The day my boys grew up...

Before I begin the post that brings me (Tracy) back to the blogosphere, I just wanted to comment that I have missed using this space to record milestones and reflect on things that cross our path! I frequently said "I should blog about that!" but it never happened. I'm sad I've missed doing so; I've already forgotten moments I wish I hadn't. It just seems that for me first trimester pregnancy is not conducive to really anything other than survival. And the holidays are the same. And the sickness that seems to have plagued us since then. But hopefully it won't be quite as long between posts for a while now.

Last week Monday (1/28/08) was a big day. I don't know why growth seems to always come in spurts, but it sure seems like a spurt started a week and a half ago. Our three boys are getting SO BIG (and so is the little one still hiding inside me, as evidenced by my suddenly large belly)!

The most life changing development was that Caleb and Andrew have officially and permanently dropped their second nap. At first glance, maybe this is no big deal, but for the past many many months, C & A have gone down for a nap at 11 am or so, awakened a little before 1, we all had lunch together, Jaden went down at 2, and then nap number two began at 4ish for C & A. If I was VERY lucky, J would sleep until 4:30, giving this tired pregnant mama a few minutes of child-free rest, but usually I'd get about 5 minutes... Just long enough to flop on the bed or couch in exhaustion and then get pounced on by a very energetic toddler ready to conquer the world, again. OR he'd sleep until 5 or even longer, giving me a great nap as well, but then we'd pay for it at bedtime with a toddler STILL ready to conquer the world. It also meant that I really needed to be home from 10:30 or so until nearly 6 - not exactly great for running errands or accomplishing much outside of our front door. If it had to be done, it meant a bunch of cranky, sleep deprived people, which means unless it REALLY had to be done, it didn't get done.

Well, NO MORE!! They ALL go down together sometime soon after lunch, and sleep for 2-3 hours most days. I can sleep for a WHOLE HOUR and still have an hour all to myself to cook or clean or read or write or... the options are endless! :) And instead of needing to be home for 7 hours a day just for naps, we can go places together just to get out, and still maintain a nice happy state of rested-ness. I feel so FREE!

Another fun side benefit has been that since the boys are now awake together, they are finally truly learning to play together, and it is SO FUN! There are few things in this world that bring me as much joy as being in one room and hearing all three of our boys in another room, laughing. I often have no idea what they're doing, but I love knowing they are having a marvelous time doing it, and there's no way I'd interrupt the fun by sticking my head in to find out what's happening.

Here are a couple of video clips I have managed to catch in just the past couple of days of the new "playing together" stage we've entered:

The boys will play "Ring around the Rosie" over and over and over again. Unless we're around to help, Jaden sings all the words by himself at this point - except for the last one.



This one was one of those "unexplainable laughing" moments that I did peek in to see - and found Caleb and Jaden looking at each other under their bedroom door, having a grand time. I only caught the tail end of it after it had started to calm down, but it's still fun. (Andrew's sudden outburst was because I was holding him and put him down when he started trying to grab the camera.)



And of course, just today I was working on lunch, and became aware of a very unnatural silence, so I went to investigate, and found this:


I couldn't have been more proud of my little readers.

So the nap was a big change for us, and we're loving it. Along with the changed nap times, Monday was the first day that both Caleb and Andrew refused all of my offers to nurse. I generally offer, or they ask, in the morning or after naps at least a couple times a day, but lately, it's not uncommon at all to go all day without them asking, and often they even refuse my offers! Life is too fun to stop for milk, I guess. We still nurse most days once or maybe twice, but the frequency of "no thank you" days will certainly keep increasing... I guess they're about ready to add "weaned" to their list of accomplishments. :) I've LOVED nursing both of them this long; I think I'll be much sadder than either of them when it's officially over. So many people questioned my sanity to attempt to nurse twins without supplementing - it feels nice to say "We did it."

And last, but DEFINITELY not least in the "Big Monday" changes; Jaden started pooping in the potty! He's been "potty trained" for months now, wearing regular underwear since the summer and doing very well at staying clean and dry. However, for reasons known only to himself, he simply refused to poop in the potty, preferring instead to hold it until he had a pullup on for nap or bedtime, and then going. Because he was so obviously in control of his bowels, waiting until he wouldn't get his real underwear dirty (he didn't enjoy having to help clean them when he didn't, I guess), I was so frustrated by the delay! He knew what he was doing, why wouldn't he just go in the pot??? However, no amount of ignoring it, coercion, bribery, threatening, rewards, "waiting till he was ready" or anything else we had tried seemed to be encouraging him to make the final jump to "completely trained." Oh, if only he had a "poop now" switch. However, Monday, after a long and drawn out saga that I won't bore you with here, we have finally turned the corner. We have had 3 or 4 "pullup poops" since then, but for the most part, he has worked hard to go in the potty, and is VERY proud of his accomplishment. He would be happy to tell you all about how he's a big boy now, and why. I think he is as relieved as we are that the struggle is finally over. HOORAY, JADEN!!!



All the fuss has encouraged Caleb and Andrew to get "in" to the potty, so I guess as soon as we can get another little potty so we have two for our second and third little squatter, here we go again! :)

So, naps, weaning, and pooping - and that was all in one day! And the spurt has continued. I KNOW they're going to keep doing this (growing like crazy), so why is it so hard to get used to? I guess we're just along for the ride, and I am grateful that it has so many fun moments, lest we get completely bogged down in... the rest.

Well, kudos to you if you made it through this entire long post... I guess I just couldn't stop once I got started again. Till next time!