With a Capital S

We talk in various ways with Daniel about the baby brother soon to be joining our family. In yet another view on a preschooler's concept of "time" - every time I head to the doctor's office for an appointment, he asks if I'm coming home with the baby. I smile, and explain that it will be summer, and warm, and practically his birthday before he gets here. (If only it were so easy!) He will also randomly tell me about how he will help with the baby when he gets here. This includes things like changing his diaper, and pouring milk into his cup. Hmmm. Breastfeeding may take a little explaining... And when we were coasting through the kid's department of a store yesterday he picked an outfit off the rack and asked if it would be good for the baby. The clothes were a near-fit for Daniel, so I explained that his little brother would need to grow into something like that. It's all been very sweet.

Moments above alternate with the days that I have to hold onto my patience with both hands as my independent-minded four year old and I butt heads over every. Little. Thing. Clothes to wear for the day are not right, by virtue of the fact that Mommy picked them out. We can't leave the house while he struggles with his coat zipper. He appears to be living on tortillas and string cheese lately. And once, this past winter, he was determined to help me move a pile of snow out of our driveway. To the point that he moved my pile of snow back into the driveway so that he could move it out himself.

And we've been in a potty-training conundrum for quite some time. Daniel has peed on the potty like a champ for awhile now. Wears underwear to preschool, doesn't have accidents... but when it came to the inevitable poop on the potty, he requested a pullup and to go do it in his room. Nothing, not even outright bribery of every kind could dissuade him. He'd proclaim to one and all that he would get this or that prize if he pooped on the potty, but when it came to the moment there was so much fussing and crying over it all that I would give in and it would be a pullup in his room for the deed.

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit last week. There was some cajoling, and fussing, and one missed day of "going." The next day he agreed to sit on the potty. I could hear him chattering away to himself, flipping the pages of a book while he sat. And then. I could almost hear a catch in his little voice as he said: I did it! Daddy took him to Target, to pick out a grand potty prize. And while there's some work to be done regarding the logistics of such things as wiping, we've been going on the potty ever since.

I feel slightly silly, and maybe it's just pregnancy hormones, but I found myself tearing up at the jubilation in his voice at his accomplishment. Here's to my stubborn-sweet son, who does it all "My way!"

The Complaint Department

So we've been doing this potty-training thing, and it's going swimmingly during the daytime. We're still working on the whole dry at night thing, and so I popped a Pull-up on Daniel the other evening before getting his PJs on. He proceeded to get a rather odd look on his face, and start itching at first one leg and then the other. I finally peeked, only to see strips of what looked almost like packing tape on the leg elastics of the Pull-up.

Huh? And I've actually pulled two out of this package with the same problem. Where in the past, I might have simply thrown away defective product I am going to sit down and write a (nicely worded) complaint email to Huggies/Kimberly-Clark.

The Internet is a great tool for this. Where in the past, the complaint process could be laborious and time-consuming Internet communication greatly shortens the distance between company and consumer. I've had two instances over the past several years, both food-related, where I felt a complaint was in order. I bought a tub of margarine once, only after a knife-full or two I discovered a hollowed out air bubble in the center. Enough of the margarine was gone, that I felt I had not gotten what I paid for. In another case I bought some cookies-n-cream ice cream. Got it home, to find two tiny cookie bits in a sea of vanilla. Again, nothing wrong with the ice cream - but certainly not what I'd paid for. Both times, after inquiring emails to the companies, I received apologies and coupons for free product. Over and above that, I had the feeling of being heard and certainly a stronger inclination to give these companies' products another try.

I'm off to start writing.

Hurricane D

Before I had Daniel, if anyone had ever told me that my kid could make me cry frustrated, upset, angry tears I probably would have laughed. Little did I know! After a particularly harrowing afternoon of the two of us at odds over every... single... cotton-pickin'... thing... I finally sat on my bed for a good sob. Something had to give, and apparently it was me in that moment. Up until my little man stopped his own fussing to meekly walk in and hand me a tissue.

