Loose Ends

We are heading into a busy weekend and I'm afraid if I don't get to this now, it will be quite some time. For those of you holding your breath on the edge of your seats, I don't have any new clues about our next project. You'll have to wait until at least next week for that one. In order to efficiently address everything, bullet points is going to be the name of the game tonight:

-Saturday on the Chair- on Sunday evening, William and I were hanging out outside "riding" his bike. I use the term riding loosely because he calls it riding. I call it more like "sitting on the bike and hoping it will roll a few inches down the driveway". A small difference in vocabulary or possibly I'm already unhip enough to not understand the current trend in toddler slang. Anyhow, we were enjoying the cooler weather and the riding of the bike when something unmistakable happened. Please note, I'm about to embarrass my child and scar him for life by sharing this with you. William's face turned red and he made several noises that are reserved only for when he soils his diaper. At this point, it was clear that we needed to go inside and take care of the dirty diaper. Because it was getting late in the evening, I also made the exectuative decision once we were inside that it was now bathtime (because I'm in charge and I can do that kind of stuff), even if it was a little early. I started running the water and pulling out the things we use for a bath (towels, soaps, TOYS, etc) and put William on the small potty chair that currently lives in the bathroom. Up until this point, William has enjoyed sitting on the chair for an average of .00263546874 seconds per bathroom visits. The rest of the time he spends standing on it, putting toys in it and pulling them out again, and tipping it over. This time, he sat and thoughtfully looked at the ceiling. "Go potty" he commented conversationally. "Yes I replied, go potty please." He sat for a few seconds longer and then stood up and ran over to the bathtub. I sighed and glanced behind me and noticed.....he actually went. He went potty in the potty chair. Wild cheering followed by excited phone calls filled the rest of the evening. A quick note though: it is wise to learn how to empty the potty chair before there is actually anything in it. Also noted: although he has sat on the potty many more times since Sunday, we have not had a repeat performance - which was not expected anyway. But a mama can hope.

-Mom/Daddy: Over the last few weeks there has been a pretty big change in how William addresses us. At first I just assumed it was a fluke, but it appears to be more than that. William has started calling me Mom. Not the sugary sweet "Mommy" of the preschool/kindergarten set, but straight to the adultlike "Mom". John is luckier in that he has moved from the sweet baby-ish Dada to the "Daddy". What brought this on? I don't know - but I sure would like to be Mama again.
* Just for kicks the other day when we were driving to our swimming lessons, I asked William "Where is John?" William looked at me for a brief second and pointed at John saying "Daddy". Like duh, mom.

-Pretend Play- Oh how exciting! One of my very favorite things is starting to show up! Imagination and creative play! Observed in the last week:

1. A piece of corn chugga-chugga-choo-chooing its way around William's plate at dinner.
2. A long piece of play-doh turning into a hissing, slithering snake during our play time.
3. Pretend sleeping complete with actual fake snoring.
4. Pretending to eat plastic food - pretending to put it in his mouth instead of actually putting it in his mouth. I was so excited, I almost cried.
5. More enthusiasm for the little pe0ple and their animals - complete with cute barnyard noises.

-The big Helper- In the last week, William has really worked to become a big helper. He brings thing to me when I ask about 25% of the time - which is a 100% increase from before. He also has really liked helping me unload the top rack of the dishwasher* and holding things for me when we go up the stairs. He is so cute with a very proud look on his face when he knows he is helping! We're working on more ways for him to help around the house - John has vetoed letting him run the weed wacker so far.

*Note to self: William can open the dishwasher door by himself and has "helpfully" unloaded the dirty dishes onto the kitchen floor more than once. Need to rethink how "helpful" teaching him this task actually is.


Tomorrow brings us to our last session of swimming classes. William is hoping they'll let him dive off the high dive or teach him how to scuba dive. Tomorrow evening we are going to take a big adventure to a nearby state park to attempt overnight camping. In a tent. With a baby who doesn't sleep unless he is confined by bars of some kind. Yes, in fact, we are crazy. Friday evening the Grandparents McGarry arrive. So, we will be busy. Pictures/stories/updates will follow at the earliest on Monday evening or Tuesday afternoon.