Chase is officially two-and-a-half years old and while I feel like a broken record around here, I just LOVE this stage. He is a chatterbox to the extreme and always wants to tell us anything and everything. His imagination exploded over the past few months and watching him play make-believe and create little scenarios and conversations for his trains, farm animals and cars makes me smile so big. He wants to be included in everything, asks a bunch of questions, loves reading books together and is an absolute bundle of energy. When his preschool teacher said to me, “I don’t think we’ve ever seen Chase tired,” I could only nod my head. Thankfully most of his energy is joyful energy and he is a very smiley, happy and engaging kid that is truly FUN to be around.
Chase is very social, loves his friends and teachers and talks about our family members and his friends all the time. In the same breath, he’s rather independent and doesn’t shy away from new experiences but still looks to me to scoop him up in my arms if the tears start flowing. When I can tell he’s about to break down, I’ll often ask him if he needs a hug and his lower lip will stick out as he runs into my arms. He still says “Mama, kiss it” when he hurts himself and his boo-boos need a little extra love.
All of these little moments of tenderness remind me that while Chase is growing like crazy and asserting his independence more and more (“No, I do it!”), he’s still very much a toddler in need of affection, love and nurturing.
Eating
Play is still a big-time priority over eating for Chase and while I’m not sure this will ever change, his eating is slowly improving – and I mean slowly – but progress is progress and I’ll take it! Involving him in cooking is my favorite way to get him to try new foods and veggies. Since he’s SO darn curious he will often ask, “Mom, I try this?” as I’m chopping up everything from cauliflower to zucchini.
He prefers raw vegetables to cooked and cucumbers are his favorite by a longshot. He’ll also snack on raw carrots and zucchini and the only cooked veggie that has captured his heart is green beans. (He LOVES Whole Foods’ garlicky green beans from their hot bar but will eat the green beans I prepare as well… just not with as much vigor.)
His appetite seems to be increasing which makes me want to run all over our neighborhood and high five everyone I see. For the kid who used to take a single bite of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, he’ll now eat an entire half of a sandwich at lunchtime which feels like a MAJOR victory. His food favorites include apples, oranges, strawberries, blackberries, Earth’s Best Organic Sunny Days Bars (just take all of my money), cashews, Goldfish, white cheddar mac and cheese, Cheerios, thin crust pizza, quesadillas, yogurt, muffins… and of course pretty much anything with sugar we allow him to have. (Ice cream and the icing on top of cupcakes is his all-time favorite. I wonder where he got that from?)
Sleeping
Sleep is kind of a tricky one around here lately for no other reason than the fact that a lot of the predictability we’ve been loving for the past few months seems to be a little up in the air over the course of the past month and a half.
Nap time usually goes well, but there have been two separate weeks of NO naps and others weeks where Chase will skip a nap a couple of times but then nap like a champ the other days. No part of me thinks he’s ready to completely drop his nap because he is still sleeping so well when he does nap and his demeanor tells me midday sleep is still quite important for him. Right now I’m back to feeling like I can semi count on five days of decent naps and two days of nap unpredictability. On days when he’s not settling in his crib, I’m trying to enforce “quiet time” and load him up with books or a few toys and tell him he can read in his crib but that we need to rest for a bit which seems to work out fairly well most of the time.
We also experienced two weeks of super-early morning wakeups when Chase would wake up crying or screaming for me. I could usually calm him down with some cuddles and a book in his room but it was a rough couple of weeks there for a while! I’m not sure what was up, but that seems to have passed and hopefully won’t return anytime soon (though part of me did love the sleepy cuddles)!
Current Challenges
I briefly mentioned some of our biggest toddler battles and some solutions that work for us in diffusing meltdowns in this post. When it comes to meltdown territory, distraction is the name of the game and I’m still trying to enter into these battles armed with some kind of a distraction to stimulate Chase and get him excited about anything other than what must happen, whether it be getting him dressed (currently our #1 battle), leaving the house, loading him into his car seat, heading upstairs for bed, etc.
