In the past few weeks he has grown up a lot. We converted his crib into a bed. I was nervous about how he would react to the freedom but he's been doing great! It takes a few minutes longer to get him settled since he can now hop out and grab one more book off his bookshelf but other than that he stays in bed all night and waits for me to come get him in the morning. The naps were what I really worried about but those are good too, still giving me a solid 1 1/2 - 2 hours a day which has been great for this tired, giant, pregnant mama. His naps are my chance to lie down, rest and prepare for the afternoon when Nathan comes home and I'm chasing after two kids instead of one!
He is also potty trained!! We're not 100% but I'd say we're a strong 85-90% and I'll take that. He rarely has an accident and he even sleeps in underwear and stays dry. Given how difficult it was to get his big brother to give up the diapers I was hoping Ryan would be a little bit easier and he was. Thank God!
Finally we took away the nap time pacifier. That was one thing I was hanging onto desperately because he has never napped without one. But once he was in a big boy bed we told him big boys don't use pacifiers and that made sense to him. We had a few days where he asked for it and he whined when I said no but after a while he forgot about it all together.
Next up for this big kid is moving into his brothers room and getting his own twin bed. He's got three more months to be the baby and then he'll be a big
brother! He definitely seems excited about the new baby but I'm not sure how much he really understands what is about to happen. Recently he has been asking me to rock him like a baby at bedtime. We sing a little song and rock in the rocking chair and then he goes to bed fine so if that's what he needs to feel safe and secure right now I am happy to do that for him. Part of me is sad he will no longer be my baby so it's nice to have those few minutes to snuggle him like I did back when he was an infant.
The past three years flew by so fast. Ryan is, and always has been, opinionated and feisty. He challenges me more than I can handle at times and definitely tests my patience. But he is also sweet and kind. He shares his toys with other kids. He listens to his teachers at preschool. He tries to make people laugh. He keeps us on our toes and keeps life very interesting!!
I love you so much Ryan, happy 3rd birthday!!
