two years, four months, two weeks

Dear Zac,

You've reached some pretty big developmental milestones this week.

Potty training:

A few weeks ago I mentioned my concern for your readiness to use the potty. This came after your teachers told me that you are the last in the class to use the potty and that you wouldn't be able to start the early childhood program in the Fall until you were completely trained. This caused me so much anxiety because you aren't even two and a half and I couldn't predict when you'd be ready and willing to use the potty. I don't know why I was so anxious or why I felt like I needed to rush you through the process. A month  ago you screamed and threw a tantrum every time we mentioned the word "potty". I bought a $5 book on potty training and read the first few pages and realized I was going about this all wrong. I know your personality pretty well and needed to just trust that you would figure this out on your own. You would need gentle reminders, but bribing you wasn't going to work. I knew that if you could just pee successfully in the potty one time that you would want to do it again and again (and every half hour when we're home!).Also, because you really like to do things together, if mommy or daddy said something like "let's go to the potty together!" you might be excited to try. I was right.

I never knew potty training to be so much fun.


Relating to characters and experiences in books and in play:

Another milestone this week has been your ability to see yourself in the books we read. Potty training books were helpful and it was remarkable to hear you say things like, "that looks like Zachary's potty!" "That's boy like Zachary!" and my favorite, "we don't touch poop! it's yucky!"

For the past few weeks now, you been increasingly disinterested in sleeping. You often scream at us, "I don't want to go to sleep". This pretty much shatters my heart every night. A couple nights ago we read Good Night Gorilla and Good Night Moon. We looked at the pictures as I read the story. You noticed that the animals in Good Night Gorilla also did not want to stay in their beds but when they were finally "tucked in", they didn't cry. You looked up at me and said "I won't cry tonight." And you didn't. And the past few nights since then, while you've resisted a little, haven't been unbearable and you've put your head down with your stuffed animal and gone to sleep fairly quickly.

I love you, pumpkin. I am looking forward to spending next week with you while we both have a break for for Passover.


Much love,
Mommy