Milestones

It has been a year to the day since Luke donned underwear for the first time when I took this picture ("Cosmic", was Nat's comment when I checked the date on the picture). We have been experimenting with the potty ever since. He has gone through several packages of pull-ups, outgrown some underwear and tried out a couple of potty chairs. He did pretty well from early on, but I was always hesitant-- not quite sure that he was ready. Well, we took the plunge this week and left the house without a pull-up or diaper on. Success! He has been diaperless since Monday, and we have had very few accidents (potty training is another reason I love having all hardwood floors in our house-- easy clean up).

We picked Nat up from school today. This is the conversation that ensued when he got in the car:

Carrie: I think Luke is potty trained
Nat: How did that happen?
Carrie: I don't know

That's the truth of it, I really don't know what the difference was between this attempt and the others. I guess Luke's readiness is the difference. I knew that would be what it would take; I just didn't know what readiness would really look like. We both had to be ready as well. This has been the case with the other milestones in our life with Luke: teething, introducing solids, crawling, walking, weaning him, moving into a big boy bed, moving out of the high chair. There has been an element of mystery to each one. The anticapation of the change was much worse than the actual change. It is as if that final magical piece to the puzzle floats in from I don't know where. The readiness factory? Wherever that last piece comes from, I am learning again and again that it can't be forced. Forcing just make all of us miserable. These poor first children have to bear the brunt of parental anxieties.

Noah is also working on some of his own new tricks. He is currently working on pushing out his lower right front tooth. He is also scooting around. It's almost unfair to think about how much less stressed I feel about him. Oh, to be a second child.