Well a bit of a background....
So often we heard from well meaning friends and family....
1-"by that age my son was doing weekends at grandma's all the time" (not even a year old)...we would roll our eyes and say "well, we are ready for this phase of our lives and we love being with him all the time"...besides he was nursing round the clock and didn't night wean until 2.5y.
2-"he should be sleeping in his own bed, he will never learn to fall asleep on his own"....well I love snuggling him and I know I don't like sleeping by myself
3-when a baby-"ok he's asleep now...feel free to put him on my bed so you don't have to hold him anymore"....but why? I love him snuggling on me and it isn't like I am doing anything but sitting anyways.
4-"wow he is so good at the table"....well he is always with us and we included him from the beginning....we didn't do the whole put him in a highchair in another room and let him scream while you eat.....(yes we went to dinner with friends who did this with their little guy and when hubby went to go get them she said....just leave him he's fine)
-we also never let him run wild at restaurants....he is now the little boy who tells others to sit down.
-we also don't feed him his meal early....I hate (but understand) waitresses who bring his meal early....if I am done eating I want to leave too....so I can't expect him to sit while we eat if we did that.
Well anyways...hubby and I were talking about how we are so happy we have been raising him as we have. He has always had one of us with him everyday, all day. He is very attached and only a couple of months ago I was beginning to worry that perhaps we were doing something wrong as he was rediculously clingy....I mean to the point of me going into the other room and he would have a breakdown.
Well here we are at 3y 3m.....He has had his first sleepover at grandma's at his choice...he was so mature about it. His 2 cousins (4.5 and 7) were there to play with. I had warned my mom that he is so used to sleeping with me at night that she might have issues (esp since everyone kept telling me he will never sleep properly with the co-sleeping)....well at night the 3 kids crawled up onto grandma and grandpa's bed (kicking them out) and the oldest read a couple stories and apparently within 15min they were all out.
Now he often asks to do things by himself...he is becoming very independant! He spent a whole day with Grandad yesterday.
He spent 3 hours at a hotel kids play area last weekend with just the supervisor and a few other kids...he loved it and when we went to pick him up the girls asked again how old he was...they were like well he might be just 3 but he acts like a mature 17y/o...they went on about his eloquent speach and politleness LOL
He talks about going to the play room at the gym....which we have never done yet because before there was no way he would ever do it.....but now he says he wants to do it.
I am so proud of him becoming such a big boy and we are so proud of ourselves in sticking with how we chose to raise him....There have been many times when we felt that maybe we were doing it wrong....but no...he is becoming a very independant, yet very attached little boy. I wont say he will just do things by himself....but as long as there is another adult or older kid he does great!
So often we heard from well meaning friends and family....
1-"by that age my son was doing weekends at grandma's all the time" (not even a year old)...we would roll our eyes and say "well, we are ready for this phase of our lives and we love being with him all the time"...besides he was nursing round the clock and didn't night wean until 2.5y.
2-"he should be sleeping in his own bed, he will never learn to fall asleep on his own"....well I love snuggling him and I know I don't like sleeping by myself
3-when a baby-"ok he's asleep now...feel free to put him on my bed so you don't have to hold him anymore"....but why? I love him snuggling on me and it isn't like I am doing anything but sitting anyways.
4-"wow he is so good at the table"....well he is always with us and we included him from the beginning....we didn't do the whole put him in a highchair in another room and let him scream while you eat.....(yes we went to dinner with friends who did this with their little guy and when hubby went to go get them she said....just leave him he's fine)
-we also never let him run wild at restaurants....he is now the little boy who tells others to sit down.
-we also don't feed him his meal early....I hate (but understand) waitresses who bring his meal early....if I am done eating I want to leave too....so I can't expect him to sit while we eat if we did that.
Well anyways...hubby and I were talking about how we are so happy we have been raising him as we have. He has always had one of us with him everyday, all day. He is very attached and only a couple of months ago I was beginning to worry that perhaps we were doing something wrong as he was rediculously clingy....I mean to the point of me going into the other room and he would have a breakdown.
Well here we are at 3y 3m.....He has had his first sleepover at grandma's at his choice...he was so mature about it. His 2 cousins (4.5 and 7) were there to play with. I had warned my mom that he is so used to sleeping with me at night that she might have issues (esp since everyone kept telling me he will never sleep properly with the co-sleeping)....well at night the 3 kids crawled up onto grandma and grandpa's bed (kicking them out) and the oldest read a couple stories and apparently within 15min they were all out.
Now he often asks to do things by himself...he is becoming very independant! He spent a whole day with Grandad yesterday.
He spent 3 hours at a hotel kids play area last weekend with just the supervisor and a few other kids...he loved it and when we went to pick him up the girls asked again how old he was...they were like well he might be just 3 but he acts like a mature 17y/o...they went on about his eloquent speach and politleness LOL
He talks about going to the play room at the gym....which we have never done yet because before there was no way he would ever do it.....but now he says he wants to do it.
I am so proud of him becoming such a big boy and we are so proud of ourselves in sticking with how we chose to raise him....There have been many times when we felt that maybe we were doing it wrong....but no...he is becoming a very independant, yet very attached little boy. I wont say he will just do things by himself....but as long as there is another adult or older kid he does great!