We have two additional “challenges” on my radar in the coming months: Potty training and transitioning Chase into a big boy bed. When it comes to the whole big boy bed thing, I’m SO hesitant to make this transition because Chase loves his crib and has never tried to climb out of it. Plus, I know our child and there is zero chance he will stay in his bed at nap time or even in the early morning hours when he’ll sometimes wake up, make some noises and then settle himself back to sleep for a bit. Do we just buy a second crib for our new baby and leave him in his crib or bite the bullet and try to do the whole big boy bed transition before our baby arrives? I’m so torn!
As for potty training, I think Chase can definitely handle it and will grasp the concept just fine but I’m not sure how to really approach the whole thing and so mostly out of my own laziness, I’ve put it off. I’ve read a bit about the whole “stay home for three days and put them on the potty a million times a day” idea and that’s my current plan but if you guys have any other tried-and-true methods or words of advice that worked well for you, I am ALL ears! Also, do stickers or some kind of a mini prize for each successful pee or poop in the potty work well? I’m pretty sure Chase would do anything for a jellybean or peanut M&M…
Adjusting to the Thought of Being a Big Brother
I could cry as I write this because Chase’s heart is just so tender and he is so darn sweet when he talks about the baby in Mom’s belly. Chase has been 100 percent obsessed with his toddler friends’ baby brothers since three of them were born last summer which both warmed my heart and also made it ache because Ryan and I so badly longed to have a second child. Now that a baby is growing in my belly and we felt comfortable enough to tell Chase after a good 18-week prenatal appointment, he is ALL IN and his little voice drops down to an almost-whisper as his high-pitched little voice asks to touch my belly or prays for our baby.
The other day Chase told me “Baby needs a Wubby” (wubby = Wubbanub = his beloved pacifier) and I told him he could help me pick out a Wubby for his little brother or sister which made him light up. When he prays for our baby, he says things like, “Dear God, baby be growing. Baby be healthy. Thank you for Wubbys.” My heart melts every time and I truly cannot wait to see him in his new big brother role. Chase has a very sensitive side and will always stop and talk to me with great concern when he sees another child crying and loves crouching in front of his friends’ little brothers to check on them during play dates. I am not naive enough to think that he’ll be completely sold on the baby from day one and know enough to expect jealousy and some serious challenges through the changes but I am so beyond ready for it and cannot wait.
Pacifier Update
Now, speaking of Wubbys… As of early December we are pacifier-free. Woo! In my last update I was absolutely DREADING this transition because Chase and his Wubbanubs – all FIVE of them – were absolute BFFs.
(Flashback to the Wubbanub Glory Days)
I loved reading all of your suggestions for how to get rid of a pacifier and highly recommend checking out the comments on my previous Chase update post to anyone thinking about getting rid of their little one’s pacifier soon.
In the end, we decided to roll with the “Wubby is broken” idea and cut the little stuffed animal off the pacifier so he could keep the animal but the pacifier was no longer an option. I toyed around with the pacifier fairy idea where he’d leave all of his pacifiers out for a Paci-Fairy and receive a new toy in their place but I had a strong feeling Chase would chuck the new toy out the window and want all of his pacifiers back within 5 minutes. The “broken” option seemed to be the most viable for Chase’s personality since he understands the finality of that word. Once the Wubbanubs were officially “broken” (we “broke” one Wubbanub a day to slowly transition him), we explained that his Wubbys were all broken and told him he could still hold onto the little animals or cuddle with Snowball (his favorite stuffed cat) if he felt sad and that Snowball would help him feel better. He seemed to grasp this concept from the beginning and though there were some serious tears, his first nap Wubby-free went shockingly well! It was not nearly as big of a deal as I thought it would be – thank goodness!
I’ve also noticed Chase’s crazy teeth have improved a bit since we got rid of his pacifiers which is a relief since, as his dentist warned us, his palate was definitely impacted by the pacifier. (Our dentist’s urging was the catalyst for our mission to drop the paci otherwise I’m pretty sure Chase would’ve had a pacifier until he was 18.) I’m shocked at the change in his teeth and the shape of the roof of his mouth after only two months of no pacifiers but I’ll take it!
Likes
- Playing with cars and trains
- Helping Mom cook or bake
- Reading a billion books
- Dancing and jumping
- Riding his Plasma Car and racing around the house with Dad
- His friends
- Singing (He has every song on this Raffi CD memorized)
- Preschool
- Sadie (especially calling her back in from outside)
- Baths
- Videos from Aunt Leslie of her dog, Kona
- Pointing out every fire truck, school bus, construction vehicle, etc.
