Sweet Satisfaction

That, my friends, is the face of satisfaction. Let me preface this posting by saying that unless you're a parent, you might find this a little crude. However, we in the parenting world understand that bodily functions are a fact of life and in this instance, something to be celebrated.

As I mentioned yesterday, we've been working hard on the medieval torture known as potty training. He's been doing fantastic recently, aside from his aversion to going "poo-poo" as he puts it. Now I should probably clarify the use of the term "aversion." By this I mean that if I gave him the choice between using the potty and having each of his finger nails pulled off one at a time, he would probably gladly give me his hands. In fact, he finds the whole thing so excruciating that he often attempts to pull my finger nails off in the process.

Doing a quick calculation this morning, I realized it had been 4 days since there was any movement from the bowel region and I came to the conclusion that at some point today even the most stubborn of potty trainees would have to give way to nature.

We made it until right after our joint nap time when I awoke to horrific screams coming from down the hall. I quickly sprinted to his room where he threw his arms around me and yelled, "Da poo-poo is coming!" We rushed to the bathroom, I quickly sat him on the potty and we made it just in time. Enter the cheers and accolades and a proud little man requesting that he have muffins made in his honor.

While the muffins were cooking, he managed to run off with my phone and announce his success in life to his Uncle Jake and his Nonni...much like an Olympian would hoist their recently received gold medal over their head. Within 30 minutes, my little champion was enjoying his triple berry muffins and that, my friends, is the taste of sweet satisfaction!

Not for the easily offended

I say that this blog is not for the easily offended because it seems my little angel has inadvertently become a "potty mouth." It seems, my Little Man has a new word. I recently bought him a pair of flip flops and he absolutely loves them. Today, he thought he'd take a shot at saying "flip flop." He looked hard at his little shoes and opened his mouth and out popped "Fip F**K!" (You can use your imagination to fill in the rest of the word.) Well, Hubby and I tried to get him to say flop or even fop but neither of those would come out, so we decided to let it go for now and try not to laugh too hard or he'll say it just to be funny.
So, we were in Target just a little while ago and the monkey kicked one off and it landed on the rack under the cart. I looked all over for it (even asked at customer service). Finally I decided to take Drew back out to the car to see if it never made it in. When I went to get him out of the cart though, I finally saw where the flip flop had landed. I picked it up to show Drew and he proudly announced (loud enough for the entire front of the store to hear), "Oh!! My fip f**k!!!" I, of course ducked my head, popped him back in the cart, and made a bee line to the back of the store as everyone looked on.

Its amazing how a child can embarass the living daylight out of you at the same time that he warms your heart so much.

How Did I Get Here??

Do you ever stop and ask yourself, "How did I get here?" I know that I do, quite frequently, in fact.

I used to ask myself how on earth I went from being a teenager to a married woman trying to balance life. Now I ask myself how I went from being a mom to a tiny newborn to "Mama." I used to hover over and cuddle a tiny, defenseless creature. Now I force myself to stand back and watch as my triumphant toddler climbs the steps the slide or manages to scale a bookshelf in 5 seconds flat. I use to wait with anticipation for every coo or gurgle. These days, I fully expect to hear running feet down the hall and, "Hey Mama!"

Just the other day, Drew took off running towards the bathroom and yelled back over his shoulder to Jesse, "I go potty!" He then ran into the bathroom with me, patted the lid to the toilet and said, "This a pot." After that, he lifted the lid and started scooting his little pants down. Of course, I helped him and put him up there and of course, nothing actually happened. He sure put forth a valiant effort though!

So once again, I found myself thinking, "How did I get here?" A part of me wants to freeze time because this, here, right in this moment seems so perfect. I know though that as amazing as he is now, that little man will only continue to stop me in my tracks and leave me asking that question. And that, that is something I would not trade for anything.