Why is it that when *Matt* is the one traveling for work (and therefore waking up at 4:30), *Shannon* wakes up at 12:30, 1:30, 2:30, 3:30, and 4:15. Why is it that *Matt* sleeps like a baby when *Matt* is the one without acid reflux and therefore can drink copious amounts of coffee if need be?
Does coffee ice cream have caffeine in it?
Liam’s culinary assistant for the day was Gran. There was sugar. There was butter. There were chocolate chips. They both had a blast. Here are some pictures:
Brown sugar:
Why do you taste so good?:
Liam helps open the box of butter:
Liam helps himself to a stick of butter:
Savoring the goodness?
Aftermath:
Liam “helps” Gran by scooping out batter and putting it in a measuring cup:
Making sure they’re not poison:
Cracking the eggs:
Vanilla:
Chips!
More chips!
Stirring:
More stirring:
Spreading:
Leaning in for a little Gran love:
More Gran love:
Cheese!
Oh! Brownie!
Whatchoo lookin’ at, Mama?
I think that maybe Liam shouldn’t be allowed to eat Raisin Bran or Shredded Wheat until he’s wiping his own behind. Just a thought.
Liam: Da! [pause, waiting for answer] Da!
Shannon: Dad went to work half an hour ago, Liam. Do you need something?
Liam:Â Mama!
Shannon:Â Yes?
Liam:Â I needa practice my baseball!
Shannon:Â You do?
Liam:Â I needa practice my soccer!
Shannon: Okay. Your dad would love to practice those things with you when he gets home. Just remember to ask him when he gets here, okay?
Liam:Â I’m a STAR!
Shannon:Â Undoubtedly.
The sequel is not nearly as exciting as the original installment, but we did celebrate Valentine’s Day this morning by giving Liam his first taste of M&Ms (big surprise: he LOVED them). We broke them out after breakfast with the hope that the sugar high (and consequent crash) would happen well before his nap and in time for everything to reset itself during said nap. It seems to have worked pretty well so far. Here are a few pictures (although I was having technical difficulty so pardon the tints on some of these, I had to monkey with them a bit to make them usable, since the best ones were (of course) taken during the flash malfunction). Here goes:
I asked for a smile and I got these in response:
Careful contemplation:
Valentine’s Poster Boy:
Happy Valentine’s Day, y’all!
It’s just beautiful outside, the kind of snow we never get: good for snowballs and snowmen. Matt came home around early afternoon and worked from home for the rest of the day so he and Liam were able to get outside for a bit before it got dark. Liam had so much fun with the snowballs that he threw a fit when it was time to come inside, so I think that’s a pretty good barometer of how much he enjoyed it, and Matt might have had even more fun than Liam. Here are some pictures:
“Whatcha doin’ Dad?”
“Oooh! Lemme help!”
“Hmmm, that looks suspiciously like a tower to me…”
“Who, me? I didn’t decapitate our snowman and you can’t prove otherwise!”
Big decisions:
Score!:
Resuscitated snowman:
“More snowballs, Dad!”
You see that look in his eye?
The wind-up:
The (gleeful) follow-through:
And once more, for good measure:
“Chicken Little!”
Snug as a bug in a rug:
The end (for today).
As it turns out, the initial key to potty training is training the parents. Every kid learns in a different way. Some people have success with the one day potty bootcamp approach. Some parents wait until the child is old enough to say they’re ready to use the potty. Some parents spend months and months working on gradually teaching the child to learn their body’s signals. Still others work and work and try several different approaches only to end up with a 4 year-old who refuses to use the toilet (for one reason or another). The real catch is that no solution works for every child and the parents are a much bigger X-Factor than anyone really thinks about when they’re in the moment. Because in the moment? It’s frustrating.
I was lucky enough to have had the chance to work with a child in my care on potty training. In his case it was a lot easier because his parents waited until he was older than average so he was already more aware of his bodily functions and had the benefit of watching his friends at school as they learned to use the potty. I basically gave the kid massive amounts of fluids and spent a couple of days hanging out in the bathroom (followed by several weeks of him running around without any britches on) and he got it. There were accidents, of course, but in general he grasped the concept right off the bat.
Lately we’ve been trying to figure out the best approach to use with Liam. It’s cold, so running around naked isn’t as easy (or comfortable) as it will be in a few months. Familiarity and regularity are key concepts, so we’ve begun making regular trips to the toilet (at the same time each day) to sit for a while and read a book and see if anything comes about. We’re trying to make it as low pressure and fun as possible without slipping back into our earlier pattern of Liam saying he needed to go to the potty all day long (when he didn’t) because he knew that we would read to him, because sitting in the bathroom all day isn’t fun for us and it’s not really teaching him anything, either. For several days I’ve been trying to put him on the potty at times that he’d go after he’s trained (right now that means before and after naps, and I figured we’d move on from there after some success).
