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Parenting: From pregnancy to baby names and toddler tantrums – instructions not included, batteries sold separately.

STOP!! It’s Potty Time!

February 16, 2012
by modernmama

It began Saturday!   Elijah was set loose,  bare bottom.

For the previous couple weeks Elijah and I have been talking about him learning to use the potty.  Well, actually I did most of the talking, and he gave “yeshes”. He’s been very excited about learning to use the potty and has frequently taken notes while joining Dad or Mom about how to do it.

So this weekend launched the next big milestone.  I brought home a simple potty with a removable bucket, a.k.a pee-can, Friday night. After his bath he happily got acquainted with it, ready for Saturday.  To our surprise, his first attempt was a complete success with all pee in the potty!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday, after a round of shopping and another potty purchased from Ikea, we had two pots, for different rooms.

When he was set free he didn’t want to sit on either of the two potties we had.  Normally fearless and already having sat on them, this was unexpected.  I took him into the bedroom, freeballing it, and closed the door with both potties with us and asked him if he was ready to sit on one, now that he had some privacy.  Almost instantly he was on the pot! Then, jumped up and sat on the other one. He went back and forth, trying both and turned out, he seemed to favor the Ikea model, though smaller.

“Dad, come take a peek at your son!” I shouted down the hall.  Elijah smiled behind his binky as Dad opened the door.  High Fives all around for sittin’ on the potty!

Elijah carried a potty out to the kitchen where we intended to hang out most of the day, since pee and stinky* are easiest to clean off tile, rather than carpet.  Minutes later he peed again, but this time, under the dining room table.  This is his hiding spot for everything, including taking care of business. It was almost the only accident he had all weekend.  He then finished up on the potty.

We built a fort in the kitchen for him to barricade himself in. He spent the rest of the day naked running around and peeing in the potty.  Sunday went the same way! It’s amazing how exciting stinky and pee are now!

Now all week he’s been without a diaper most of the time at home.  The only problem so far was last night. Elijah did a stinky all on his own and no one knew.  And he didn’t have wipes or TP around so tried his hand….  Buahahahahaaaa… DAD got to deal with that one!

It’s a good idea to have a stash of TP in life, less you wind up with stinky.

 

*we call poop as stinky ;-)

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No No No No No No No No

February 9, 2012
by modernmama

My son Elijah, who’s 20 months now, has in the last week perfected his “no.” For the last few months he’d been making the “mm, mm” noise and shaking his head side to side to say no.  Now….it’s all “no!”.

And there are a variety of ways in which to say no.

Tonight I was taking away a plate of food he was holding on to, but didn’t care too much about.  SO he just held a tight grip as I pulled it away, but extended his arms with it slowly saying, “Nnnnoooooooo…” It sounded like a slow motion replay. It was a family LOL moment.

“Elijah it’s time to say g’night to Grandma,” my husband says.

“NO!” replies Elijahs in a little boy squeal.

Then there’s the frantic, “No, no, no, no, no, no, NO!” as he chases me to come back and open the door to the fridge.

The calm, “no,” in reply to a simple yes or question that he’s willing to answer when he’s not tired or hungry.

And the no that comes as he’s flinging his body to the floor in protest that starts with a “no” and combines “ugh” at the end, “Noooough!”

And the bouncy, “No-o-o-o-o,” that comes from toddling away from the proposition of a diaper change.

When my husband and I are also not tired or hungry, it’s actually ridiculously funny.  Sometimes we ask him questions, just to hear the spoken word in different forms. This is not his first word, just the one, of course, that most children will find the most valuable to use at their age to establish their will, independence and desires.

“Yes” is thrown into the mix too, but less frequently and usually in response to definite yes answers to questions like, “Do you want to go to the park?” and “Do you want some juice?”

So you get to this point and ask yourself, “Will they ever grow out of this stage?”  And the obvious answer, “NO!” You’ll experience this for another 18+ years. Yikes!

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Learning to Draw

January 26, 2012
by modernmama

I just sat down to write another post and I could hear Elijah dragging something along the wall in another room.  It’s not uncommon to hear and recently it’s been his wooden tools that he got for Christmas.  So I went about my business, opening up the page and logging in when I heard him babbling through a binky in his mouth and heading in my direction.  I turned around to see what he was asking for and his hands were outstretched in front of him as he came in to see me.

“Ish, ish,” is about what he sounded like. This particular “ish, ish” was asking to have his hands wiped off.  I took a look and realized what it was.  Lipstick, of course.

As I took a moment to think about how he could’ve gotten it, I remembered him carrying his stool around and figured he must have taken it back into the bedroom and used it to reach the top of my dresser. Oh well, let’s clean that up.

I wiped the largest chunks off his little fingers with a paper towel, took the lipstick cap and asked him to show me where he got it from.

*I’ve made a point of rarely getting upset when he comes to me having done something wrong, so he’s never afraid to tell me.  But don’t get me wrong, I definitely let him know if he did do something wrong and have him help correct it. He’s now become quite the little cleaning helper.

So he leads the way down the hall and points to the floor where he pointed to the lipstick base, now empty and then pointed to the wall.

All I could do was smile and chuckle as he proudly pointed and described his drawing.  Any other night, I would have grabbed one of the many cleaning cloths we have and had him help clean off the wall, but tonight I thought I’d share it with you, so I took a couple pictures.  (Including the artist)

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