We've been going through a very big change here in Johannesburg. Since my son turned three, we've decided it's time for him to become a big boy. He's always asking if he can join daddy when he plays golf, and I've always said, "Crazy Little Man, only big boys can play golf. Babies can't." I figured this would help him drop some of his baby things and become the big boy. Not a chance!
He decided to double down on them. He went everywhere with a pacifier (or dummy as we call them in our Anglo-American House) and wouldn't take it out ever. When he started speaking a little worse than usual, Lovely English Lass and I decided it was the dummy causing the problem. He also refuses to use the potty.
It was so much easier with his sister. Lovely Little Girl was attached to her dummies, but when we took them there was little problem. She also basically potty-trained herself. (She became quite the used car salesman. "Potty for Dora. Potty for candy. Potty for Key Lime Pie." She could definitely leverage her using the potty.) Crazy Little Man just doesn't do it. It was going to be a forceful take over, and one that neither LEL or I were looking forward to at this time.
LEL told CLM Monday that his time with the dummy was through. To protest this, he spent 90 minutes crying and begging for the pacifier instead of taking a nap. Finally LEL just let him out of the bed and skipped the nap. That night, without the dummy, he went right to sleep and slept the entire night. Tuesday, same protest with no nap, and that night same result with sleeping through the night.
CLM also went to a speech therapist, who did say the dummy was causing some enunciation problems, and that they should be fixed soon without the dummy in place. They did say he has some other issues with speech, which we knew, so he'll also be going to speech therapy. I'm sure LEL wishes she'd married a therapist of some kind now instead of a diplomat, so she wouldn't have to spend outrageous amounts of money on therapy.
While we're happy he's finally going to be done with the dummy, it's sad he'll probably end up losing his naps now. CLM gets very cranky when he doesn't get a nap. And so does, LEL, by the way. But to show him he's starting to be a big boy, I'm going to do something for him. Across from the Consulate is a large mall with a sporting goods store. Yesterday I walked past and saw inside a tiny little golf club about the right height for him. I'm going to buy it, and take him into the back yard (or back garden for my British friends) and show him how to use it. Hopefully it'll spur him on to do more things, like potty training. I know one of my fondest memories is the first time I got to play golf with my dad. Hopefully one day, when we get back to Florida, CLM, my dad and I can all go out and play golf together. Three big boys enjoying our time in the outdoors.
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