Big Brother Prep

When I found out that I was pregnant last summer, a whole slew of to-do's whirled through my head. Among them were the ways that we would need to prepare Sam for our new arrival. There would be the emotional preparations, of course, but I also came up with three practical, tangible changes that would need to happen in his life before our family would be ready for baby: transition to big boy bed, potty training, and kicking the paci habit. Not going to lie, I was nervous about all three. Mostly because I have heard my share of horror stories relating to them all, especially boys and potty training. But I had to give it all a shot...so we set out.

1. Shortly after Sam started school in the fall we decided to make the transition to the big boy bed. We got took the front off of Sam's crib, got the toddler rail out of the attic and set about bolting it onto the bed. And that's when we realized that Babies R Us shipped us the wrong rail...months and months ago. After a small fight with the store, we had the correct rail about two weeks later and we put it on right away. And you know what? After being told once to stay in bed when we left the room, Sam stayed did just that. He went an entire week before even trying to get out at naptime, and he only tried that twice. Since day one he has called for us to come get him when he wakes before setting a toe on the ground. He LOVED the freedom of getting in and out himself. He even respected the "paci lives in the bed" rule and would climb in and out when he wanted that comfort item. To my shock and delight, it was a seamless transition!

2. I gave y'all a good bit of detail on the potty training front when we started in November. Well, as of now I will PROUDLY proclaim that my son is completely potty trained. In fact, he now earns his rewards for completing the entire process all by himself. He has had two accidents of any kind in the last 5 weeks. I was more anxious about this one than anything else. Our success is proof of the power of prayer. I am enjoying my 4.5 month hiatus from diapers.

3. We saved that paci removal for last. I thought that he would need that security item to make it through the other two, and it turns out I was right. But I had absolutely no idea how I was going to accomplish this one. I'd been given a few ideas, ranging from trickery to reasoning, and just couldn't decide which way to go. But I new that if we didn't get it done before baby arrived - likely with paci of his/her own - than it might be another year before we could get it done. We were down to one paci (I've since found the others, go figure), and it was well-loved. So well-loved, that something started to happen. While we were living in two places, the nipple of the paci started to rip due to his habit of biting plastic items. Slowly, slowly the rip got bigger. Sam told us that it was broken, but we just handed it back to him and sent him off to bed. We began to notice that he wasn't sucking it as much in bed, half the time he just held it in his hand. And then, halfway through our Christmas trip to Florida, we realized that paci had been sitting on a bedside table and Sam had not touched it in three days. I put it in my purse and he has not mentioned it since. Slowly, slowly, Sam self-weaned himself from his Paci. Now I'm not going to lie, there are plenty of replacements in the bed - so many things go to sleep with him that there is literally barely room for him in the bed. And we have had a few issues with calling for us in the night and waking earlier in the morning, but they seem to be lessening and I find them to be totally worth it for the sake of this transition.

So there you go. We were blessed with three relatively painless transitions, and in a matter of months there is basically no baby left in our boy. Its sad, in a way, to realize how much he is growing up. But at the same time, I am so in love with the boy that he is right now. He has so much personality, is mostly so sweet, and makes us laugh so much.

He is also growing more and more interested in the baby. He has asked repeatedly over the past week if the baby is coming out now. He talks about holding the baby. Today he kissed my tummy and put his mouth up to it to say "Hi" to the baby. Then sat down next to me so that he could sit with the baby. Makes my heart happy. Now, I am under no illusions that it will all be lovey when baby comes home, but I am encouraged that he is going into it with a willing heart.