I'm a Big Boy now!

Peter has recently gone on a baby strike. A few weeks ago we moved him out of the crib and into his "big boy bed", the bottom bed of the bunk bed. He transitioned like a champ! He was definitely ready. He had been asking for a couple weeks if he could sleep in the big boy bed so I think when the time came he knew it was a big deal and he's done such a good job. We are so proud of him!

Since then he has started boycotting other things that are baby-like: sippy cups, his booster seat at the table and most recently, diapers. Yes, diapers.

I was waiting till he was staying dry through naps or at least for an hour or so during the day before I was going to attempt potty training. And since we were getting closer and closer to Baby's due date I figured we would just be waiting until the end of the summer. However last week he told us he wanted to be all done with diapers and tried to persuade us a few times to let him wear underwear to bed at night! We didn't give in but told him that he had to keep his underwear dry all day before he could wear them to bed at night. (We would occasionally let him wear underwear for 20 or 30 minutes at home in the mornings and it was pretty exciting for him, but he'd often have accidents and then we'd change him back to a diaper.)

Since Peter seemed convinced he really wanted to be done wearing diapers I thought we'd try it at home for a few days. The first day in underwear he had a few accidents but always ran to the toilet to try to finish. Then we had a busy weekend and didn't do any practice times. This week I had a pretty open schedule during the mornings so we tried some more just for the portion of the day that we were at home. He totally surprised me! He has been yelling "Potty" with his standard level of great enthusiasm and runs to the toilet before getting wet. He has only had a couple accidents and those were while we were outside playing and he first told me "Potty", then changed his mind and said he didn't want to go inside. He's not the easiest one to persuade to do what he doesn't want to do and since we were outside anyway having an accident maybe is a good way for him to learn that lesson (I hate cleaning potty off floors more than off of clothes!) He even has been staying dry during nap times and for periods of time as long as 4 hours! And he's even figured out how to do most of it on his own, only needing help pulling his pants back up when he's done. I'm completely surprised. I feel like I've totally underestimated him! I think the only hang up right now is that he doesn't seem to want to go to the bathroom while in public (and just holds it till we get home!), or when with someone other than me or Brad. He's not staying dry all night but he is at least willing to wear a diaper to bed at night.

I'm trying to not get my hopes up too much about this, even though it's exciting to see him doing so well since this was really his idea. But knowing how many changes are coming up soon makes me suspect we may have a regression or just some more 2 year old defiance on our hands in the next few months. But for now it's impressive to see him putting his mind to this and succeeding!