Potty Boot-Camp Day 2 and 3

(Warning:  Read at your own discretion.  Bodily functions elaborately discussed in great detail!)

Well, the good news is Charlie has not peed on any more of my pants.  Bad news:  he did thoroughly spray down my laptop yesterday afternoon just seconds after I let him off the potty and I cried.  It was a hard day with no successes and felt like a long exercise in futility and wasted vinegar water. 

I woke up this morning asking God for encouragement.  And He sure sent it.  We had a thunderstorm all morning and the temperature was in the 60’s.  I love rain.  Nothing could have been better for lifting my spirits!  I opened up the house and got some fresh rain-clean air to blow away the scent of vinegar.  After breakfast we had another poo success.  I will call it a ‘success’ because Charlie did intentionally poo into the potty.  At first he said “Ow ow ow”  and wanted to get off, but I held his hand and convinced him that it was OK, that it didn’t hurt, it just felt funny.  Then he went!   I cheered for him and actually felt so encouraged, though if you read what came next it may be hard to understand exactly why!

In order to call it a ‘success’  we will just ignore the fact that his Mama didn’t realize that he still had more business to do and took him off the potty too soon.   I wish I had a video of what happened next.  It was gross, but I think it would be really funny to watch.  For about three minutes I couldn’t figure out how to contain what was happening.  It felt a little like playing one of those pop-up gopher and hammer games at the fair.  I had taken his little potty seat off the toilet to show him his poop so that we could cheer about it and then he started peeing.  Because there wasn’t time to get the little seat back on, I tried to get him to aim into the toilet standing up, not realizing that he was actually also pooping and my shenanigans were grinding it into the little puzzle pieces of his wooden step stool.  While I noticed that, he went back to spraying  the entire vicinity.  Then he managed to poop more on the floor and pee all over me while I was trying to clean up the first part.  At that point I finally got his little seat back on the toilet and plopped him back on.   He went on to finish pooping into the toilet!  Whew!

Next time I will know better.  How about that Mommy learning curve! 

Also, I do feel proud of myself that in the shock and horror of it all, I still managed to reflect to him that what he was trying to do was normal, positive and productive towards entering society!  This is perhaps the funniest thing about the whole incident---I do distinctly remember saying in a cheerful voice, as he was pooping on the floor and peeing on me, “Good job honey, now next time you need to put that poo-poo and pee pee  in the potty!”  Needless to say, the bottom three feet of my bathroom and the step stool are now disinfected and we went straight into the shower! ]

The rest of our day got much better.  I wised up and took him to the potty religiously every ten minutes and he woke up dry from his nap and then only had one accident before bed time.  Not bad for the end of his third day in underwear!

ps. Here is what we did in between trips to the bathroom this afternoon.   I am impressed at the way Charlie has risen to this challenge.  I realize I have been asking a lot of him these last few days.  Instead of getting resistant or stressed out, he has responded with cheerful diligence and an exuberant heart of joy.  He is working so hard!  I do love my little boy!

Potty Boot-Camp Day 1

Yesterday we switched Charlie into underwear for the time he was awake. This picture just about sums up the first day.  Too many wet spots on the carpet to count, one success---7 pairs of underwear, two shirts, a pair of my pants and lots and lots of vinegar smelling rags!!!  It is totally what I was told to expect…but still I think its only fair to admit that there was a little bit of hope in this Mama’s heart that I wouldn’t spend these first few days scrubbing the carpet and sitting on the tub edge for hours on end.We are well into our second day, with not much better luck.  Charlie happily sits on the potty, (without doing anything) and just as happily wets his underwear a few seconds after I take him off the potty.  I, on the other hand am starting to wish we had maid service and cable TV in the bathroom!  I’ve been told it can take a couple days for it to sink in.   We will see!  Keep us in your prayers!

What is really important…

After seriously studying a picture of football players in his coloring book, Charlie came to the conclusion, apparently, that football cannot be played without a helmet.  This problem was brought to my attention before the coffee finished brewing this morning.  We went through several options before he finally agreed  that a bicycle helmet would be a suitable substitution for the football helmet that we do not own.  ( I mean seriously, what kind of dump is this anyway that we can offer any number of tennis, golf, soccer, juggling, and bouncy balls, but no football helmets?  Are we trying to turn him into a girl?  How’s a man to get on in the world without the right equipment? )

Christmas

Nana and Papa came to celebrate Christmas with us this year.   They arrived in those feverish days of preperation befroe a big event and we put them straight to work.   