- Being outside
- Any marine animal
- Looking for fish in the lake off the dock near our house
Dislikes
- Getting dressed
- Having his hair washed
- Brushing his teeth
2.5 Year Old Favorites
PLAY
- Plasma Car (Chase’s OBSESSION. Perfect outlet for non-stop toddler energy!)
- Little People Animal Friends Farm
- Mega Blocks
- Foam Airplanes
- Kitchen Helper Stand (We use this daily for everything from cooking “help” to washing hand and doing crafts at the kitchen counter.)
- Train Table (A gift from my mother-in-law along with train tracks that is, without a doubt, the best source of “solo play” for Chase right now.)
- Any kind of sports ball
- Indoor Collapsible Play Tent
- Golf Putter
- Thomas the Train (and all of his train friends)
- LeapFrog Learning Laptop
- Magnetic Building Tiles
BOOKS
- Anything Pete the Cat
- Bedtime Bible Stories
- Go, Dog! Go. (Chase practically has this one memorized.)
- Are You My Mother?
- The Cat in the Hat
- Green Eggs and Ham (Confession: I love this book, too!)
- Happy Little School
- Cars and Trucks and Things That Go
Past Updates
- 26 Months
- 20-22 Months
- 17-19 Months
- 13-16 Months
- Twelve Months
- Eleven Months
- Ten Months
- Nine Months
- What I Wish I Knew Before My Baby Was Born
- Eight Months
- Seven Months
- Six Months
- Our First Sleep Training Experience
- Traveling With A Baby For The First Time
- Five Months
- Four Months
- Three Months
- Two Months
- And Then He Smiled
- Three Weeks
- The First 12 Days
- Q&A: All About Birth & Life With A New Baby
- Chase’s Birth Story: Part I, Part II
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Julie, my little guy JJ just turned 3 last week and we had him in his crib until a week before his birthday. Just like Chase, JJ NEVER once tried to crawl out of his crib and he just seemed to love it in there. However, about a week before we transitioned him, we started talking about his big boy bed. At first, he hated the idea, but then we gave it a NAME. Because it was painted green, we started calling it his “TRACTOR” bed. This made ALL the different. So giving it a fun name is highly recommended.
As far as potty training goes, we did this around the same time too. So JJ was about a month away from his 3rd birthday when we began the process. Unlike Chase, JJ is NOT motivated by candy, so we did a star sticker chart right above his potty and he was told that when he filled his chart, we would get him the dart gun that he picked out. Three days later, he was trained and got his gun. When the patience of sitting and pooping gets tricky, try reading Chase a book (we had special books about going potty). Hope that helps!
My second was born when my first was 2 years and five months old, so I faced the same crib transition and potty training timing issues. My advice is to keep crib for him as long as possible, since its still working so well for him. You will all sleep better! Also wait as long as you possibly can to start potty training, that way it will go quicker the older he is. Save yourself stress by avoiding potty training anywhere near your last pregnancy month and first 1-2 months with newborn. Some tricks that helped us were letting our son throw cheerios in the toilet and aiming at them, letting him ring a bell after going (super cheap hotel/desk type bell found on Amazon),little bag of prizes,and above all- ssuper strength enthusiasm!!
I love seeing your happy little guy and hearing the updates! The only advice I have on potty training (I have a newly turned 2 year old, 4 and 6 year old) Is don’t rush it, just encourage it. We did an M&M every time they went, not just sat there, they’d probably eat a whole bag if I let them lol. For the crib issue, I’d say leave him in it as long as he’s comfortable! If you have a bassinet or pack n play use that for the new baby and he might be ready by the time the new baby needs to transition. I hope thats helpful!