The timing before his nap is more about teaching him that we try to go to the bathroom before going to bed. The timing after his nap was a new addition because I’d noticed that his poop pattern had begun to be that he’d wake up from his nap, I’d change his diaper, and almost immediately he’d poop. Aside from wasting diapers and increasing time on the changing table, this had the positive effect of triggering the idea to try potty time immediately after waking. And today, boys and girls? Today, it worked.
I put him on that toilet and made it through only a couple of pages of Mister Rogers’ potty book and like clockwork, he went. I, of course, made a huge deal out of it (he’s been wandering around for the last 45 minutes spontaneously saying “Mama SO proud! I go poop in da potty!”) so I think he absorbed something positive from the experience (at least I hope so).
Now if I could only figure out when he’s peeing…
[Scene:Â Liam and I are in my bedroom when he spontaneously goes over to the doorway and puts his hands on either side of the door frame — one arm inside the room and one outside.]
Liam: OOOOH! Pick up da wall! Pick it up! OOOOOH! OH MY! SO HEAVY! Pick up the wall and moo like a cow. MOO! Cow pick up da wall! Cow so strong! MOO! [momentary pause] Liam so strong! Liam pick up da wall! Liam MOO!
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I really wish I could just take a tiny peek into his head to see what makes him say the things he says.
So today was pretty much a perfect day (visit to Liam’s hairdresser with a sobbing toddler notwithstanding). First off, I finally got to indulge in the gyro I’ve been craving for the past month (since we were in Decatur and could drop by Athens on our way back home). Then we got home and I got a call from the director at our first choice preschool telling us that there’s a space for Liam for next school year (I can’t tell you how worried I was about this one).  Lastly, I got an early Valentine’s Day present from my wonderful husband, so we’re celebrating now! Here it is:
We’ve been hemming and hawing for some time about strollers because we couldn’t decide if we A) wanted to (or were able to) spend a lot of money on a stroller and B) wanted to wait until we have two children to get a new one and then spring for the double-stroller version. We had already gone for a “test drive” at REI and since then I’ve coveted these things almost as much as the Odyssey, but it wasn’t the right time financially so we just waited. The issues with our current stroller are that the brake sticks (causing an awful whap-whap-whap noise while in use) and the steering is so difficult that going on a long walk with my son causes me to have carpel tunnel syndrome (seriously). I’ve stopped walking to the park because the stroller makes me hurt and we don’t have sidewalks for the entire route and I don’t think that Liam would make it all the way there without assistance. Today all of that ended and I’m SO excited!
Matt had apparently been stalking BOBs on Craigslist for months, but each time a decent deal became available it was snapped up before he could do anything about it. Today his luck changed. He ran out and picked it up immediately and pulled into our driveway at 4:30 (about two hours earlier than usual) with a surprise in the trunk. The whole thing was a surprise, in fact. Such a surprise that here’s what was going through my mind as I watched him finishing an insanely long (at least from my perspective inside the house, what with my imagination running completely amok) phone conversation inside the car: unexpected early arrival + long phone conversation = somebody died. Seriously — after 20 minutes of watching this I was going completely insane watching from the living room, but it’s rude to interrupt someone’s phone call, especially if they’re grieving, so I left him alone.
Then, when he FINALLY came inside he went to change Liam’s diaper and insisted that we take a walk to “talk” which only made me more insane. Until, that is, he told me that I wouldn’t need the stroller that I’d pulled out to use. Then I knew that it was all good news. I don’t squeal, but as close as I get to squealing is what happened in the driveway this afternoon. Then we took a walk around the neighborhood. I can steer with one hand. I can activate the brake by pulling the safety strap. There’s no whap-whap-whapping to be heard. It rolls on the grass without effort or incident. It easily fits into the trunk of Matt’s car (without removal of all the crap that currently lives back there — which means that it would easily fit into my car, or, you know, a van, *ahem*).
Plus, it was sunny and not too cold. How much more perfect could a day get?
Today, Liam made a call on his phone to his Granddaddy. This is what I could hear:
Liam: Oh Hi, Granddaddy! How you doin’ today? How Gran doing today? Granddaddy working? Dad still at work. He come home soon. I see birdie! Birdie say cheep, cheep, cheep and tweet, tweet, tweet. Birdie up in da tree. I LOVE trees. You love trees, Granddaddy? Trees have leaves. You like a train? I LOVE trains. I have a ambulance. A ambulance make sounds! I have big boy underwear. Tell Mama and Daddy have to go pee. Tell Mama and Daddy have to go poop. I have a penis. Where is it? Oh, bye bye Granddaddy. Love you so much. Bye, bye.
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Sometimes I wish I could just keep him at this age forever.