Holden Turns Three

We celebrated Holden's third birthday here at home with our little family. He requested a pizza for dinner. All of our neighbors were out in the street playing when we got home with the pizza. In his excitement he shouted, "We got a pizza, a Birthday Pizza!" He blew out THREE candles on his birthday cupcake, opened presents, and then went to bed. Pretty uneventful really, but he was thrilled nontheless. He received lots of wonderful gifts: a tech deck skateboard, a Little Einsteins puzzle, a GeoTrax zoo track to add to his other Geo Trax train stuff, a Silly to Calm yoga video, and a T-ball set. The next morning he played with each of them and they pretty much kept him entertained all day.

About a day or two after his birthday he announced, "I want to wear underwear." And that was that - he did. He's been using the potty for pee ever since. Amazingly easy! (Disclaimer: If you don't want to read about poop stop reading now.) Poop has been an ongoing issue with Holden for as long as I can remember. He's had experiences with hard, hurting poops and then starting holding them in. After Cash was born, it got really bad. Out of control bad. I took him to the doctor in December and he was put on Miralax, a daily laxative and stool softener. We started with a half cap. He continued to hold. We went up to 3/4 of a cap. Still holding. I started giving him a full cap a day, the recommended dosage for adults. Somehow, Holden was still able to hold. He must have the strongest butt muscles in town! It's really quite a miraculous feat if you ask me. You can imagine the amount of pain he was in. Holding his poop in was starting to control his whole day. He was miserable and I felt helpless. We had periods where I let him wear diapers again because I thought he felt pressure from wearing underwear but the diapers didn't help. He still held. I called the doctor in tears last Friday (3/20), and was ready to take him to counseling, a behavioral psychologist, whatever it took. The doctor was already out of office, so I had to wait through the weekend. On Saturday, I started keeping a journal of Holden's daily struggle. I was horrified to see on paper that it literally started from the time he woke up until the time he went to bed. He didn't even have 20 minutes of relief the whole day. I went to breakfast with one of my sweet friends, Michele Chavez, on Sunday morning. Holden was of course holding. Michele and I talked a lot about what to do. Toward the end of our outing, I asked he if I should just force him to sit on the potty. And in her sweet counseling way, she said, "I'm sorry but I think you have to." That was all I needed to hear. We had been doing potty practice for weeks - timed sits on the potty just to get him over his fear. When we got home I announced it was time for potty practice. He ran and hopped on the potty, but forgot to set the timer. I didn't remind him and we sat in there and played with toys. When he felt the urge to go, he tried to hop off. This time, I said, "Nope you're staying. We're not getting up until you get your poop out." He screamed and cried but I held him on the potty until he went. He went and we celebrated. I knew he felt so much better. He's been going poop on the potty ever since. Anytime he shows the holding behavior, I march him into the bathroom. The doctor called on Monday and I was happy to report that we had literally worked it out. He told me to throw away the diapers and continue to do what I was doing. That night Holden and I threw away the diapers. He is so much happier. It still takes some coaxing to get him to the potty sometimes, but he's easily persuaded with a treat and a sticker.
Holden has always been a finicky eater. When he turned three, he started to try new foods because (in his words) "he was big now". Since his birthday, he's eating ham, hot dogs, turkey kielbasa, cucumbers, and red bell peppers. A huge improvement from chicken dinos, grilled cheese and quesadillas. I guess more important than the foods he's added to his diet is his willingness to try.
Holden's sleep seems to be a little more stable. Although he doesn't nap every day anymore, he does "sleep until it's light outside" (one of our sleep rules). He seems well rested even on days he doesn't nap. Surprisingly, he'll even tell us when he's tired and ready to rest.

His energy level is still ultra high, but in a good way. He keeps himself busy and entertained. More than anything, he loves working with his dad in the garage. They've become pretty unseperable lately. They ride bikes, scooters, motorcycles, and work on things in the garage. Holden is also a very caring and good friend to his peers. He's happy to share, and is willing to play what others want. He's easy to get along with and has lots of "best friends".


At his three year old well check, he was 40 inches and in the 90-95th %ile for height and weighed 34 pounds, 75th %ile. He met all of his three year old milestones and received the rest of his immunizations.