The Princess and the Potty-Trainee

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We now have a "boys' room" and a "girls' room" in our home. The boys' room, as you can guess, consists of Benaiah and JB while the girls' room currently consists of Gloria and Zephyr, our 9-year-old Boykin Spaniel. Evelyn will join eventually when she's not so inconsistent in her waking at night. We're not sure what happened - she decided to grow really quickly or something - she used to sleep through the night when she was two months old and now she's been eating twice per night for the last couple of months.

Benaiah is now in Gloria's old bed, which is now a "big boy bed", as opposed to the "baby crib". He loves being in this bed because he has seen his big bro and sis for so long get tucked into the hunter green upper and lower bunks. It's taken a little convincing that we are serious about him not getting out of his bed at nap time and bed time. JB occasionally reports his escapes, but it's tricky because Benaiah is always back in his bed trying to look innocent by the time we get there. Twice I have caught him with about 20-30 cars and trucks in his bed, which tends to make it difficult for him to lay down and sleep (which he still needs even at age 2 and 3/4).

When Benaiah was sleeping in his crib we pulled the side all the way up and had the mattress at the lowest level and he never ventured beyond its comforting wooden bars unless we put the side down and invited him out. The comfort of the wooden bars has been replaced by the excitement of being a "big boy" and the freedom that comes with not being "caged" in. Other "big boy" activities in which Benny has been involved are wearing underwear, going on the potty, and sitting on the regular dining chairs without a booster seat. The lion feels like he is part of the pack joining a wolf (JB), a leopard (Gloria), and a Spaniel (Zephyr).

Gloria feels very special in her own princess room and princess bed. I haven't decorated her room in Disney princesses or even put generic princess paraphernalia on her walls or bed, she's just a princess, not the spoiled kind, but a real one, which makes it a true princess room. When she wears her princess dress, which Gramma Shell made for her, people ask "so which princess are you?" Gloria looks puzzled and simply replies "I'm princess Gloria." She is just starting to recognize that there are other "fake" (but still glamorous) Disney Princesses, but I hope that doesn't change her thinking she's a princess, as long as she ultimately knows that she is a princess because her Heavenly Father is the King of Kings who paid the ultimate price for her.