Papa worked hard fixing our bathroom door so that Charlie couldn’t push it open on unsuspecting users.  He also did a good job of keeping these slippers warm.  Come on, someone had to do it!    Charlie worked hard keeping us entertained.  Here he is discovering the resonant capabilities of cookie tins—very fine indeed!There was lots of baking to do.  Here is Stollen Bread  and dinner rolls just out of the oven.  Mama and Nana made cookies and learned a new meaning of the word fastidious…..…hmmmI spent the last few evenings before Christmas trying to get some last-minute elving done.   This was one project that I did not finish.  My grandmother made hand-stitched felt appliqué stockings for each of us grandchildren growing up.  I made one in a matching style for Jonathan several years ago and wanted to get one done in time for Charlie to use this year.   Alas, it only got this far.  (felt cut out but not stitched)  Christmas eve, I drew up a quick train in washable markers on the lining and that’s what he used this year.  Hopefully by next year there will be two stitched up and ready to hang.  Whew!  

We waited until Charlie was in bed to put the presents out under the tree.  It looked so pretty!

Christmas morning came early this year!   And it was not because of Charlie!  Jonathan and I were woken by Nana and Papa knocking on our door a little before 7.   (Jonathan was so sleepy and out of it, that he answered the door in his boxers.)  I had talked with Nana, and I thought we were going to call them to come over as soon as Charlie woke up and she thought we had decided they should come over early so they could be there when Charlie woke up.   The misunderstanding turned out to be pretty funny, but only after we had all had our first couple sips of coffee!  Charlie blissfully slept though it all until  7:30 or so.  Then we all went in and wished him Merry Christmas, and told him to go look at the stockings.  There is nothing like the excitement of young children at Christmas!  He was so surprised!  He was so pleased by his new toothbrush.But best of all, there was a baseball in the toe or the stocking!Then we made breakfast.  Here’s that Stollen, sliced and buttered and ready to toast in the broiler.   SOOOOooo good! Meanwhile, outside it was doing this…..(It was so nice to know none of us had to go anywhere that day!)While we cooked breakfast, Charlie and Dada played with his new baseball the only way you can when you are in your pajamas and there is snow outside….by rolling it on the floor. 

After breakfast, we celebrated Advent for the final time and lit the Christ candle.  We kept all the candles lit for the rest of the morning.  

Then the presents began….My new love and joy….Send me your Dutch oven recipes, one and all, because this is the only pan I am cooking in for at least the next three months!  Charlie made presents like this with fabric oil pastels for all of his Grandparents.  He colored on scarves for his grandmothers and handkerchiefs and ties for his grandfathers.  The gifts turned out a little kooky, but I really wanted him to have something that he could tangibly participate in, to give to them.  I liked seeing how proud he was of what he had colored for them!    Nana even knitted a sweater and cap for our baby girl!  You can’t see it very well in this picture, but the buttons have beautiful butterflies on them.   I think I’m going to like getting to dress a little girl!  Charlie kept acquiring little bits of paraphernalia throughout the morning.   He was pretty funny looking by lunch time. 

Merry Christmas!

happy, merry christmas eve to you all…

…from our beautiful baby GIRL!!!!!

“Oly Ma moo Dada”

 

Scene:  Charlie is watching Jonathan and I kiss with a big grin on his face. 

Jonathan, leans over and says conspiratorially:  “Mama’s smooching Daddy, Charlie!” 

Charlie demands:  “Cha moo Daddy” (Charlie smooch Daddy!)

Jonathan, emphatically:  “Only Mama smooches Dada!”

Charlie agrees:  “Oly Ma moo Dada”

….Here’s to the Merry Christmas “mooing'” in all your houses and ours!

Going on a Tree hunt, a Tree hunt!

Since we have the glorious luxury of staying put for Christmas this year, we decided to go hunt and cut down our own Christmas tree.  The day after Jonathan finished his finals, we loaded all of us--our scarves, mittens and hacksaws--into the truck and headed into the wilderness…..OK, that was the idea, but we really only drove an hour or so to Meert Christmas Tree Farm.   It was great!  There was snow on the ground and hawks flying above.  We had lots of fun loosing each other while trying to find and compare trees.  Decisions, decisions!The tree lot began right at the parking lot and we found what we wanted in about 20 minutes. That was perfect since it was COLD!  Charlie helped Jonathan cut it down.  The proud owners of their first self-cut Christmas tree!  They handed out little candy canes when we paid, and Charlie thoroughly enjoyed his (and so did his car seat and sweater) on the way home. 