My son turned 2.5 this past December, is crazy busy, is less than 5th percentile for weight and looks/acts a lot like Chase! We transitioned to the toddler bed just before his 2 year birthday because he was climbing out of his crib. The transition actually was not nearly has bad as we thought and it took a few weeks of laying in there until he fell asleep before we could leave while he was still awake and he would stay in bed. We have no toys in the room either so there is not much incentive to get up. We also have the okay to wake clock and we started using it before the transition and he watches for the color change every morning. He will not leave his bed until the “light turns green”. We had not done any TV until he was nearly 2.5 so when we transitioned from the toddler bed to a “car bed” and it was even easier for him to get out, we just told him he could watch his one show (20 min of TV) only if he stayed in bed. It works every day. The car bed is an awesome transition tool as well since it is not off of the ground and if Chase is similar to my son as I think, he will absolutely love sleeping in a giant car. Also, we did the Oh Crap potty training a month and a half ago and it was seamless. We have had a few accidents, but we read tons of books prior to initiating the process about “no more diapers” and using the potty that I think that made a huge difference. We got rid of all of his diapers and we never did pull-ups. He went from diapers one day to pants less for about a week then to underwear. He went night and nap trained at the same time too. If Chase is having dry diapers at nap and when he wakes in the morning, he will likely be ready for all at once too. I would not even use a “reward” for the potty or a chart. She will tell you that in the Oh crap book too. Using the potty is “expected” and rewarding the use of it becomes more like bargaining is what she says and is a slippery slope. I followed the book exactly and it was shockingly easy for my son to adapt. He is happy the baby will get to use his diapers (he has a brother due in 3 weeks!). See we are in similar places! Good luck!
My son was in his crib until close to 4 years old because he loved it and never tried to climb out, so I figured why ruin a good thing.We did buy another crib for baby but they both convert into toddler beds. As for the potty training, we did the 3 day thing and worked great, I provided sticker for #1 and small teddy graham crackers (3) for poop since I don’t give him many sweets, that was a treat for him. Good luck and congrats!
Did he have the paci all the time or only at bedtime? We’re trying to decide when to take our 1.5 year olds binky away.
I get so relieved when I hear I’m not the only one with toddler eating struggles… it.is.HARD!! Pretty sure I’m going to go broke buying Stonyfield yogurt pouches and all the cereal/snack bars in the world. My son is 20 months and loves to help in any way he can.. he gets the dogs their food, puts their bowls away, loves to clean up and throw things away. I keep going back and forth between taking the financial plunge with a kitchen helper.. partly to keep him busy and helping while I make dinner and partly to tempt him to try new foods with me. How old was Chase when he started enjoying the kitchen helper? Is 20 months too young and I should wait until he’s 2?
It was actually a birthday gift from my mom for him (though I put it on her radar when she asked for ideas 😉 ) and we began using it right when he was two. I’d say he REALLY started to love it a few months after his second birthday!
Re: the crib, I personally would keep Chase in there until he’s off to college. 😀 Joking of course, but if he loves it, definitely keep him there as long as he fits and doesn’t climb out! This will help everyones sleep all around. Also, don’t forget, baby 2 doesn’t need to be in a crib day one. Both of my kids moved out of their bassinet at around 5 months, and the older moved into the crib then, but the baby stayed in a pack-n-play in our bathroom (weird but it was kind of the only dark room in the house) until he was 11 months old. Even if you move Baby 2 into the crib at 5 months, that gives you another 9 months before you need to deal with it, and by that time Chase may be more ready to do a toddler bed/day bed/big kid bed.
We transitioned our son, who is now three and a half, into a big boy bed when he was around two years and eight months old in anticipation of the arrival of his baby sister. I’m not going to lie, it was ROUGH in the beginning and we had to be very firm and consistent in putting him back in bed every time he got up, which made for some meltdowns and emotional nights for all of us. It took a couple of weeks but he got there eventually. As for potty training we started that when he was two years and three months old because I was ready for him to be out of diapers but it took until very recently for him to be fully potty trained. I am a teacher and even when I’m on a break our family is very busy so we never had three days when we were home all day, every day, so I can’t reslly speak for that approach. I will say that M&Ms and a sticker chart (once he got used to going to the potty consistently) were huge motivation. The best advice I have is to not stress (easier said than done) because Chase will do it when he is ready. Good luck!
I love reading Chase’s updates! My son is about 4 months younger than Chase so it’s always fun to see what I should be expecting in the coming months. Sounds like he is such a wonderful boy who is going to be the best big brother!
I would definitely keep Chase in his crib as long as it’s working well for him. I have an eight week old sleeping in a pack n play in our bedroom and my 2 1/2 year old still in his crib. I will get a second crib for the baby when the time comes. My toddler sleeps great in his crib and hasn’t tried to climb out so I’m not messing with it at all. The adjustment to a new sibling is enough change for him at the moment!
