A new chapter indeed.

Ethan is starting kindergarten and is very independent.  Ian still needs help with getting ready, but Ethan will often help me with him.  I can actually take a shower and leave them both to play together without having to turn on the tv to babysit.  I often let them swim in the pool while I’m inside in the kitchen preparing dinner.  It’s so strange how quickly I’ve gotten to this stage, I remember thinking it would never come.  There is some sadness that comes with knowing I am out of the baby and toddler stage but more than that is the excitement that new things await me around the corner.  New opportunities, new experiences, new freedoms; not only for me but also for the kids.

Sometimes it can be difficult to let go of wanting to be needed all the time by our little ones.  But they need to become their own people, spread their wings and explore their world without us.  It’s extra special when they return and tell you about all they have done, what they’ve learned, what they have created. 

And so I say all this for myself, to encourage myself when my little one heads off to kindergarten for the first time.  I will remain at the nest for his return flight, anxious to hear how his first flight went.  To new opportunities!

Ian turns 2 and a half today. He is growing so fast I can’t keep up with him! He’s been talking in sentences since he turned 2 and he continues to amaze me in the things he says. He is potty trained, which means no more buying diapers-yay! He knows all his letters and the sounds they make and has read a few two and three letter words to me. He knows his numbers 1-12, loves to do puzzles, and loves to play games. He especially loves to play with his brother. Half the time I find him dressed up as a fire fighter and he really loves to wear his fire rainboots. We love our little guy and look forward to seeing what he’ll being doing at 3.

Ethan is now three years old. Can’t believe it. His birthday landed on Friday when he was in school so I made cupcakes for the class. Wasn’t going to because I hardly even cook dinner around here lately but it is an important mom duty to make cupcakes for birthdays so I did. He was very tired and cranky most of the day because he had gotten up six times the night before. The next day we had a birthday party here for him. It had rained all week long and I thought for sure it would rain on his party. I prayed about it all week and bought craft projects in case it did. Turned out to be a beautiful day. The kids had a great time swimming and playing on Ethan’s new playground that was our present to him. My friend Kristine made his cake, very cute and yummy. When everyone sang to him he cried. He and I were both exhausted by bedtime.

We’re plugging along with the potty thing. After a few weeks of our second try at it (we had tried about four months ago) I was starting to think we were at the same place and that he hadn’t progressed at all. I was beginning to think we should take a break again. Then out of the blue he started to suprise me. Several times over the last week he has told me he had to go. He has also seemed to hold his pee longer than 15 minutes (we’re up to about 45). I haven’t bothered with the whole pooping in the potty thing because the last time we tried this he was very resistant. Four months ago I remember I could tell he was about to go and I would take him to sit on the potty and he would hold it in. Then the minute a pull up was on, he would go. Recently, he has been wanting to be changed right after going. In fact, he frequently goes during his rest time and will take him pullup off in his room and then call for me. (I won’t share the details in what happens when a two year old takes off his own pullup full of poop). So the other day, he was running around the house naked and I was washing dishes when I heard the sound of his potty (it makes a sound when he sits on it). I figured he was playing with it or peeing on it when I heard him say “poop in the potty.” I went to see what had happened and was shocked to discover that he had gone! He went again a few hours later on his own. Of course the next day he went in his pullup but there is progress. I’ll end this posting with more exciting developments: he wanted to try peeing standing up and did it quite well on his own. It will be nice when he is skilled at doing that because now when we are out at the store and I take him to the potty, I have to put his bulky potty seat on top of the toilet. It is made of two separate pieces of plastic and he inevitabley pees between the two pieces (due to poor aim). Picture me in a small stall because the handicap stall is always taken, trying to take apart the potty seat to wipe off the pee(because if I don’t clean it it will leak all over my diaper bag) while trying to keep him from touching every nasty thing in the bathroom. Needless to say, peeing standing up will be greatly appreciated.

I think Ethan is working his way out of a nap. Although it could just be that he is in a stage where he is not growing so he’s not tired. He hasn’t been eating anything either. Anyway, he’s been climbing out of his crib every afternoon when I put him down for his nap and we battle it out for a hour or more and sometimes he ends up falling asleep but then I have to wake him up an hour later so he will sleep at night. I thought for sure he would be really tired yesterday-we went to the park and to gymnastics-but after a half an hour of making him stay in his crib I finally gave him a bunch of toys and told him to play in his crib. I walked on the treadmill and took a shower expecting to get him out after I had finished but he finally fell asleep at 2:45. That is just way too late for a nap. So I’m hoping it is just a stage and that he’ll get back to napping at least for a short nap. He really can’t make it the whole day without one because by 5pm he is a mess if he hasn’t had one.

