Knock on wood....

but I think we've done it! On day 3 (and beyond) I could just stand at the gate, and tell him he needed to lay down, and he would just do it!!!  The crazy part too, was I would just tell him nicely, not even needing to bust out my "I mean business teacher voice"! Sometimes in the day, he's got that selective hearing thing going, and just does whatever he wants to, but in the case of bedtime, he just complies with me asking nicely- who KNEW????
Another super nice thing about this whole deal, is now he just entertains himself in the mornings until we come get him.
Backstory: When Pierce was in his crib, I'd have the monitor on, and woke the second he started to move around in the morning. If he stood up, I'd immediately go get him (as opposed to him toss or only sit up- could be still sleeping I thought). Kim was asking why on earth I'd do this, and I remembered later that it all began b/c I didn't want him to get in the habit of crying for me. I thought that might reinforce him crying and getting what he wanted (out of crib), so I just would go and get him straight away. Of course by now, he has the vocab to say mama, help, or down, but that wasn't so several months back.... so that's why we did it that way and it worked for me.
Anyhow~ Now when he wakes up, he goes to his book basket and picks out a book, and reads it in bed. Fortunately Pierce LOVES to read, and is entertained endlessly with books. So the wondrous thing is, since we've made the toddler bed switch,  he is absolutely content to just hang out and read, letting his parents get a little extra sleepy time themselves in the mornings! Woohoo :)

Making the switch

At a shower recently, I was talking to my girlfriend Kim about potty training; her son is 3 months older than Pierce. Honestly the thought hadn't crossed my mind, but her optimism got me thinking.... when are we going to start working on those big "toddler milestones"?
After discussing it with Ryan, we decided to tackle the toddler bed conversion first, then go for potty training. What do we have to lose, right? Besides, "They say" if you can knock these things out before they are two (aka- defiant) then it's easier on everybody. On Sunday we made the switcharoo on his bed, and felt encouraged by the smile on his face. New parents are suckers. Come nightfall, it was like episode from Super Nanny. In hindsight, I think his passionate opposition was really to the new baby gate, not the bed, but does it really matter?!? The word "meltdown" really doesn't do it justice. Ryan eventually ended up rocking P to sleep, and fortunately he slept peacefully through the night. Nap time yesterday was a little better, but he still required me sitting beside him until he fell asleep. At that point I resolved to give it 4 more days...
Here's the good part- I went to put him down last night, and no surprise, he immediately started his panic attack, racing out of bed to follow me. I had just gotten outside the gate, and I told him, "Pierce, It's time to go night-night. You need to lay down and go to sleep". With that, he turned around and got back in bed, not crying or lifting his head once. Eureka! Now I won't lie, he did have the heartbreaking pouty face... but was a big boy about it as he self-soothed with his GloWorm, while drifting off for another good night of sleep. So while this part is heartbreaking as a parent, it is an encouraging start, I'll give it that...

The "Thomas tradition" continues...

It's a boy! We had an ultrasound today, and are 100% sure that Pierce is going to have a little brother!
We purposely planned baby #2 so that they would be close in age, and are absolutely thrilled that they will both be boys... and of course hopefully be great friends while growing up together!
And in case you're wondering, yes, we've already gotten several friendly reminders to "start thinking of names", LOL.