Julie! Congratulations!!! My son is a few weeks older than Chase and I also have 10 month old twins. I transferred our son out of his crib (because who’d want to buy TWO more) and it really isn’t bad. I put him down for a nap and he plays in his room for a bit and then falls asleep. (Sometimes on the floor..) He usually plays in his room in the morning too. I keep his door open and gated. (Mostly bc he sleep walks sometimes and I don’t want him to fall down the stairs or visit his sisters haha!)
We potty trained him over the summer (also bc we didn’t want to buy diapers for 3..) The froggy urinal on Amazon was a huge hit. Highly recommend it!!!!
I have to begin with saying I laughed out loud when you said that you want to high five people now that Chase is eating better!! I’m so happy for you! With regards to the whole potty training thing, so many different things work for different people, so please don’t be put off by this comment. A friend once said to me “If you keep putting your son on the toilet a million times a day, you’re trained, not him.” This stuck with me. I waited until my son told me he wanted to pee, which was around 2.5 years. Then, I would ask him once and a while, but not push it. If we made it to the toilet (where we had cheerios floating for aim) then he would earn a sticker that we would stick right on the toilet (Goo gone took them all off afterwards with ease). He would get so proud and show everyone how he was earning stickers and I would catch him ‘trying’ to pee into the toilet just to earn a sticker! And, please don’t stress if he isn’t able to hold his pee through the night for a while. My son was 6.5 when he could finally do without the pull ups…and our doctor said that was totally fine and normal. He was a deep sleeper and I would take sleep over pee accidents any day. I wish you the best of luck!!!
Raffi takes me back!!! When I was little and my mom was pregnant with my sister, I insisted that she be named Baby Beluga…. I lost that battle 😉
Hi Julie! Longtime reader, never commented before but I felt compelled to weigh in on your crib/no crib and potty training questions.
I’m a therapist and mother of two and was in the position you are now, with kids spaced apart exactly the same as Chase and your newborn. Every kid is different, but I would strongly recommend not pushing Chase to make transitions before he’s ready. It may not seem like it now, but he will let you know when he’s ready to move out of his crib and when he’s ready for no more diapers. A good thing to ask yourself is, “Would we be doing things the same way if I wasn’t about to have a baby?” That way you’re always aware that yes, being an older sibling means that Chase is going to have to adjust to make way for a little brother/sister, but he should also have the space to develop on his own timeline, as it’s much healthier and less stressful for all.
Definitely start talking about how fun and comfortable it is to not wear diapers, have him go to the bathroom with his dad A LOT (lucky Ryan) and soon enough, he’ll want to do it on his own. I’ve known many parents who push potty training – all goes well for awhile – and then the newness wears off and the child regresses in a big way. And it seems harder the second time because they are more resistant to the change; it’s not so fun anymore and becomes more of a battle than a natural transition.
I didn’t want 2 cribs either so we bought a toddler bed about a month before my due date and immediately regretted it. My daughter was not ready at all, and after a week of sleepless nights we went to Ikea immediately and bought a cheap crib that she stayed happily in for another year. Best $100 we ever spent. You’ll be losing enough sleep with a newborn – don’t rock the boat!
Every family does what’s best for themselves and if you decide to do something differently, go for it and I wish you all the best! The bottom line is that Chase and your new baby are lucky to have such thoughtful, loving parents 🙂
I would say in terms of crib to bed..waaait….don’t rush it..Sully is the same, never has ever tried to get out and isn’t even on the lowest level yet. I know FOR SURE he’ll escape all the time if we move him so I’m waiting until he’s older and understands the concept better. Same with potty training, in no way is Sully interested and I have heard so many horror stories and stresses of pushing that too so I’m on the slow train with both, I just don’t want it to be stressful for either of us so I’m thinking when he shows signs of readiness for either then we’ll go for it…go with your gut but don’t feel defeated if it doesn’t work the first time..he just may not be quite ready…you’re going to be going through huge transitions soon enough with the new little one so take it easy on yourself 🙂
We had our second when our first boy turned 2 and i found a good quality second crib on sale and I am so happy that we didn’t transition to a big boy bed. I don’t think o could have handled being up with a baby in the middle of the night and also dealing with a toddler who was either not napping or waking up and leaving his bed multiple times a night!
