Little Boy

I’ve got to take a post to brag about my little man. Although he still corrects me when I call him a big boy (“No, I a widdow boy.”), Asher is accomplishing so many things lately, and I couldn’t be more proud of him.

First, we started potty-training with him last Friday. Ten days, and he really has the hang of it. His little legs are so short that he still needs help getting on and off the toilet, but he is telling us when he needs to go. He is still a little nervous about pooping in the potty (Scot read that this is normal, something about the act of pushing it out makes some kids think that they’re losing a part of themselves.), but he hasn’t had a wet accident in nearly a week. Also, only two Sundays wearing underwear, and the clever little stinker has already figured out that saying, “Go potty” to one of the adults leading the toddler group will get him out of class.

His second accomplishment started out with that same toddler class at church. Ever since Riley “graduated” into the Sunbeam class at church, Asher has had a hard time in his class. I’ve been going into class with him for the first 5 or 10 minutes every week since January. Every time he would stay close by me, and then cry when I pulled myself away to go to my own class. But last week we were running late to church, so on the drive over I told Asher that I wouldn’t be going into Nursery with him. I prepped him for what was going to happen, that I would take him to the door of the classroom and give him a kiss. Then he was going to walk in by himself, without crying, and find a toy or a friend to play with. And low and behold, he did just that! (Thank you for being his buddy, Chad!) Yesterday I prepped him and went through the same routine, with the same result. Hooray!

It has worked so well that I thought I’d give it a shot with his Curious Twos class this morning. But rather than telling him that’s what was going to happen, I asked him on the way to class if he was ready to go in by himself. I reassured him that he wouldn’t be able to see me, but I would be waiting in the hallway just outside his class. I was shocked when he agreed to the plan. As we waited for the classroom door to open, I again walked him through exactly what would happen: Miss Jenn would open the door and he would go in and get stamps on his hands. Then he would go inside and find his favorite helicopter toy while I stayed in the hall. When the time came to walk away from me, he hesitated for a second or two. But with a little cheering from me, and the motivation of Jenn’s rubber stamp, he went ahead. Soon he came back to the open doorway to show me that he had indeed found the helicopter, but he didn’t make any attempt to step outside of the classroom, or convince me to come in, but wandered back into the room to play. Several minutes later a teacher closed the classroom door, and he did just fine the rest of the time!

I knew we would eventually get to this day, and I’m just so happy that he is starting to feel confident on his own. I just want to squeeze him every time I think about it!