changes.

yesterday pratt and i went to the doctor for my 12 week appointment.

i have to brag on my child for just a minute.  if pratt is rested, and interested...he can be the best child in the entire world.  behavior wise.  if he's not rested.  and not interested....forget about it.  he's like dennis the menace.

he was rested and interested yesterday.  so he was an angel.  he visited with nurse linda while i had to tinkle.  i heard him out there telling her about his dogs, his cat.  how he was a robot for halloween.  how it was called his "b".  how he had a sister in his mom's belly.  etc, etc. 

when i walked out, she said, "how old is he?!  he is SUCH a talker!".  i said yes.  that he was.  that he gets it from his father.  because everyone knows that i didn't talk until i was like 5. 

after she left, i sat him up in the chair beside the table.  and gave him my iphone.  about that time, dr. s walked in.  he got out the doppler to listen for the heartbeat.  this entire time, my 2 year old son just sat as still as a rock in that chair.  never moving.  never talking.  nothing.  just sat there.  watching.  trying to figure out what in the world we were doing. 

about a minute in, dr. s. told me that it's sometimes hard to hear 12 week olds heartbeats because they are so small.  he told me that because i had been through so much emotionally, if we weren't able to hear it, he would get the ultrasound machine and we'd see it.  he's the best obgyn ever.  seriously.  wonderful man.

so that's what we did.  pratt got to see too!  and that's pretty much the first thing he said, "mom!  baby!!  baby, mom!"  he was so excited.  and the baby was excited too.  he/she waved at us and moved around alot.  we got to see the strong heartbeat and everything.  i'll go back at the beginning of december.  and i don't think we will have another ultrasound until around 24 weeks.  at least, that's how it was with pratt. 

thank you for all your comments and prayers and sweet emails and text messages regarding my post about feeling peace.  i cannot begin to thank all of you enough.  feeling alone is a horrible feeling.  i'm very close to clint.  and at night, when it's dark in our room, i tend to open up about my feelings.  and as good as he is to me, and as kind hearted as he can be, i know that there are just some things he doesn't understand.  worrying about a baby growing inside him  is one of those things :)

so hearing your concerns and your worries has been something i needed.  something i really, really needed.  it's so nice to feel normal. 

i'm not sure if i've said anything on here or not, but pratt has had some big things going too. 

he's pretty much all potty trained. down to not even going potty at night.  he wakes with a dry diaper.  and during the day he wears big boy undies.  i guess it's been a week now.  a week today.  i'm so proud of him.  i was talking to allie about it the other day and was telling her that it's so nice to see him grow.  and know that he's healthy.  and happy.  and able to do these things for himself. 

it's not anything i did, really.  i realized he was ready because he was fully aware when he needed to go to the bathroom, so i started praising him when he'd go.  then we slowly moved to big boy undies.  then i promised him a big boy bed if he continued doing so well.  this was big for me because my book stresses not moving them to a big bed until they are closer to 3. 

he continued doing well, and loves being praised.  he gets 2 to 3 stickers every time he goes to the potty.  we put them on our shirts.  on our hands.  on the wall.  on our foreheads.  whatever works really.

we moved him to a twin bed last friday night.  i have a twin bed that was my mothers and mine and spencer's so that's what he's sleeping in.  well, will be in.  right now we just have a box springs and mattress on the floor.  with a rail up. 

he's done really well with it.  naptime hasn't been any problem.  friday and saturday night were perfect.  sunday night i put him to bed and about 3 minutes later, he comes strutting in our room.  says, "look mom!  i got out.  i'm not tired.  i not go to sweep, okay?"

so we started dr. weissbluth's sleep rules.  we made a poster together and decorated it.  and it hangs in his room.  and we talk about every night.  well, we talked about it last night for the first time.  these are his rules:

1. stay in bed.
2. be quiet.
3. close your eyes.
4. go to sleep.

we talked about how sometimes it's harder to fall asleep.  i told him that it's totally okay to play in his bed.  he understood because last night i heard him talking to his stuffed animals.  i told him that i can hear him in my room and that if he needs something to yell for me.  it seems to be working.  of course, we're only one night in, but last night around 330 am, he called for me.  i woke up to, "mom!  mom, help mom!  my b!  my b, mom!" 

i ran in to find him sitting in the middle of his bed with his pillowcase in hand, but couldn't find his pillow.  it was on the floor.  i fixed it. and that took care of that problem.  i think he couldn't fall back asleep until he found his b.  idk. 

but he's done really well.  i'm sure that eventually it will be "if you give a mouse a cookie" over here.  but so far, so good.  just remind me that i had a few good days when i'm complaining and threatening to put him back in his crib when he's 5.  ha.

i guess that's about it.  we play all day.  and at the end of the day, i'm trying to get the house in order so clint doesn't think that i'm the laziest person on the planet.  before this second baby gets here, i need to learn to stop putting things off.  i've got to start finishing things once i start them. 

(somewhere my parents, and my husband just wet their pants....)