I was just at the pediatrician last Friday for my daughter’s 2 year checkup and she recommended that we focus our attention and reward communication about needing to go potty and not the actual act. My daughter had pretty bad stranger anxiety from 5 to 18 months. My pediatrician doesn’t want us to induce performance anxiety by focusing on the act.
I would keep the crib as long as possible especially if he stays in it & loves it! I had my second baby when my firstborn was 2.5 and he wouldn’t stay in his crib/sleep/it was super messy during the newborn days that we actually ended up buying another crib & so my first born could go back in his crib and he was finally rested again. (The doctor warned me this could happen because of the “new baby jealously”, she also warned me about potty training him close to the date of a new baby since it could stop all the progress they made and go back to diapers) !! So a few days before his 3rd birthday he told me was ready for the potty and that was it! 🙂 I’ve learned that kids have their own timelines! Just like we do 🙂 Ps. THANK you for the help with the Pacifier!
I did the 3 day potty training with my daughter and it really ended up being 4 days for her. It is a tough weekend that requires lots of patience and attention, but it TOTALLY worth it once they are potty trained!!!
Great post. My son will be 2 and a half in early April. He asks me to have a baby!
Our daughter was having sleep issues in her crib when she turned two but once we transitioned her to a toddler bed it’s been smooth sailing
Hi Julie! I have two girls, age 4 and 8. My advice is to keep Chase in his crib as long as possible. My younger one stayed in longer than my older but as long as he is safe and sleeping well there is no need to move him. What do they say, if it ain’t. broke, don’t fix it! My 4 year old is still in her crib that has been transitioned to a toddler bed so we’ve gotten so much use out of it. On potty training, I tried the three day method with my older one when she was two. It was a miserable experience for both of us. I know it works for some people but I received the best advice from my pediatrician when I told her it wasn’t going well. She said back-off because you don’t want any negative associations with the potty and my daughter was crying about it all the time. I went back to pull-ups and would try to get her to go now and then without any pressure. Right before she turned three, it was like magic, she wanted to go herself. I approached it totally different with my second daughter. I introduced a small potty in let her sit on it and encouraged her to use it but never pressured and let her give me the signs. She took longer but at about 3 1/2 she was ready on her own. I think all kids are ready at different stages and the best thing to do is take cues from your kids and don’t push it, it will happen on its own. It was hard for me to believe that the first time around but it’s true, good luck!! Love reading the updates btw. You are smart to write it down, because you will definitely forget, I sure have!! ?
Switch him to a toddler bed. You have to bite the bullet sometime and why spend money on a second one?
My son is just a bit older than Chase. He started showing interest in potty training around 20 months, I think thanks to being around some older girls at daycare. We had a potty sitting in our bathroom since about 18 months, per our pediatrician recommendation. There was no pressure to use it, but it did pique his curiosity. When we got into really training, we would put him on the potty every 30 minutes. It seems insane, but it definitely seemed to help. I also think at daycare (my mother-in-law”s house), he was able to be bottomless A LOT. I definitely think waiting until he shows interest is a huge step.
Unfortunately I don’t have big boy bed tips. He climbed out of the crib around 2 years so we decided it was time. Transitioning went easier at my mother-in-laws than our own house, but luckily my husband is a strong person. I spent a lot of time falling asleep on his floor with him until my husband put his foot down. We had to work really hard on a new routine and setting boundaries about getting out of bed, unfortunately having to threaten to close the door sometimes. But I have an older niece who transitioned without any issues, so every kid is very different.
Best decision we made was NOT to put our son in a toddler bed. We went right to a full size. He had less of a chance to fall out (as he slept in the middle) and it was so much easier to read to him or lay with him when he wasn’t feeling well. He is now 16 and tall enough for a queen size mattress.
We rushed my almost 3 year old out of her crib and i regret it. I was very pregnant and worried how she would react to a new baby and i couldnt lift her in the crib anymore. she loved it though and i wish i would have kept her in it. The new baby didnt even start sleeping in the crib till 4 months anyways. I would recommend keeping him in there if he is happy, sleeps well and doesnt try to get out. Maybe you could borrow a crib from a friend for a few months or just use a pack and play for the baby? or buying a cheap one and selling it afterwards is always a idea too.
