Tech Support

This post will be brief. It’s just a quick word of advice. If your printer is not working, and you have tried all the old tricks, next check the paper tray for board books. That could be your problem!

Almost Emma-isms

Emma’s not quite talking enough to have her own –isms* yet, but she certainly is beginning to put together some words and sentence.  I though I’d put some here just for the record.

 

• “Foof [Ruth] sad.  Yuke [Luke] not sad.”
• “Muh-Mow” [one more]
• “He-Go” [here you go]
• “Mik fah dow foe” [My milk fell down on the floor.]
• “Wah-doe” [sweet potato]

 

* For the purposes of this blog, an “–ism” is a conversation or comment by a little person that gives us a glimpse into just how a little brain is working, usually in a way that surprises those of us who take every day things for granted!

Potty Training

(Warning: This post contains potty language!  Read at your own risk!)  This is one of those parenting things that I have always dreaded.  I have absolutely no experience in this area, and diapers just seem so quick and easy compared to cleaning up messes.  I was planning to wait until this summer, but Luke decided about two weeks ago to potty train himself.  It was a Monday morning, and he was sitting in his highchair for breakfast.  In a very fearful voice, he said, “I do not want to do poo in my diaper!”  I asked if he would like to use his potty chair, he said yes, and the rest is history.  Now, to be fair, we had been talking about the potty, trying out the potty, playing with the potty a great deal in the previous few weeks, but we had never attempted to do anything on the potty.

 

By Wednesday of that week, Luke decided that he was too big for his potty chair and began using the regular potty instead.  He can “strip down” all by himself, go, “flush and close” and run back to me with his pants and Superman underwear in hand.  Of course, if he does go poo, he needs a little more help, but this is always amusing.  As soon as I get him up, he likes to comment on what he sees in the potty.  Recent remarks: “It’s kinda like a train.”  “It looks kinda like a pig.” “It’s kinda like a whole poo family!”

 

We traveled to Baltimore this past weekend and he stayed dry for the entire drive up and the entire drive back.  (He was wearing a pull-up though.  I’m not that brave.)  On the trip up, we stopped at an Arby’s and realized that this was his first encounter with a public restroom.  We talked about staying close to Mommy, not getting down on the floor, not touching anything, putting toilet paper on the seat.  (No, he is not big enough to go standing up.  The trajectory would be off by a long shot.  No pun intended.)  He was not at all fond of the hand dryer … but that could have been because he insisted on looking directly up into the air flow the whole time it was running.

 

As we left Arby’s, Luke asked, “Does Baltimore have a potty?”  He was relieved to find that the home in which we were staying (belonging to dear friends of my parents) was much nicer than the Arby’s bathroom.  He was glad that he did not have to put paper on the seat.  And he was excited that they had real towels and not a hand dryer.  It’s so funny the things you see from a new perspective when walking a little guy through the process for the first time!

 

So, over the course of the last two weeks, we have had less than a half dozen accidents.  However, I still feel that I have no experience in potty training, as Luke really potty trained himself.  Oh well.  Maybe he can potty train Emma.  Today, Emma said that she wanted to use the potty.  Luke, in his most sage and understanding tone said, “Someday, Emma, you will be big enough.”