Lucas at 25 months

Lucas is coming to 25 months old. At this age, he now knows how to get out of his highchair AND his playpen, which makes life more difficult for me when I want to clean the floors without his "help". Lucas also likes to choose his shirts to wear for the day - he does that by taking any random shirt out of his drawer in the mornings. After taking the shirt out, he opens the door and runs to the salon for a dose of early morning cartoon. Wednesday mornings are his favourite as he gets to watch Mickey and friends.
Lucas also likes to do things for himself, including climbing up the TV cabinet and trying to change the DVD. He knows how to switch on the TV and switches it off when he doesn't like whatever is showing including mama & papa's TV shows...

At 25 months, Lucas is still taking afternoon naps though his naps are taken later in the day now (which makes creche on Thursday afternoons pointless, as he goes there to sleep...). He still loves his baby cereal which I mix with fruit. Lucas loves Bak Kut Teh with rice, pizza, of course(!!!), macaroni with cheese and pasta sauce. He still refuses to drink anything but milk and water and loves his Milka chocolate. Since he loves chocolate so much, we decided to but some Nutella to see if Lucas likes it. Apparently in France every child and teen eats Nutella, like its some kind of staple food.

At 25 months, Lucas still loves his "lovey"! When I tried to take it away from him a few weeks ago and told him before his 2nd birthday that he has to do without it, he started getting more attached to the pacifier than before. I tried to hide his lovey and he turned the apartment upside down looking for it. I cut off the tops of the lovey, but he knew it was "broken" and threw the broken ones away.
Fred says that its fine for Lucas to have his lovey as he is still a baby and he only gets it at nap time and at night. He says I should just relax and not try to force him to give up his lovey or rush to potty train him.
So, I thought it over and decided what does it matter at what age the child was when he stopped nursing or stopped taking a bottle? Or gave up the lovey, got potty trained, learned to walk, learned to pedal a bike, knew how to write or read or count to 100? Almost all of us turn out the same in the end!
So I am going to do just that - relax, enjoy Lucas at this age, let my baby be just that. Too many parents are trying to push their children to grow up way too fast!

I will wait until Lucas is ready to give up the pacifier on his own. How many adults do you see walking around with a pacifier in their mouth? None! Because they all decided at some point in childhood that they were ready to brave the world without it. Lucas' lovey is his comfort item. It helps him sleep and makes him feel safe. I hope everyone who reads this and is having lovey trouble will stop fighting the battle and let their kids be who they are.
Don't be in a hurry for your kids to grow up, because they'll only be babies once.