Way To Go Joe-Joe

We are so proud of our Joe Bug. He is becoming a big boy right before our very eyes. Joey is doing amazing with potty training. He is in underwear all day now and just wears pullups at nap time and bedtime...now I will say we are doing a TON of laundry as he completely wets through his sheets EVERY day at naptime and bedtime BUT he stays dry nearly 100% of the time the rest of the day. He is still trying to work on his timing with pooping on the potty and is a little bit more accident prone when it comes to that act but with regard to peeing on the potty, the kid has got it down! In other big Joe news, our house is officially a paci-free zone! Dean and I decided that last Friday was the big day that Joe would stop using his pacifier. Cold turkey. Now I will say that Joe wasn't obsessed with his paci like some kids are and he really only used it at bedtime but still, we felt that at 2-1/2 years old it was time to kick the habit. So we went about the process in the exact same manner we did with Ben. I took the boys to Build-A-Bear on Friday and Joe made a special stuffed animal, inside of which resides his pacifier. He gently kissed the paci "bye bye" and placed it inside the puppy he picked out and that was that. The picking out of the puppy was actually really sweet and totally illustrated one of the fundamental differences between Joe and Ben. Joey is totally matter-of-fact and black and white (ahem, Dean). He quickly surveyed the animal wall, zeroed in on a puppy, picked a puppy out of the basket, looked it over and declared "this is the one." When asked if he was sure and didn't he want to look at the others he replied "No, mom. This is the one I want." Ben on the other hand, who had insisted that he needed a "kindergarten bear" took FOREVER to make his final selection. Ben is so wishy-washy and unsure of which direction he wants to choose (like looking in a mirror for me). He had no fewer than seven animals in his hand at any given time and finally decided on a puppy that had a Jonas Brothers print and Jonas Brothers dog tags, which he aptly named Jonas. Joey selected a Pacers outfit for his puppy to wear and loved giving him a bath and pushing him around the store in a stroller. I would love to share pictures of our newest family member (paci puppy) but we accidently left him at church yesterday! Anyway, Joe is doing awesome. The first day (Friday) he did not nap and after politely calling me to his room and saying with a sweet expression on his face "I forgot my paci. You get it for me?" He was unamused with my response and promptly stripped Paci Puppy of his clothes and tried to figure out how to retrieve the embedded paci. He SCREAMED for 45 minutes before I gave up on the nap and got him up. Dean had a Fever game that night so I was on a solo mission at bedtime and was quite certain it would be miserable to get Joe down. To my surprise, he didn't say a word and passed right out (no nap will do that to you). Joe did wake up about an hour later and cried and cried his little eyes out wanting his paci. I rubbed his head and shed a few tears with him. I will admit. I almost caved. But I stayed strong and Joe prevailed. He woke up several times throughout the night whimpering and trying to suck something that just wasn't there. After that night, though, not a peep about the paci has been uttered, other than to show people his puppy and say "my paci in there! That's funny" What an awesome kid. He for sure gets his flexibility from his dad. I would still be in tears now three days later :)