Time for a Potty Break...

We have been telling Nolan for almost a month that when the diapers are gone, he is going to be wearing his new "unders". He would always ask me why, so I came up with the story that HIS diapers cost too much money and that mommy can't buy them anymore. I would remind him as they started to dwindle in numbers that very soon he was going to start using the potty like a big boy. He would tell me, "I know mom..." and then go back to running around and playing with his Sis. Didn't think about it much past that.
Then we bought a potty about two weeks ago. I set it in the guest bathroom downstairs and would talk to him about how it was his potty and his toilet paper, ect. He even had his own hand soap! He liked that idea... for a while.

Then this past weekend we used the last #5 diaper. Sunday morning we got out his unders and said "this is it". I took off his diaper and slid the new Thomas the Train unders up over his white little legs and then around his waist. Immediately he started crying. He was very angry that this day had finally made it's way into our house! He pulled at the waistband. Said he didn't like it. Threw himself on the floor. Said he wanted them off.

I just looked at my baby boy and tears began to welt in my own eyes. I had told him he was no longer a baby, and that is exactly how I felt. He was growing up. Even if we didn't succeed yet at pooping and peeing in the potty, we were at that stage, and he was no longer that little baby I had brought home back in May 2008. It broke my heart. These last 2 and 3/4 years have gone by so quickly. Too fast. Memories of this little boy flooded my mind.

How he was so very beautiful when he finally arrived on May 2, 2008 at 11:23pm. How he was such a quiet sleeper. And would be mostly awake during the day for the first couple months of his life. How he used to pull at my skin when his milk wouldn't be coming out fast enough, and beat at my back or scratch with his little fingers. How we used to just hold him, because we knew someday he wouldn't let us anymore.

How he started to roll over at 3 mos. And sit up at 5mos. How he loved to go for walks in the stroller and just fall asleep to the birds and the sunshine sparkling in the deep blue skies. How he would be into doing anything and everything that I was doing... and often fall asleep while I was doing so.

Nolan got his first teeth at 6 mos. Two little white chompers popped through the bottom of his gums and suddenly... he was changing. I can remember being in Bed Bath and Beyond and just wanting to squish him because he was just so darn loveable with his new smile.

He was a very happy baby. Very placid. Easy to please. He started crawling by 7 and a half months. Would creep our staircase by 8 and a half mos. And by 9 and half months started to creep around furniture and stand up in his crib. He started sleeping in our bed at 10 mos and that lasted until he was about 2. That part I might relive and do differently. But then I think about how I loved to know he was safe with us and how I could hear him breathing next to me... and I know I did things just as I was supposed to even if most people wouldn't agree.
He started walking by 10 and a half mos and running by a year. He had about a full mouth of teeth by the time he turned one, minus his molars. Which he got at around 16mos.... all at the same time. Worst diaper rash I have ever seen. I remember crying for him and calling my mom to bring me two different kinds of creams. Poor baby!

He has always been very bright. Into exploring everything, as any child does at that age. He would talk to us in short phrases by the time he was a year and half. It stunned us. We would wonder if we were giving his mind enough stimulation. We would be in Kohls or other stores and people would stop me and ask how old he was, because they couldn't believe how well he could talk!
He knew his colors and could count to five by 20mos. And by the time Nolan turned 2 you could carry on a conversation with him. He would respond back about things that you would think he had no idea of.

Nolan started to learn his shapes and could distinguish numbers from 1-10 by the age of 26mos. He can kick a ball, use a golf club (needs some practice), draw some really great pictures on paper, use scissors, and say his dinnertime prayer (with a little help, of course). He likes to recite movie quotes, and would prefer to eat candy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner... although that never happens.

And now at 33 months old he is about to be potty trained. I just can't put into words the true feelings I have for how I wish time would just slow down. It escapes me. I cherish all the things I can remember about his life thus far and I look forward to all of the things he will make me smile about, laugh at, and cry over in the many years to come.

To expound upon our Sunday potty adventure, we had three pee accidents and one poop accident that equated to Nolan in a diaper by the time I returned back home from working at the Orchid Sunday evening. I hadn't expected the Hubs to be the one potty training, so I was fine with it.
We will get there. I have no doubt. I think being able to stay home for three days is going to be the real challenge!

Until next time...