I was talking to friends today about Ethan’s pottying a realised I hadn’t updated the blog about it. Right before we left for vacation I had an epipheny (sp?) that we needed to stop potty training. We realised that Ethan had just been teasing us about being ready for it. While he is physically capable and has demonstrated ability to use it, he’s just not emotionally there yet. It quickly turned into something that only I cared about and not him. So I figured that since we had spent a month on it, he knew what to do, and if he wants to go he can take himself but I’m not going to take him or nag him about it. So he wears pullups all the time in case he wants to go. So far he’s been going about once a day on his own initiation. Of course after I wasted a month of my life I read something suggesting that 3yrs old is a better age to work on it because of the increased maturity. I also had a few friends who said that their kids after turning 3 just one day said, “I’m ready to be a big boy now.”

It’s taken me a couple of days to post this because my internet connection has been working intermittently. Tuesday Ethan learned how to climb out of his crib during nap time. He did not want to nap because he wasn’t very tired. I was in the office doing my bookeeping work for one of the company’s we do bookeeping for and I heard the sound of feet running on tile. I was not expecting that. I saw my life as I now know it flash before my eyes. My life will never be the same-he’ll never take a nap again, he’ll come to my room at all hours of the night…I spent an hour trying to keep him in his bed and then gave up. I decided that I would do my normal thing that I do while he naps even if he was up. I walked on the treadmill and Ethan stayed and watched for a while, then he wandered off. I hear him in the kitchen and it sounded like he was getting into the cabinets. When I finished walking I went into the kitchen to find that he had taken a sippy cup filled it with water from the refridgerator door, and dumped it on the floor, about a hundred times. The entire kitchen floor was covered with about a 1/4 inch of water. Talk about suprised-I didn’t know he knew how to do that! God was gracious to me and Ethan went right to sleep that night and didn’t attempt to get out of his crib and though I was half awake all night expecting it—no nocturnal visits.

I posted a few months ago about Ethan getting a potty. He had demonstrated some interest in the process so I got him one to get acquainted with. I didn’t really have any expectations about it. He was fascinated with it and for a while used it about once a day. Then the newness wore off and he wouldn’t even sit on it. I also noted that he fit most if not all of the developmental signs of readiness for learning to use the potty so I decided to take it a step further. While he had gone potty on his potty once a day for a while it seemed that he didn’t care to go further with it. I think this is because he didn’t like to be taken away from his toys to sit on it and the diaper is much more convenient. And as much as I dislike food rewards (though having studied Skinnerian psychology I understand that it is effective, I have issues with the long term consequences of such rewards) I decided that for a short term thing like potty training it may be the best thing to get Ethan motivated away from the diaper. I’m thinking of the diaper as a habit or something he is attached to in some way and needs to be weaned off it so to speak. So that’s where the M&M’s come in. The past several days he has been walking around the house without his diaper and whenever he uses the potty he gets one M&M. Since he never gets any chocolate he is really excited about it. So far he’s gone about five times each day and I don’t always have to tell him. He seems to recognize when he needs to go and he has gone on his own to sit and go. Such a big boy! This process will obviously take a while but so far it is going well. I think I will wait for him to have proficiency at home before I have him try going out in public.

One of the neat things about staying home with Ethan is that I see the slightest changes in him and get to experience him learning new things. In the past month or so he has been combining several words together, not quite a real sentence, but on his way to one. For example, “daddy, bye bye, car.” This is for “Daddy went bye bye in the car.” It’s exciting to see him try new words and repeat what he hears other people say. He’s really good about remembering where things are in town as well. When we drive by neighborhoods where his friends live, he says their name. I usually have to go to the bank almost every day and it is next to the place where we go every Tuesday to get my allergy shot. Whenever I go to the bank, Ethan says, “shot, shot.” He’s also been counting objects. There’s a towel in the bathroom that has five ducks on it and he counted each one the other day. He recognizes half the letters of the alphabet. We’ve learned that he does not sleep well unless he exerts himself physically both before his nap and before bedtime. Otherwise it takes him forever to fall asleep. One day this week it rained really bad, with hail and everything, after his nap, so the rest of the afternoon we stayed inside and didn’t go anywhere. It took him two hours to fall asleep that night. He hasn’t been on any asthma meds for about a month now and he has been a delight to be around this month. The negativity and constant whining we had going on (because of the meds) for quite a while has stopped. I fear the next time he catches something.