Farewell Pacifier
Giving up the paci had been on our to-do list for a very long time. I wanted it gone before her 3rd birthday, just out of principle. We started talking about the Paci Fairy, and how she would come, take the pacifiers and leave a present. We were skeptical as to whether or not it would work. We didn't have a very good track record (JGray gave up his paci a few times before it finally "took.") I kept putting it off, but one day before nap, she bit through the end of her last paci. Well, I refused to buy a new paci for an almost-three year old. Nap time was disastrous so I was worried about bedtime. Delia totally rose to the occasion, which left me completely unprepared. She went to bed WITHOUT A TEAR and I had to scramble to get the Paci Fairy gift assembled. John was flying home from Dallas that night, and luckily he had time to run by Walmart in time to purchase Delia's beloved Tangled (what she calls Rapunzel) doll. The transition to life post-paci has been drama-free and she has never once asked us to give her another pacifier!
Potty Training
Isn't potty training supposed to be easier with girls?? Don't you read in books that most girls are potty trained around their 2nd birthday and most do it without argument?? Well, those authors haven't met Delia! We'd been "trying" for months without much progress. She started using the potty in August (right before we left for the beach) and usually did well at home or in public (as long as she was with me). She started preschool in September and she totally backtracked. I think it was a combination of being with new, unfamiliar adults and not wanting to leave activities to use the potty. She never used the potty at school, and she never told her teachers when she was wet. She would just pee in her pull-up, sometimes to the point of it soaking through her pants. I thought we'd never get her back on the potty. In early February, John and I reached the point where we were sick and tired of wet pull-ups. I mean, seriously, couldn't the girl just tell us that she's wet? Is that too much to ask?! So we decided that we'd rather have her pee in underwear than in a pull-up and committed to potty training. And of course, she rose to the occasion and was pretty much dry from that point forward. That first weekend, we even drove to Charlottesville for my goddaughter Elsa's birthday, and she was dry the entire time. Her teachers were VERY skeptical when she showed up at school on Tuesday morning in big girl underwear (to my credit, I did send her with 6!!!! changes of clothes--you can never be too prepared). Well, in typical Delia fashion, she rose to the occasion yet again and has been dry at school ever since! It was a very proud Mommy moment and you could tell that Delia was so proud of herself. And rightfully so!!!
Big Girl Bed
The final step in becoming an official big girl was getting Delia out of the crib. Not that she couldn't have done it a very long time ago (JGray transitioned out of the crib at 2 years 3 months), but why mess with a good thing? She never tried to climb out, slept great, and was "contained" for naps/quiet time. We decided that turning 3 was a good time to introduce the big girl bed. We took one side off the crib and added a small bed rail. (Okay, the bed rail wasn't added until several nights of poor Delia sleeping on the floor because she kept rolling out of bed.) I think it's safe to say that she's done a great job! Her new-found freedom has led to a lot more mischief, but she always stays in her room. Actually, her favorite "trick" is locking her bedroom door once she's in her room alone. Privacy. For the 3 year old.... Her current favorite thing to do is changing her clothes. After we've put her to bed. Yes, she changes out of her pj's, rummages through her drawers, selects "the perfect outfit", changes her clothes and goes back to bed. She sleeps through the night, so I really can't complain too much (except there for a while she was changing out of her pull-up and into underwear; after the second straight night of changing her clothes and her sheets, we had to remind her to keep her pull-up on or else the crib would go back up. Yup, rock star parenting here!) When I'm on top of things, we pick her outfit before bedtime, so if she changes, it's into a somewhat matching outfit. The upside to all these wardrobe changes is that she's ready to go in the morning :-) She continues to sleep amazingly well in her big girl bed. Naps disappeared at first, but now we find her asleep about 2-3 days a week. Our plan is to move her into her new room in the summer, complete with pink walls and a twin bed. This process is going to take a while because of the all the rearranging we need to do to clean out the office/guest room.
Those few lingering reminders of Delia's baby and toddler days are disappearing. Right before our eyes, she is becoming a big girl and we couldn't be prouder!
Here are two pictures of Delia on the first night in her big girl bed. Look at that smile!
