“If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking.”

All good things to those who wait...right? Well, Aaron and I have been over the moon these past few weeks with Nateman. Wow- he has accomplished two really big feats in our little world that have been really really hard for him.

For the first one, let me back track a little...Aaron and I were married for over three years before Nate was born and we used to constantly judge other parents on their parenting choices and swore we would NEVER do that with our kids. HA!! You know you all did that too, right?! It's so easy until you are in the parent role. One thing for us was that we decided we would not be giving Nate a pacifier and we would help him to self soothe.

When Nate was born, after a LOOONG tiresome failed induction followed by sleepless nights full of Nate not wanting to nurse right away in the hospital, we were at our wits end. He was so very cranky and we were exhausted. Determined not to let them take Nate to the nursery away from us, we gutted it out. Then one day they came to take Nate to be circumcised. When he returned he was completely and utterly quiet and peaceful. They wheeled him in to us in his little incubator box thingie and there we saw it. He was all burrito-wrapped super tight and had a big green soothie pacifier in his mouth that was bigger than his face. Then and there we made our first unspoken joint parenting decision. The binky was here to stay. It was like baby crack and we would keep the supply flowin for as long as was needed. A classic case of choosing our battles.

Fast forward a bit...Nate became Nate with sensory problems galore. He mouthed everything so the bink stayed. It became a cork at parks and play dates to keep everything ELSE out of his mouth. Nate also started grinding his teeth- obsessively and loudly- so onward with the binky as well as chewy tubes. We felt he definitely needed that oral stimulation, especially at night, and again, we chose our battle. Also, we had just started to discover all of Nate's allergies and such and the binky provided comfort to a child that sought comfort in next to nothing.

A couple weeks ago we finally pulled the binkies for good and Nate adapted incredibly well. We are amazed and delighted. He just seemed to need to do it in his own time..much like everything else, we are learning.

Then, as if this wasn't monumental enough for us, it got even better. Nate decided he would poop on the potty. This is HUGE for us. He has been pee trained for a number of years now and wears underwear all day to school and such but he would NOT sit on a toilet and poop. Well, low and behold, he decided to drop the kids off at the pool this week with VERY minimal prompting from me.  He just needed to do it in his own time. So six and a half years later, the Portnoy house just might be diaper/pullup free.

I suppose even miracles take time...and having a rockstar for a kid might have helped too. :)

(Nate playing Head Shoulders Knees and Toes.)