john's mom works

or, how to ring out the old year when you're an ornery two year old 3:42 a.m. wailing from upstairs wakes me from a dead sleep. it's the big bad kind of crying, where you just know someone needs you. i head up the stairs in a groggy daze, softly calling "hey, charlie, mama's coming," as he howls for his mommy. his voice sounds oddly close considering the closed door to his room. when i walk into his room, though, he's not there. the door to the bathroom between john and charlie's rooms is open, as is the door to john's room beyond. i walk through, and there i find charlie on his knees in desperation in his brother's room. best i can tell, charlie woke up, and decided to get brother. but when he went to brother's room the bed was empty - because john was sleeping in the teepee across the room. devastated that he couldn't find brother, charlie just howled. john slept as i collected charlie, closed the appropriate doors, and...

please forgive me for putting your underwear on the web, son. they're just so cute and little i couldn't resist. this is really a tale of two children ... living in the same body.  one is a chipper little fellow, who came home from school yesterday in the same big boy undies he went to school wearing . that's right, it was an accident free, pee- and poo-in-the-potty sort of day! he was so proud, i was so proud, we called grammie to discuss what a big boy he is -- in short, it was awesome. hoping to keep up the trend, when we got home i said, "hey, john, let's go pee pee in the potty real quick, babe." enter the other child, a screaming little banshee who proceeded to yell, scream, hit, fall out, storm out, stomp, slam doors, and sulk for an hour. i tried it all. i tried speaking gently and nicely and talking to him. i tried yelling. i tried spanking. i tried bribing. i tried time out. i tried sending him to his room. he cooperated with all o...

"what time is it? mommy? what oclock?" john's teacher told me something amazing today. "you should bring me some big boy undies," she said, "i haven't changed john in weeks." it seems that at school, since they check in with him periodically to see if he has to potty, and since his very smart teacher has noticed his (very regular) bowel movement schedule, john is potty trained. at 9am at 2pm, she plops him on the toilet. he might sit for 20 minutes, reading a book. when she checks on him, he says, "i just poo-pooin', miss meka." and when he's done, he's good and done. we're not quite that far along at home, but tonight we go shopping for big boy undies. and i'm sure we'll have a few accidents, but that's just a part of the process ... and soon my little boo will be in big boy undies full time. and ... it's a great time for him to be out of diapers. because good lord willing and the creek ...

look! he's (half) dressed! this morning when john woke up, i whisked him into the bathroom so he could go pee pee in the potty. (that's still never happened, but one of these times he's going to accidentally go while he sits there and boy what a potty party that will be!) we've been talking lately about how when he sits on the potty, he needs to make sure his penis is pointing down. (hey, mommy does NOT want to get peed on.) so he leaned forward a little and said, "i point my penis down, mommy!" and he was oh so proud. "great job, baby," i said. "that's good work. can you go pee pee now?" and he looked at me as i leaned against the counter, and he pointed to my crotch. "your penis in there, mommy?" i said, "no, baby, mommy is a girl. girls don't have penises." he looked at me curiously and said, "your booty in there?" and i pointed at my rear end and said, "yep, my bo...

just a little read while on the pot ... we've not really made a lot of progress on the potty training front. which is actually not a very accurate statement, because really, we haven't been trying very hard. i know in my heart that john won't go to kindergarten in diapers, so it's just not something we've been stressing about. but i have definitely noticed that john is seeming less-than-happy about a poop-filled diaper lately. and he very often tells us he wants to go to the potty (although that very often corresponds with being out in public and him being bored and wanting something to do ... and has very little connection to any actual bathroom-related activity). so last night, when john looked at me and said, "i go poo poo, mommy," i responded, "do you need a fresh diaper?" and he said, "no, i not go yet." so i said, "would you like to go poo poo on the potty?" and he said, "yes ma'am!" ...