Recently had some strides on the potty-training front. Great ones - but we have hit this sort of middle-ground, impasse: Peeing on the potty like a champ, yet insisting on a Pull-up for any other business. No amount of bribery is swaying him. Talks excitedly of when he will get this or that (currently a Star Wars figure), but when it comes to the moment it's a Pull-up or no go. Any tips from folks who have been there about how to get past this?

Mommy Survivor Mode

I was reading something this morning that referred to this as "the summer that wasn't." At least here in New England, the temperature has only recently climbed to a point where I'm switching on the AC. And still we battle the rains - some massive storms moved through our area just yesterday. I'm starting to read about local farmers battling problems like tomato blight due to the excess water as well.

H spent a week out of town, which sent me into a tizzy of Must Stay Busy with the little guy. It was exhausting, but mostly successful with playdates and pool/splash park/beach visits where the weather allowed. And Daniel has sort of settled into his Tae Kwon Do class and seems to be enjoying it. Standing still and minding the teacher are new concepts - but good practice for preschool in the Fall. He even earned a "stripe" on his belt for doing a front snap kick!

H's return sort of coincided with Daniel's getting a summer cold, however, and it is just the slightest bit crazy-making for me. He is beside himself with the runny nose, screeching "My nose!" every 2.3 minutes and needing it wiped. Which is leading to a sore nose, naturally, of which there is no cure. Horrible Mommy that I am, I'm eventually just walking away as the din wears at my patience and he allows no comforting.

ALERT! Potential potty breakthrough! He just interrupted my writing to say that he needed to go use the potty! This is a HUGE departure from my begging/pleading/cajoling/bribing him into trips to the potty. I'm off to see what's up in my bathroom... Happy August everyone!

Splash!

I wanna do it!

Don't help me!

Getting socks and shoes on to leave the house the other day turned into an adventure when Daniel had the socks upside down (thereby trying to jam his toes into the heel) and his frustration level was mounting. "Mom Help," is only acceptable on a case-by-case basis these days, and it turned out that this was not one of those.

We've been making some potty training strides which include shooing Mom out of the room so that he can take care of everything himself. I'm all for encouraging the I Can Do It attitude, but I suddenly heard a wail at the start of yesterday's pit stop. He'd forgotten the potty ring, and executed a perfect splashdown! I couldn't help chuckling as we got everything cleaned up. Ah, preschool independence!

Gremlins

We've finally been making strides with the potty training around our house.

Peeing on the potty. Check.
Pooping on the potty? Go away Mommy (while hiding out in his bedroom).



The thing is: all these behaviours are totally my idea.

Hey Daniel! It's time to use the potty!
OK!

But if Mommy shuts up about the subject he will happily pee in a Pull-up any time of the day or night. Any ideas as to how to transition to that "Tell me when you gotta go, OK?" stage?

My favorite was last week when the "potty gremlins" mixed it up with the "I don't want to go to bed gremlins," and he figured out that "using" the potty meant he didn't have to go to bed just then. I don't want to discourage any thoughts of using the potty, but that was just fooling around.

I want to potty all the time...

C'mon, you knew it was inevitable. This blog got started due to the kid, after all. Here 'tis: The post on pee and poop. Our recent visit to the pediatrician also included the question if Daniel was "aware" of needing to go. I'd been putting this out of my mind since umpteen books, online sources and heck, just people in general have all talked about boys training later than girls. So... this has just been something for "later."

There is occasional discussion of "pee" when I ask why he's patting his diaper, and poop time usually results in Daniel running into the other room for some alone time... So, when I thought about it, it turned out that the answer was, Um. Yeah.

I elected to go with one of the potties that fits on the real toilet, 'cuz hey if I can eliminate the step of having to clean the baby potty so much the better. What this also, amazingly, takes into account is Daniel's yen to do things just like Mom and Dad. When I explained what the new potty was, and showed him how it fit on the seat, I also asked him if he wanted to try it out. He nodded yes, and I gave him a boost with his shorts on and all figuring this would just last a second and he would be on to the next thing on his toddler agenda.

He proceeded to start tugging, saying: pants off. The diaper went too, and I'm sure it was entirely coincidental but we had a little pee and lots of praise. I don't plan on pushing any sort of agenda with the training... maybe plunking him on it once a day and seeing what happens and how things progress.

But holy cow is my baby growing up!