Insert Proud Mama Moment (Here)

Sully came up to me in the kitchen while I was cutting potatoes for breakfast this morning. He said "Uh oh, Mama! Poopies!" and pointed to the back of his pants.

Yay!

We high fived, a lot. See, knowing when you have a poop in your pants is something we've been working on for awhile now. This-is-a-big-deal. Its a potty milestone.

If he were in the toddler scouts, this would definitely be a badge.

I've been waiting for this moment for a few months since we busted out the potty for training. We haven't been huge sticklers about it, because I think he's still young in my opinion to go hardcore with the potty training, but we let him dictate when he's interested with it, and when he's not. I completely, 100% believe that children will let you know when they are ready to conquer huge transitions, like potty training. Its the same philosophy and approach I had when I was a nanny and then a teacher. I feel the same about his bottle. Yes, my child still gets a night time bottle. And he also gets to sleep with us when he wants. (GASP) But on his own, he's been phasing both out, without a whole lot of reinforcement from Shaun or I. He's decided on his own that he doesn't need his bottle, for the most part. And a lot of nights will opt for his bed instead of ours. It's not laziness or fear of the dreaded toddler/parent confrontation that molds our parenting style, quite the exact opposite in fact. I want him to be in a secure, confident place as he conquers these milestones. Its the same reason I let him pick out his clothes and what he wants to eat or what he wants to play.

Confidence baby.

Life is hard enough man. I'd rather work on things like him not running away from me in the park like a bat out of hell, picking up his toys or throwing that apple he's done with in the trash rather than on the floor. We tend to forget sometimes that they are still babies. I think we force too much on children way too young, but I'm digressing. That is a whole other post and tangent for a morning when more time is involved.

We've slowly have been trying to incorporate things like the potty chair out where he can get to it and practicing with his bears, flushing the toilet, talking about his big boy under-roos I put over his diaper and how cool they are - and lastly, recognizing when he has gone potty and being able to tell us. Finally! Hopefully a smooth transition is in our future down the road.



I never thought we'd be so excited about poop!