Since it was past lunch time when we got home, we ate Pho for lunch.  Charlie is a true northwest boy, he loves his Pho!  He’s even starting to get the hang of chopsticks!And then it was time for naps (Charlie), and trying to get the tree, with a very short little trunk, to stay straight upright in the stand (Jonathan and Keren—no swearing this year!).   And lights, and DECORATIONS! Charlie got the idea of it pretty quick,  and cheered every time he got something to stay on the tree! The task was not complete without some crazy dancing to cheesy Christmas Music!  (Ahh, can’t you just smell the strong scent of memories being made?)

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!

“Tay be God-uh!”

(Background:  After our Advent reading from the Bible every night, we’ve been saying, “This is the Word of the Lord.”  We taught Charlie the response, “Thanks be to God.”)

I love the way Charlie gets confused about his world!  Today, Jonathan was reading excerpts to him from a book of short stories by W. B. Yeats.  Though he explained several times that reading Yeats is not reading the Bible, every time he stopped reading and closed the book, Charlie said, “Tay be God-uh”  with great enthusiasm!

Thanks be to God for W.B. Yeats, indeed! 

Oh Potty!…here we come!

Charlie had his first poop in the potty today! ( I mention it here because it is the first bodily substance he has volitionally transferred to that great ceramic bowl we all take for granted)  He was greatly inspired by his friend Jackson who was over to play this morning and was the first boy Charlie has seen wearing underwear.  I re-iterated again to Charlie that when he was a big boy and went in the potty he would get to wear underwear too.  About ten minutes later Charlie told me “potty, Mama.”  He usually does this before he poops.  And I usually ask him if he wants to sit on the potty, to which he usually replies, “No.” 

But!

Today he said yes!  So I whisked him to the bathroom and then he pooped!  In.  The.  Toilet!!!!!!  I was so shocked.  Silly me, I tried to put his diaper back on afterwards, but he was having none of that….remember, big boys who go in the potty don’t wear diapers they wear underwear (there is nothing wrong with his memory!) 

So without further ado, I present Charlie, wearing his first pair of underwear!

Hooray for Charlie!  (Eya clap?)

Just like Dada…

(...He insisted on wearing jeans and a shirt with buttons like Dada. Then when he was all dressed he looked up to see Jonathan watching us with his hands in his pockets and said "pocket," which led to needing help finding his own pockets so he could be just like Dada....)

Advent—Kissmuss Comin

Christmas is coming!  The second Sunday of Advent is here already!  

(If you are not familiar with celebrating Advent, here’s my lay recap.  Advent is the part of the church year where we anticipate the coming of Christ to earth as a man, being born a baby to Mary.  (Traditionally, the season of Christmas is celebrated Christmas day through Epiphany, on January 6th—hence the 12 days of Christmas) Advent mirrors our preparation for Christ’s second coming.  Each of the four weeks before Christmas day focus on a theme. The four colored candles represent these themes and as we light them each evening we remember the hope of the prophets, the joy of the shepherds and angels, the love seen in Bethlehem, the light in our darkness, and finally on Christmas day, the Christ candle itself.  In our family growing up, each night we lit the appropriate candle(s) had a scripture reading, sang a song and worked on memorizing a verse together each week. )

Jonathan and I have been celebrating Advent this way since we got married.  This year we started off Advent with wreath-making in NC.   We were making a new wreath for my parents.  Charlie and I loved helping/interfering/taking over/eating the fake red berries.  

The first Sunday after Thanksgiving began Advent this year.  That night, because he was the youngest,  Charlie lit the first candle of Advent. 

It was such a delight for us to be together with my parents doing advent and to bring Charlie into that tradition.  I always feel like advent is a gift to those who celebrate it.  We were staying in my parent’s friends the Bushnell’s house.  (They were amazing hosts and generously  gave up their master bedroom for the whole week we were there so that Charlie would have a consistent place to nap.  Thank you, Susan and Jason!)  What  fun to be able to bring advent into their house and celebrate with them!