A Big Boy Day

It was a big day on Friday. Two childhood hurdles were taken on; things we have been waiting many months for took place spontaneously and quickly.

My son is three-and-a-half and has been slow to embrace the “Big Boy” underwear. For many months we remind him about the time and using the potty, he hasn’t been very interested in tackling the routine and has preferred using his pull-ups rather than taking time away from his toys. Everyone (even the pediatrician) has told me, “It will just happen one day or as soon as he feels like it.” We’ve done our best at getting the ball rolling and being patient but he’s in control and he lets us know it.

During this time we’ve also enrolled him in swim lessons, the earlier he is a strong swimmer the better (more for safety reasons than anything else, but he also happens to love it). For six months my husband and I have sat up in the bleachers at our local YMCA during Cooper’s weekly class. We watch him climb up the racing platform, agonize about jumping, and then he quickly climbs down to jump from the side of the pool.

Something happened on Friday, I am not sure what it was but he insisted on wearing his “Big Boy” pants that day. I quickly ran to his drawers and pulled out three extra pairs of underwear and pants to pack in his bag for daycare. I also labeled everything to make sure I didn’t lose anything, if there were a lot changes. On the way to school I reminded Cooper many, many times to let his teachers know if he needed help going potty – I was not very optimistic about the laundry pile. When I picked him up I was thrilled to see that he only had one accident.

An hour later my husband and I were sitting on the bleachers watching Cooper swim up and down the pool. The class climbed out to do their jumps, on queue he climbed up the racing platform. He agonized a little but quickly jumped with his arms spread out like his was going to fly. When he popped out of the water (thanks to his floaty), his mouth opened in a smile and he let out a squeal. My husband and I grabbed one another and started screaming like our son had just won a gold medal, he turned to me and chuckled, “Honey, are you crying?” I have to admit that I was a little misty. What a day.