Potty Story #1

I titled this “Potty Story #1″ as I figure there will be many more to share down the road (although it should actually be more appropriately named #2).  I would also like to dedicate this post to my darling sister-in-law, Molly, who is still getting used to the frequency with which my family seems to talk about bathroom behavior, specifically at the dinner table.  Hopefully this will be a little more bearable for you Molly, given its about a two-year-old.

Henry has started showing some “signs of readiness” so we thought Christmas was an appropriate time to give him a shiny new potty as a gift. We explained what it was for, let him sit on diapered and not, let his stuffed animals sit on it – all the recommended no-pressure introductions.  So one afternoon when we saw him make the recognizable face that meant he was trying to work something out, we casually asked if he wanted to try to use the potty. Surprisingly he said he did, so we all went into the bathroom. After a couple minutes he filled it up, and not just with a small little nugget. It was huge. It was adult sized.

All three of us were pretty amazed at this accomplishment, so there were a lot of cheers and high fives. Henry was clearly pleased with himself too which seemed like a great sign. We’ve heard that friends have had success with M&Ms as a reward, which just happen to be Henry’s most favorite treat ever. So, in celebration we told him he could have M&Ms because he went on the potty.  He also asked for a cookie too – sure why not kid – you are a rock-star and you just made plenty of room for it!

I think this is right where we went wrong.

Following this foray into potty using, we continued to ask him if he wanted to go. Every time the answer was no. That’s okay, no big deal. We’ll try again when you’re ready.  So before nap-time a couple days later, I asked if he wanted to try. He said yes, and sat there for a while, but with no results. I assured him that it was a good try and put him down for a nap. He went right to sleep so I headed downstairs. About a half hour later I heard him awake on the monitor. It sounded like he was jumping and cheering. I went to his room to remind him it was time to sleep, and found him standing in his crib with a full stinky diaper, cheering “Yay!” As I began to change his diaper, he continued to cheer for himself. Then he said “Mommy, MMs, cookie?”

Trying to suppress the laughter, I explained that the M&Ms and cookies were just for going on the potty, not in your diaper, to which he cried and screamed “No!” Clearly he was disappointed by the news that every poop isn’t a celebration.

I guess he’ll just have to wait for the next family dinner.

Birthday Roundup

In keeping with my resolution for 2011, here are some (belated) photos of Henry’s 2nd birthday party. Taken from his infatuation with Toy Story, we made Henry and Woody the stars of a Birthday Roundup. I used Toy Story as an inspiration throughout but focused only on the cowboy elements. The lucky little cowboy actually had a two-day party – one for his friends and one for his family the next day. He had a wonderful weekend as I’m sure you can tell from the pictures – enjoy!

Resolution

As a New Year resolution I’ve decided to revisit the blog with more regular Henry updates, as in more than once a year – ha. While the ubiquitous Facebook covers my daily musings, I’ve really missed sharing stories and updates about Henry over here. Its been my digital baby book of sorts and I need to be a better mommy about filling it in, especially because at this age he is hilarious, and I don’t want to forget a minute of it.

So, here’s the latest about my little man.  We celebrated his 2nd birthday a couple of months ago with a Western Birthday Roundup. We had so much fun with friends and family and Henry discovered that he absolutely LOVES opening presents and evidently, attention. He was beaming ear to ear as we sang Happy Birthday and after blowing out his candle, exclaimed “More, More!”  Actually we also got a taste of his love for an audience earlier in the fall at my brother’s wedding. He walked down the aisle like a champ, smiling and waving all the way. Little dancing man also ended up taking over the dance floor for an entire song, with a crowd of 30 or more people circled around him! You can tell he’s the first-born child and grandchild, very used to the spotlight.

Lucky for Henry, after the fun and attention of his birthday was over, the holidays were just getting into full swing. We baked cookies, made paper snowflakes, played in the snow, watched old school Rankin Bass movies and introduced him to cocoa (of course, he refuses to consume anything hot, or even mildly warm, so it was really just chocolate milk). He seemed to love every minute of it, enough to actually start talking! In the span of about a month and a half, his expressive language skills have exploded. Now I just have to explain to our PAT educator why all his new words are really healthy, educational things like “cookie, movie, cocoa and Rudolph” when she comes to evaluate him later this month.

Aside from his latest favorite word, “cookie,” with an extra long “oooo” sound pronounced exactly like Cookie-Monster, he has become our own little parrot. On our way down a winding road, his daddy was complaining that the bumps carved into the double yellow lines were cramping his usual lane-switching, corner-cutting driving style, to which I pointed out that possibly they are there because driving back and forth over the lines is in fact, illegal.  All of the sudden from the back seat we hear a little voice excitedly say “illegal!”  We both laughed out loud and I told Tim he better watch out, he has a reporter following him around now.  Although, part of me wonders if the exclamation might actually have been one of joy.  There seems to be some sort of genetic predisposition to semi-reckless driving on back country roads in Tim’s family.

All the fun in the car isn’t only Tim’s crazy driving. We’ve started a new habit of counting the school buses on the morning commute. In a 15 minute drive, we usually average nine buses. Yesterday in fact, we saw four in a row and Henry was so excited that were he not strapped in, he’d have jumped out of his seat.  We have also started listening to a few children’s music CDs in the car, which incidentally is something I swore I’d never do. After a couple of times through, I was just about ready to ditch the CD and force him to listen to Morning Edition. However, all the sudden I heard him singing along to one of the songs. Actually singing!  My quiet little man has gone from not saying much at all to SINGING! Well as I’m sure any mom would do, I put that stinking song on repeat and let him sing his heart out.

I could go on and on with the stories, but then I wouldn’t have anything to blog later. ha ha. However I suppose with potty training on the horizon, the stories are only just beginning.  In the meantime, I hope to get some pictures up of the birthday party and Christmas.

Happy New Year and best of luck with all your own resolutions!