More Bird Milestones
I'm about six weeks late on recording these two milestones in Birdie's life, but the upside is that after six weeks I can say with certainty that the changes have stuck.
[1] Birdie was never one of those kids who walked around all day with a pacifier, but she habitually had it in for naptime, bedtime and very occasionally during a meltdown. Back on April 4 we went to the dentist and got another pointed reminder that Birdie really needed to ditch the pacifier altogether. On April 5, Birdie handed the pacifier to M and said "I don't need this, I'm a big kid now." And some what surprisingly to me, she hasn't used the pacifier since or even asked for it.
Our friend gieves told us a story of her childhood that featured a very similar quote, and M thinks that Birdie may have copied that story, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Whether she was modeling her behavior on gieves (which would be 100% fine) or did it of her own volition, her choice made life unexpectedly easier for us.
[2] The following week, Birdie took the next big step in potty training and stopped wearing diapers during the day. It's gone very well since. She still wears pull ups while sleeping, but increasingly she wakes us up (ok, she wakes M up, I sleep through everything) and asks to go to the bathroom, to the point where we're reasonably sure that we won't be buying any more pull ups once the current box is exhausted.
During the day Birdie sometimes goes into the bathroom all by herself without even telling us, although her grip on consistently washing her hands is nebulous enough that we're better off when we follow. Don't get me wrong, when she actually washes her hands she usually does a good job, but she has to be reminded most times.
On a related note to [2], Birdie is still sleeping in her crib. She hasn't shown any particular inclination to climb out on her own, although M says she has climbed INTO the crib on at least one occasion. On our recent trip for birding she slept on a trundle bed in the AirBNB instead of in her pack & play, marking her first 'real' bed. A bigger kid bed is probably coming in the very near future.
[1] Birdie was never one of those kids who walked around all day with a pacifier, but she habitually had it in for naptime, bedtime and very occasionally during a meltdown. Back on April 4 we went to the dentist and got another pointed reminder that Birdie really needed to ditch the pacifier altogether. On April 5, Birdie handed the pacifier to M and said "I don't need this, I'm a big kid now." And some what surprisingly to me, she hasn't used the pacifier since or even asked for it.
Our friend gieves told us a story of her childhood that featured a very similar quote, and M thinks that Birdie may have copied that story, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Whether she was modeling her behavior on gieves (which would be 100% fine) or did it of her own volition, her choice made life unexpectedly easier for us.
[2] The following week, Birdie took the next big step in potty training and stopped wearing diapers during the day. It's gone very well since. She still wears pull ups while sleeping, but increasingly she wakes us up (ok, she wakes M up, I sleep through everything) and asks to go to the bathroom, to the point where we're reasonably sure that we won't be buying any more pull ups once the current box is exhausted.
During the day Birdie sometimes goes into the bathroom all by herself without even telling us, although her grip on consistently washing her hands is nebulous enough that we're better off when we follow. Don't get me wrong, when she actually washes her hands she usually does a good job, but she has to be reminded most times.
On a related note to [2], Birdie is still sleeping in her crib. She hasn't shown any particular inclination to climb out on her own, although M says she has climbed INTO the crib on at least one occasion. On our recent trip for birding she slept on a trundle bed in the AirBNB instead of in her pack & play, marking her first 'real' bed. A bigger kid bed is probably coming in the very near future.