Happy Monday!
Hope your coffee is good and you're sitting comfy because I've got quite a bit on my mind today.
Right now one of the biggest parts of my heart is how fulfilled I feel watching Cooper grow up. I can't believe that in just 40 days Cooper will turn two.
Two.
Dos.
2!
In my brain that is the number where babies are really no longer babies. Rather, a beginning depiction of what they will be like as a grown up. Cooper has shown us signs of who he will be. So much so, that I am dedicating a whole post to it later this week! As February 18 quickly approaches, Cooper is very well on his path to becoming a "big boy".
This weekend we got all the right tools to kick off his big boy year: a toddler bed railing, underwear, and a potty seat.
Cooper was with us when we got the potty seat. Picking out a toilet seat is no easy task. There are many different kinds, some with lids, some with places for toilet paper and magazines. So for quite a bit of time you just seem to stand there and stare. When Cooper saw the frog shaped toilet seat he was very excited. I asked him if he would pee and poop in it and he said he would. So, we happily walked away with the frog potty. He held it and kept looking for the poop in it, then saying, "empty" because, to much disappointment, there was no poop in it. I also scored on some clearance potty training underwear. We are going to wait a couple of weeks before we start the rest of the potty training process. 1)Because I need to mentally prepare myself for a week dedicated to watching Cooper pee and poop all over our home, and maybe a few times being successful at it in the potty. 2)Remember that toddler railing? Yep, we transitioned his crib to a toddler bed this weekend and want him to get used to that before we add something else new.
Cooper did so-so with his first night without crib railing. It took him a good hour to drift off, but once he was asleep he was good to go. He stayed in his bed all night, and that, in my book, is a huge plus.
Because of all the thoughts (more like bangs in the forehead of reality) that Cooper will not be little forever, I have attempted a parenting tactic I have never before used.
I have rocked my child before bedtime A LOT this past month.
I rocked him for soothing purposes when he was little, but for bedtime we just put him in his crib, so he would know how to get himself to sleep. But, there has come an ache in my soul with the thought of him one day not fitting in my arms. And another ache that he one day won't even want my hugs and kisses.
I have parented Cooper thus far with the end in mind. The end not being when he graduates high school and (hopefully) moves away to college. The end is when he is 30 and we are 55 and still have a relationship. I have a deep fear that at the end, when he's out of our house, and has his own house, filled with a wife and his own kids, that he will not want to be around us. He won't want to talk to us, ask us for advice.
So this past month, I have to confess, I played into that fear, and rocked, rocked, rocked my baby boy. I sang to him, patted him, kissed him, and breathed in the smell (one day he will be a stinky teenager, you know) of my baby boy. Then with the realization that we were transitioning soon, I snapped out of it and went back to putting him to bed on his own again. My baby boy is soon to be two years old, and that makes him a "big boy"...or maybe I should just say "growing". That makes it a little less sad. And a lot more accurate. He is growing into a big boy.
Why does parenting have such conflicting emotions? Please, someone, tell me I'm not alone in this.
.......Please?.........
Onto some other things -
On New Years Andrew's sister, Ashleigh, her husband, Kyle, and their kids, Zachary and Xander, came to visit. It was so nice to be around them. It was fun to watch the kids play. Cooper loves the company of other children and it makes me happy to see him having fun.
This past week it snowed. Cooper loved it. He enjoyed watching it fall. He loved to walk through it. He was disappointed when it melted and was gone. "Snow? Where is it? What happeen? Apparently it i that s unseasonably warm here. I'm thankful. But also scared that it means it will bring a blizzard around the end of March when we're ready for it to warm up.
I'm thankful we're in Ohio. Thankful we are in a place that affords me to stay home, and pay off some debt in the process. I have become angry with our student loans and am kissing them goodbye. I'm thankful for a church challenges us in our spiritual walk, speaking truth and not backing down from it. I'm thankful for the friendships we are making.
So, that's my talk for today's coffee date. What's on your mind?
P.S.
Parenting tactics are sometimes a touchy subject. I am a firm believer in schedules, respect, and obedience, because I believe that will later help your child in his/her walk with Christ. I do not apologize for my beliefs in parenting. I also know that each set of parents and each child is different. The views I express are mine, and are not meant to pass judgement or make you feel bad for doing things differently...ie...rocking.
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