3 years 20 days

It's a good thing I went ahead and cancelled the portrait studio appointment for today. This is Spencer as of 5 minutes ago. Not a good look for 3-year pictures. To answer your questions (Chelsea and Karen)- Michael was sitting on the couch. Spencer tackled him. An elbow was involved. Spencer will say that Daddy's elbow hit him in the eye- it's more like Spencer's eye hit Daddy's elbow. It wasn't pretty.

Something amazing happened yesterday. Amazing. Blog-worthy. Spectacular. We were getting Spencer ready for his nap. He said he wanted to sleep in his own room. Spencer has never slept in his own room. For 3 years and 20 days, actually, he has slept in our room. It was really, really hard to have him sleep on my chest for 10 months. We were quite annoyed by the 8 months (after we got him off my chest) that he slept in our bed on my left arm. But since he's been in his own bed it really hasn't mattered that he's been in our room. Really. It's hard for some people to believe, but we're really not bugged by it.

So anyway. He said he wanted to sleep in his own room. We said sure. Then we made spagetti for dinner. Some of the noodles ended up on Spencer's head.And then! Bedtime! Spencer pretended to sleep for the photo op.Then I snuck in, around 11 pm, for the real sleeping photo op.This lasted until 4:45 am when he "woke up" whining. Then whining turned to crying. Of course I rushed in. He was completely asleep but was still crying. He only stopped when I touched him. So, from 5:00 on this is how we slept (yes, we have matching sleep t-shirts) (yes, I am faking sleep here but Spencer was genuinely asleep).After we woke up (at 9:45!!) Spencer said he wanted to sleep in our room tonight. My mom has a great theory that if you let kids be just as clingy as they need to be and don't force them to do anything they're not ready for they will grow up to be trusting and independent. Of course you encourage and guide, but forcing is not the same. Until I was about 18 I thought my mom was pretty much wrong about anything and everything. Now, age 31, I think my mom is pretty brilliant and right about a number of things. At one point my mom and dad had Nathan on a mattress on one side of their bed, me on a mattress on the other side of their bed and Nick in between them in bed. We were all in our own rooms by kindergarten and I think we grew up to be pretty normal, functioning, independent people. Michael and I are just going to continue letting Spencer pace himself and know that someday he'll sleep in his own room. And until then, he's actually pretty darn cuddly.

8:30 PM Update- Spencer went to bed in his own room. It was a very last minute decision on his part. You could almost see him debating it in his mind. It's the beginning of some very mature thinking on his part.