My older son was potty trained one week after his 3rd birthday. We relied heavily on his ques and didn’t force him to be on the potty. He is not motivated by foods, stickers, toys, games, etc. We did have a monster truck for when he went poop. In the end, we had to cold turkey the diapers. He knew (verbalized) when he has to go potty and poop, but preferred the diaper because it was easier. He was trained from that day on. Everyone kept telling us that when he’s ready that will be it. So true.
Bed transition, I second keeping him in the crib until he climbs out. We transitioned too soon, and he currently sleeps on our floor. Our youngest is 8 months and will be in the crib as long as possible 🙂
I had heard the 3-day method worked well but I couldn’t bring myself to commit to staying home for three whole days – I would go stir crazy! So we went out-and-about but in those early learning days I would take the little one to the bathroom at every. opportunity. possible. When we got to the store, before we left, when we got to the gym, before we left, and it worked really well. Definitely used jellybeans and m&ms as incentives for the first month and then she forgot about it, now it is only a treat for going #2. Good luck, as with most things, it probably won’t be as hard as you think it will be. It’ll also be a little easier when the weather warms and you can be outside, accidents can just be hosed off! Lol!
My 2 are 2.5 years apart and even though it would have saved a little money to not buy a 2nd crib, it was totally worth it. Buy the 2nd crib!
Hi Julie! The one thing we did (not even on purpose) is we bought our little boy bunk beds when we transitioned him (to get the crib ready for our second little boy on the way). We just thought it would be great for sleepovers when he is older and bunk beds “look cool”. We took off the attached ladder so he couldn’t climb up to the top bunk and we will reattach it later.
My son seems like he is a lot like Chase, very active, doesn’t like to sit still. I don’t know if its because he can’t stand up all the way (because of the top bunk above him and the little security gate we put up on the side of the bed) but he has never gotten out of the bed unless we come in the room. Not even once! He has stuffed animals that he sleeps with so he will sit up and play in there until we come in and get him. So I always recommend bunk beds to friends to try now ;). Good Luck!
I am the mother of five (four boys). Boys are way easier the older they are (3-3 1/2). The whole process will go smoother. Also, you probably have already read this, but they are not ready to start until they can wake up from bedtime and naps dry. Otherwise, you’ll be the one getting potty-trained (watching when they need to go), not your child. Their bladder won’t be able to hold it when they need to go, if they aren’t waking up dry. 🙂 Also, change can cause a bit of back-sliding in potty-training (moving, new siblings, etc). It might be good to wait until your little one is born and settled in.
Good luck! It’s one of my least favorite things to do (next to teaching my children to drive), but it’s so worth it on the back side. I enjoy your blog.
You could also get a bassinet for the new baby and that will delay having to move him to a bigger bed. My babies slept in a bassinet for the first 3 months. Or the new baby could sleep in a pack n play too. Or a Rock n Play.
You could also get a bassinet for the new baby and that will delay having to move him to a bigger bed. My babies slept in a bassinet for the first 3 months. Or the new baby could sleep in a pack n play too. Or a Rock n Play. I wouldn’t buy two cribs.
I swear by the book Oh Crap Potty Training! It’s actually a fun read and got me motivated to potty train. Potty Training is A LOT of work for about a week. But she gives some great dos and don’ts that worked beautifully and made he process way less stressful for my son than so many other random tips I hear that make potty training take so much longer and so much more confusing for kiddos than it needs to be. I’d totally recommend this book 🙂
Oh I fear the end of naptime! I want two more years of naps please (my daughter just turned two). Is that too much to ask for? (I think I know the answer). My husband’s cousin has a four year old who still takes regular great naps. I think he must be a unicorn.
If he isn’t climbing out and still loves his crib, keep in there as long as you can! Don’t rush it. My transitioned my 2 1/2 year old before the baby came because he was climbing out every day and I wish we could have kept him in longer. He was an amazing sleeper and now he is up between 5 and 6am and coming into our room waking us up. If you have the option to put the mattress on the floor in the crib I would do that once he does start climbing out to buy you even more time. A big boy bed is a game changer for sleep haha.
