Big Girl Bed

Maureen hit a few milestones in the last couple of weeks. First, she has officially stopped using her crutch, I mean pacifier at night. We switched to night-only over a year ago except for critical, high stress times where additional soothing was necessary. Her cigarette, one might say. We've been talking up the Passy Fairy for some time now, telling her that if she stopped using her pacifier, the Fairy would come during the night, take away her passies, and leave a present. One night about a week ago, she decided it was time. The Fairy had to leave an IOU, but returned the next night (after a successful night's sleep sans passy) with a magical princess tea set. That night, however, Maureen woke up early in the a.m., asking Kristin if the Passy Fairy took all her passies. Kristin told her that all the passies were gone because she did such a wonderful job the previous night. After a pause, Maureen asked if Rowan has any clean passies. She still had the urge. She managed to get back to sleep without the plug.
Saturday, we went to Sam's Club and bought Mojo her first big girl bed - actually, a mattress and box springs, and to Target for some special, Princess Sheets. Dad made the mistake of not fully listening to Mom, and we had to exchange the mattress for the one that Mom had originally wanted, but no problems, and Maureen was none the wiser about the exchange. She just spent her third night on her big girl bed, and all is well.
Today is the first day back to the Parents day out program, otherwise known as school, for both Maureen and Rowan. Maureen is in the older 2's class, and Rowan is in the toddlers class. Maureen is ready and can't wait to get back to her friends. Her best friend and partner in crime Poppy will be with her again. Rowan, however, is in for a big shock. He is very much into his separation anxiety stage. Also, he is prone to fits of hitting, and this weekend, he started biting. Yes, we have a good chance of being that family with the biter. We hope he can curb the impulse to sink his teeth into a fellow student. We've been on the other side of the scenario with Maureen being the victim. We'll just have to see how it goes.
The other big adjustment awaiting Rowan is having to wear shoes. He's been barefoot for most of his life, and will now have to wear closed-toe shoes from 9am to 2pm. We've had shoes on him from time to time, and he has problems walking with them on - a tad clunky, you might say. It will definitely be a big adjustment for the boy, but some change will do him good. And I think we are all ready for the added structure school will bring.