A Real Boy

I have to admit...as proud as I am of the strides Max has made lately, it's making me a little sad.  He's turning into a real boy.  He's no longer a baby...not even a toddler anymore really.

The day after his 2nd birthday we took away his pacifier.   He still had them at naps and bedtime.  And he always had to have one in his mouth and one in each hand before falling asleep.  I thought we were in for a long struggle with this one.  At two years and one day old we snipped the tips off each of his beloved "Nuks" and said they were broken.  He asked me to fix them, but I said I couldn't.  Oh boy, I thought, here come the hysterics.  Instead he surprised us by running down the hall and putting them in the bathroom trash.   My heart sank a little, but then rebounded with pride.  One of the last little shreds of babyness gone.

Then last weekend we decided to make a true attempt at potty training.  We had Max carry all of his diapers from his room into Sullivan's room and we told him that they belonged to the baby now.  He was a big boy and didn't need diapers.   I was prepared with a huge stack of old towels, a mop and various cleaning supplies.  I imagined spending my weekend covered in poop and pee and losing my patience.

Once we transfered all of the diaper's to Sullivan's room we replaced Max's diaper with big boy underware.  And waited.  We repeated "Tell us if you need to go potty!  Keep your underware dry!" like broken records.  And waited some more.  Four hours passed...he hadn't told us he needed to go at all, but he was still dry.  I thought we were in for it.  A ticking time bomb waiting to go off.  But finally he gave me a slightly panicked look and said "Pee pee potty, mommy!"  We ran off to the bathroom just in time.  Since then he hasn't looked back.  He even wakes up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.  I still remind him repeatedly to tell us when he needs to go, but he's doing great.  And with that he left behind his final piece of babyhood.

Big boy underware in all it's glory.

Pants were not allowed during training so we played outside pantless.  And Dad added to your coolness with sport socks pulled up high :)

One of our sweet neighbor boys came over to play with you since we were pretty much bound to the house during "training".  You two played baseball for over an hour.  You are surrounded by boy neighbors on all sides and its sweet that they've all taken you, as the youngest on the block, under their wings.

 One hilarious result of Max being potty trained is that he now considers himself an expert on dirty diapers.  He watches me change Sullivan and will say "Oh no baby.  Poo poo diapers yuck."

Each time I change a poopy diaper he reminds me..."Don't eat that momma."   Um, ok Max, I won't! Thanks for the pointer. How hilarious are kids?!

Today I left the room for a minute to put a particularly offensive diaper out back.  When I returned I found this...

He told me "Max clean up baby's mess".  What a big helper he is!

So these two major advances coupled with him speaking in nearly full sentences all of a sudden is a lot for this momma to process.   But I've decided I'm going to try to soak up all of the things that make this new phase amazing and worth cherishing just as much as the baby phase.  And so a new chapter has begun...