Big Boy Steps

The last twenty-four hours have been stellar. Jeremy did four things, each one of which puffed his mommies' hearts up to oversized proportions. The fact that they coincided all on the same day made January 24th one of those giant leaps up the child development ladder.

1. Jeremy voluntarily handed over his pacifier before leaving for daycare. This is HUGE. He still loves his paci, but we limit it to sleeping at night. Being the smart boy that he is, he avoids things like eating and brushing his teeth as long as possible in the morning to avoid the inevitable traffic congestion in his mouth and enjoy a few more suckles. Usually, though, getting the paci away from him involves sophisticated distraction and bait-and-switch tactics by Mama Nay, so he really doesn't participate in the relinquishment. Yesterday morning, though, it was time to leave the house and the paci was still between his lips. So, I sat down with him and asked him to give it to me. After he didn't respond, I told him I wanted to give him the chance to give it to me for safe keeping, so I didn't have to take it away from him. He thought about it, hesitated, and then, just as I thought he was going to pretend he didn't hear me, Mommy Barb offered him a drink of milk. He looked at the milk, then back at me, and then, very slowly, took the paci out of his mouth and handed it me. HOORAY! He took a sip of milk, and then walked to the front door. Not a tear was shed.

2. On the way to daycare, Jeremy yelled his provider's name with a huge smile on his face and his hands thrust in the air. Even though he plays happily at daycare and apparently rarely cries, the transition to daycare can be tenuous. It usually ranges from tentative to very very sad. Certainly never happy, nor excited. But yesterday, mere moments after the voluntary relinquishment of the paci, I asked if he wanted to go see Jen, and he screamed "Jen!" so loud it startled me. When we arrived, he took off his coast and, instead of his usual clingy reversion to a nine-month old, he walked over to Jen, grabbed her finger and led her towards the playroom. Almost as an afterthought, he cast me a backward glance, and I smiled with a "See you later, little dude." And I left.

3. At the dinner table, Jeremy said, "Noodles, please." Completely unprompted. Not only was this one of his first two-word phrases, it shows good manners!

4. Jeremy slept through the night, all night, in his own bed, without crying, until 6:30am this morning. We cannot even remember the last time he did that. Oh wait, yes we can. It was in August. The bonus? He came out of his room without his paci.