Operation Big Boy: Phase...Never Mind

Being graced with a relatively easygoing kid like Simon, so far most of our momentous changes from baby-dom to "big boy" have been surprisingly uneventful. He took weaning from both pacifier and breast like a champ last fall, for instance. Still on the list: switch from crib to bed, and toilet learning.

With a new baby on the way, we decided we'd just have the switch from crib to bed coincide with a new room for Simon--and to make it seem like less of a being-forced-out and more of a special upgrade, we decided to repaint the formerly drab office on our main floor so it would really be Simon's own new space.

the former office, as it was--a nondescript sort of beige-brown color (this is where Simon used to watch Sesame Street clips on the computer!)

I bought paint back in January, and finally a few weeks ago we got around to painting--Andy, that is. He was in charge of painting the background colors, and then Jess is going to be adding details (we're sort of doing a landscape-mural-thing, so there are trees and clouds to add).

the color of hillside, don't you think?

Here's that corner where the computer used to be--now with lovely light blue sky and green hillside; it makes for a MUCH cheerier space!

Of course, just as soon as the background painting was finished, we had all the hospital excitement...and decided upon my discharge that I should really start sleeping on the same floor as a bathroom, both to lessen the amount of stair-climbing I have to do this late in the pregnancy (and with my "take it easy" orders from the doctor), and because its looking like I'll be recovering from a C-section post-baby, and from what I've read they suggest avoiding stairs for a while afterwards. So "Simon's new room" has suddenly become "Mommy's room." Luckily, though he would go play on his big boy bed and talked about it as his new room, Simon didn't really seem to have any qualms letting Mommy use "his" room "for now." So as for the switch from crib to bed...well, he has yet to climb out of his crib and doesn't complain about it, so...never mind. We'll get to it post-baby, I guess (it will be several months before baby really needs to be in the crib rather than bassinet/pack'n'play anyway, right?).

The other big boy challenge: toilet learning. Our original plan was not to really tackle this until post-baby as well, knowing that recently-trained kids often regress when a new sibling arrives, and Simon will just be 2 1/2 this summer. However, about a month or so ago our child care provider told us he sat on the potty at her place! She had just casually asked while changing his diaper if he wanted to try, and he did. After a few more such incidents, we thought maybe we should take advantage of his interest and go ahead with potty training now, rather than miss a possible window of opportunity...and here's what we accomplished:

this is the one, and so far only, time that Simon has sat bare-bottomed on his potty chair at home

He is absolutely not interested in using the potty at home. At Miss Lisa's he'll often try sitting on the potty, and has even successfully used it a few times now...but not at home. So while the potty chair and all the little potty books are out and available, again we are saying "never mind" for now. Maybe Miss Lisa will potty train him for us :-). Or maybe we'll deal with that post-baby, too.

In other news, Poppy/TaterTot has reached 30 weeks gestation today--hooray! We are still home (doctor's appointment in the morning to check in and see how things are going), and have had lots of visits from Grandma Marilyn & Grandpa Steve this past week, plus Paloma, to help take care of Simon...and we've enjoyed some delicious pre-prepared meals from our friends in the Cities. Thanks for all of your help everyone!