Good luck with potty training!! I recommend the book “Oh Crap Potty Training”.
My kids are 2y7m apart – the first being a girl, 2nd a boy
Be glad you are done with the pacifier – my daughters last one broke right as her brother came home from the hospital and her sleep suffered big time – she stopped napping, it was a nightmare.
We planned to transition her to her toddler bed before he arrived but I was on modified bed rest for the 2nd half of my pregnancy, so it was too much for my husband to have to take on in addition to all the toddler care. My kids shared a room for 3+ years. My son ended up sleeping in our room for 6 months during which she transitioned on her own to her toddler bed (she hoped that as soon as she did her brother could sleep in her room – we kept him in our room until he was no longer swaddled because we worried she would throw stuffers into the crib and he wouldn’t be able to defend himself).
As for toilet training, honestly I would wait. Yes, I’ve known boys to train prior to 3, but it seems to be not the norm. My kids had very different experiences. My daughter would use the potty starting at 18 months but only when naked in the morning and evening. But she had no desire to use pull-ups as underwear. Once we were out of the newborn haze (ie about 2-3 months old) and we felt awake enough to worry about wet couches and floors and car sets, we put her in pull-ups and she had a toilet training whisperer at daycare that trained her in days when she was 2y10m but she wouldn’t be night trained until 6 years old.
My son would never ever use the potty. At 3.5 he started a new daycare and one day after 1 month he came home, walked up to the toilet, and used it standing up! But he wouldn’t do #2 outside his pull up for another 4 months. But in that same day he night trained. He’s had less than 5 accidents.
I just wouldn’t try to do the 3 day now at this age. You nah see a regression when the baby comes. But obviously every child is different.
Thoroughly enjoy your site. I have to admit I have not read all the comments on potty training, but our pediatrician advised 40 yrs ago to not start training until our son woke up from naps dry. At that point the bladder is mature enough to hold urine. It’s a mad dash to the bathroom at that point, but it went well when we reached that time.
I wrote a bit about our toddler bed transition a post last week. My son seems a lot like Chase and is super high energy! What worked best for us was a childproof lock on his door so that it clicked that he needed to stay in his room and also letting him have a book in bed with him to read before he goes down.
We potty trained my son when he was 2 years old using the “Oh Crap! Potty Training” book and it was perfect. We plan to use it on my daughter here in a couple months after number three arrives! Good luck to you!
Also, I have to say, I’ve been following your blog for YEARS, and I get so unbelievably happy for you every time you post a pregnancy update because I am so thrilled for you and your family.
It’s crazy how different all kid’s are. My boy will be 3 in a few months and he was in a big boy bed shortly after he turned 2! The reason was because I wanted to lay next to him before bed. He gets out of bed on his own and just walks to my room in the morning. We did have a loooong period of him wandering into my room at 2 am, but that is normal and passed. We need to potty train also. He’s completely potty trained when we are in our house and he’s naked, but he hates pull ups and underwear and only likes his “baby diapers” haha. Anyways, good luck with all the transitions! Kids always seem to adapt pretry fast.
We just wrapped up PT using the Oh Crap Method… my daughter is 26 mo.
If your kid is happier in a crib then I would bite the bullet and not transition them until they’re ready to leave the crib. I think as a parent you should always prioritize your sanity and Chase napping probably helps you stay saying especially during your third trimester and when the baby is born!
We try the 3-day potty training boot camp and it really backfired. Not really anyone’s fault just my daughter was fighting us about going to the potty and every turned so clearly she’s not ready.
We are almost in the same situation as you guys! Our son will be 3 in mid-May and we’re expecting another child in early June. We JUST transitioned him to a twin bed about a month ago because I didn’t want to buy a second crib. He NEVER tried to climb out of his crib and he’s been awesome in the big boy bed. He loves it and stays sitting in it when he wakes up. We only had one morning when we went in and he’d clearly gotten down and back in because there were 2 cars in his bed that were not there the night before. 🙂 We just kept reminding him that we stay in the bed even if we’re not going to sleep (for nap time). It think it helps that he’s on a cot at daycare for nap time and the teachers do the same thing: the kids must sit/lay quietly even if they’re not going to sleep.
Now potty training… that I haven’t tackled yet in full force.