T1,

These posts are going to get harder to write as you grow older. As a baby you make rapid physical changes, but the mental developments aren’t really manifest yet. At this age though, you change dramatically from day to day and it’s getting hard for me to keep up. And I LOVE it. Go ahead and outpace me as much as you’d like little one, because there are few things that make me happier than watching you grow, develop, and embrace the world around you.

I’ve been writing down notes about you on my iphone for months now, but it’s hard for me to capture your personality in a few paragraphs. You’re determined, sweet, forgiving, excited about life, fascinated by the world around you, and love to be with other people (though you love to soak up every second with your dad most of all). Everyone who has spent time with you, whether it’s for a few hours, or on a regular basis, describes you as a sweetheart and a great kid to be around. We agree.

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T1 started his life out sleeping in a First Years Close and Secure Sleeper (it actually goes in your bed and I plan on using it with T2 as well), moved into the swing, and then transitioned to a pack-n-play at 4 months. Until October of 2012 he slept alone in a crib, and then we decided to potty train, which meant he needed to be in a bed where he was freely able to use the bathroom whenever he needed (of course, he still won’t go pee alone, but that will come with time I hope!). I liked the Montessori approach that puts the mattress directly on the floor, which meant we didn’t have to buy a bed frame, he would be able to easily get in and out of bed (and he loves being able to lay on his side and play with his trains as he goes to sleep!), and also gave us the space to keep the futon in his room that we use for guests and reading books.

On October 20th we put him in a big boy bed for the first time.

The first few nights, he came out a few times to ask for milk* or tell us he had to go to the bathroom again, but things were going surprisingly well. I thought maybe this was it. He was both potty-trained and sleeping in his own bed at night!

Ha!

Two weeks later, he started coming into our bed in the middle of the night. He was starting in his own bed, but then I’d be tapped by a little hand in the middle of the night asking to sleep in mama’s bed.

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I haven’t changed a diaper since September. How awesome is that? Of course right back in the thick of it, but it’s very nice to know I’m only going to be managing the diaper needs of one little tushie instead of two.

I didn’t even attempt to potty train back in Chicago because we had carpet throughout our entire apartment, the carpet was brand new when we moved in, and the replacement cost was something like $2000 (they don’t replace portions, only the entire thing at once). So I knew we would wait until we had moved out of there to give it a try. My mom really wanted him out of diapers for the 6 weeks that he would be living with my parents while I went back to school, so I decided to give the 3 Day Potty Training method a try for the just-over-72-hours that I would be in Washington before leaving T1 and TH behind and moving down to Utah for the last half of the summer. I want to stress that I didn’t think this was necessarily the greatest idea (to potty train and then leave right away for a long period of time) but my mom was doing us a huge favor and I felt like this was a small way to say thank you to her. It felt like it wasn’t going to hurt anything to at least try.

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My mom left yesterday evening, TH is still on paternity leave, and my sister comes on Wednesday for just shy of a week, so maybe I should wait to write this out until I’ve managed things on my own for a bit but…

I was terrified to have two. It felt so overwhelming and I had no idea how I was going to manage any of it, with or without help. I know it’s going to get hard when it’s just me and two young children on the afternoons and nights during the week, but I can see how it’s possible. There will be lots of tantrums from T1, T2 will sometimes have to wait (T1 is learning this lesson already), and I might not ever get anywhere on time, but it’s possible.

Hopefully writing that out will buoy me up in a few weeks when I’m a hormonal, lonely, overwhelmed, sobbing mess dealing with two children who refuse to sleep the way I need them to in order to stay sane.

Here is a similar picture of T1 right after birth if you’d like to compare! Read more →

T1 started preschool back in September of 2012, shortly after we moved to Palo Alto. We knew it was the right time to put him in school because of the way he responded to church nursery time, and because we thought it would advance his language skills as he was forced to navigate a new environment and voice his needs. He was 2 1/2 (29 months) when he started.

Obviously things like safety and loving caregivers were our top priority; price, location, and schedule were also determining factors. I’m not so married to a certain school of thought when it comes to preschool education that I was ruling things out automatically based on the style. I love the idea of Montessori for young children (as of right now we’re thinking public school once our kids hit kindergarten) but the nearby options were well outside our budget or distance I was willing to travel. I also wanted to find a place with full-day options because I didn’t like the idea of dropping him off and then picking him up 2-3 hours later. The commute looked like it would be at least 15 minutes one-way and that’s not a lot of time to get anything done (I don’t know about you, but I work best when I have long chunks of time to attack my to-do list).

The place we chose is called Children’s Pre-school Center (CPSC for short) and it fit all three of my criteria regarding price/location/schedule. A commute that isn’t too bad (I’m able to avoid rush hour freeway traffic if I take a side road), drop-off as early as 7:15 am (though it’s closer to 10am by the time I get us out of the house) with pick-up at 6:15 pm, and a price that worked for us. He would be grouped in a room by age, and would be one of the oldest kids in his classroom.

I liked that I could pack his lunch and they would reheat as needed. I liked that they would allow him to be in diapers/pull-ups (we were going to potty train him right before he started and didn’t know how successful it would be). I like that they have “sports time” with Mr. Dave on Wednesday mornings. I liked that it was play based and that the weekly themes for the classroom activities were based on interests shown by the children (for example, they did a babies week because several of the little girls love to spend time playing with baby dolls). I most loved that they could get him to nap! Something I can’t do on my own no matter what I try (unless it’s going for long drive or walks in the stroller).

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