How my Education degree helped my parenting

I have had a few experiences lately, with my kids changing moment to moment it seems, that have hit home the importance of readiness when it comes to milestones and expectations.
I first learned about readiness in university. I learned about it within the context of teaching students - are they ready for the skills and information you are imparting to them? It made a great deal of sense to me within that context, but it never really dawned on me that it would be integral to parenting my babies and, subsequently, toddlers and preschoolers.
Isabel gave us a primer in readiness right out of the starting gate. She was, and still is, very sensitive and cautious. This meant that, as an infant, she wanted to be attached to someone (and preferably me) 24/7. We used our baby carrier more than the crib in the first year because she was worn the better part of the day and we co-slept. She was just NOT READY to sleep on her own at that time. I could go into the gory details of how she told us this, but I will save that for another post about sleep-deprivation and colic.
Gradually, starting around 6-months, she began to nap on her own more regularly. She was still in our bed, but given her firm resistance to mobility, her falling out wasn't an issue for quite some time yet.
By 10-months old, she was sleeping through the night in her crib, which was still attached to our bed and had naps in her bassinet in her room. We moved the crib into her room not long after this point and she's been fine since, depsite all the warnings that she'd be sleeping our bed through high school if we allowed her to sleep with us as an infant (is that not the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard, but I can't tell you how many people told us we were "starting bad habits" in a 2-month old).
Fast forward to Orin, this guy was a cuddler. The NICU nurses worried that they'd created a cuddler, but he was like that from the beginning. He was happier in someone's arms or next to a warm body. I'd seen this before, so it didn't faze me. I wasn't allowed to co-sleep in the hospital, but, given that he slept half the night in the arms of a nurse, I figured that once I got him home, he may need it for the transition.
Night one, I tried to lay down with him to nurse, figuring I'd get some shut-eye while he got some food. He was having none of that! He hollered and thrashed until I sat up and cradled him. When he was finished eating, I didn't want him to cry and wake Isabel if I put him in his crib, so I laid us both down for a snuggle and a snooze. No Sir! More wailing and thrashing until I put him in his crib, at which point he turned his head to the side and fell asleep.
Apparently, some higher power either thought I needed the lesson in readiness again or thought I got it well enough the first time that they figured they could safely throw me a curve ball. Whatever the reason, I got a kid with a whole different readiness level when it came to sleep.
My most recent lesson in readiness came this morning. If you don't want to read about baby poop (nothing gory, I promise), stop reading now.
Orin has been struggling with solid food poop. He cries and makes a big fuss about the whole thing. More troubling and messy is the fact that he has only been able/willing to poop a little bit in his diaper. We then think he is finished and start changing him, only to have him finish pooping in an open diaper, on the change table or, and this is my favourite one, into a towel after bath. Not fun.
In thinking about this, I wondered if he had reached the point where he didn't like poop on him. My understanding is that this is what fuels lots of kids in potty-training. I also suspect that the increased bulk of his diapers is playing a part in his discomfort while pooping in them. Imagine the average kid's diaper after sleeping in it all night - Orin's is like that after only 2 hours. Whatever his motivation, I decided that the next time he made a big show of pooping, I'd plunk him on the potty to see if this made things a little easier.
This morning, the opportunity presented itself and I went for it. Lo and behold, the boy pooped on the potty. Now, there was still a little drama, but there are tears no matter what, so it may just be part and parcel to his getting used to a non-liquid diet. Most importantly, this was tidier and faster than the previous incidents. If he's ready, I am too - bring on poop potty training. If it is a fluke, that's ok too, though I should note that it only seems fair that he should poop train early, given that my understanding is it will take about four years to pee train him. *lol*