When Alyssa turned two a few years ago, I was surprised to feel pressure to get things done. Not really pressure from others, but, pressure from myself. Now that she was two, she was no longer a baby so I felt like we had to get going on potty training, losing the soother, and getting her in a big girl bed; all at once.
I remember seriously having to talk to myself to slow down. That just because she wasn't a baby that she was still little and that these things would happen in time. And they all did happen at just the right time that was perfect for Alyssa and for our family.
For example, potty training.....I tried potty training Alyssa four times between the ages of two and three. Everytime I tried she would start crying as soon as she wet herself as she really didn't know what was going on. One day when she was 35months old so just a month before her third birthday, we tried again. She got it and was trained in one day with only a handful of accidents. She was ready.
Then with the big girl bed......we set up a brand new big girl room with a toddler princess bed in the next room over as we wanted to keep the nursery a nursery. On the first night when she was about two and three months we tried moving her to her big girl bed. She just cried over and over that she wanted her crib so we moved her back into her crib. We tried periodically over the next few months and she always wanted back into her crib. One day when she was to two years old and eight months, I put her down for a nap. When she woke up she was talking in her crib when I heard the awful sound of "thunk" and then crying. I ran upstairs to find Alyssa on the floor crying, not in her crib where she should have been. She had learned how to climb out of the crib. Thankfully, she was fine, just scared, not hurt. We then, went downstairs and got daddy's tools and I took off the side of the crib. Her crib was now broken as it was unsafe for her to be in it. That night we explained that her crib was broken and that she had to sleep in her big girl bed. She went right into her new bed with no issues and no crying. She was ready.
The soother was a bit different. We really had to bear down and be firm with her. Just as a note, she only had her soother at nap and bedtime so no one even really knew she still had one. Finally when Alyssa was three and a half we got up the nerve to take the soother away. We were just so scared that our awesome sleeper would no longer be such a great sleeper. Anyway she did really well with it, just waking up early for a few days. On those early mornings we pretended to be pirates and went and hid het treasure, het soother, in the sandbox. After three night of no soother she got to pick out a princess dress at Toys R'Us. She again was ready and I am glad that each time we waited and gave her space to grow up when she felt ready.
I am a planner at heart, so it really felt unnatural to me to not know when these things were going to happen. But, when we let Alyssa take the lead everything went much smoother and more peaceful than we could have ever imagined. While except for the soother which I am sure she would still have now if we hadn't pushed her a little.
Anyway, fast forward to June.....Lucas turns two and once again I feel the pressure. The pressure within to get him off the bottle (which he only has at naptime and bedtime before he goes in his crib), to get him in a big boy bed and to get him potty trained.
Well I am happy to report that after a few attempts in the last few months to get him off the bottle, we have finally succeeded. When he was ready, it was an easy transition. I am surprised that I am actually feeling sadness as that was the last bottle that will ever be in our house. My baby is growing up. If I knew that his last bottle was really going to be his last bottle I would have savored cudling him a little longer. Overall though, I am thrilled that we finally got him off the bottle and I am super happy that I will never have to wash another bottle again.
The Cars toddler bef is downstairs waiting for the perfect moment to be brought upstairs and potty training is not even in our eyesight right now. We will wait until he is closer to three to try that. When he shows me signs that he is ready.
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