Leaves

I think Lucas really likes raking leaves because last weekend he raked each morning and both times exclaimed "this is the best day EVER!" while he was doing it.

No Diapers Today!

Yesterday (day 2 of potty training) I was starting to have some doubts. Although we had some triumphs (a big one too if you know what I mean) we ended the day with a total miss. It was really discouraging. But my voice of reason (Chris) reminded me that it was only the second day. True!

So we kept at it. This morning we continued pants-less. I increased my hovering... gently reminding Sofia not to go on the floor, or the chair, etc. Probably every 2-5 minutes. But I tried not to be too annoying about it. Sometimes she and I joked about it. (Where does the pee-pee go? On the bench? Noooooo. On the pumpkin? Of COURSE not! Pee-pee goes in the POT-ty!")

The morning went by with no accidents. She didn't go at all until right before her naptime. She napped in a pull up and woke up a bit wet which I expected. Then we went bare-bottomed again. She spent a good deal of time lingering on our not-cheap wool rug and I noticed that I was beginning to feel ok about it. (Until I started thinking about it too long and brought out the water resistant picnic blanket.)

The most iffy time of day is when we pick up Lucas from school and stay on the playground for a while before heading home. Obviously, I have to put pants on her, but since pants give a false sense of comfort in this early stage of training, accidents are likely. I've been putting her in a diaper for this daily excursion and had no intentions of changing that this week. But today it just seemed like the right thing to do - so off we went with no diaper, but a change of clothes in tow. In the car, I reminded her every couple of minutes not to go in her pants, because we would be going at the (wonderful, amazing) potty at Lucas's school. I put the picnic blanket underneath her while she was in the car seat. She stayed dry!

At dinner we had split pea soup. Sofia was dining in the buff and she got a little nervous when she spilled a spoonful in her lap. I think she thought she had an accident! She said "Mommy!" and gestured (or maybe I imagined it) to the bathroom. I checked and she was dry. So we went at her request.

She likes the big potty, which is better for me (no transfers.) And flushing and washing hands is enough of a reward it seems. Sometimes she likes to look at a book while sitting. And we have gone through many, many non-productive potty trips every day. But I just wanted to get her to the point where going in her pants seems really strange.

No accidents today! Praying that we are in the clear!!

Potty Training - Day 1

We woke up this morning and said bye-bye to the diapers. Potty training, phase one (the naked popka phase) began today! Once mastered, this will be followed by "pants but no panties phase" and finally "pants & panties" phase.

Sofia is using two IKEA potties right now. The white one stays in the bathroom, and the lime green one resides mostly in the kitchen (central to the den, living room and office.) The green one travels with us outside or to the basement - wherever we go to play.

I kept her hydrated with berries and apple juice so we would have lots of opportunity. Once the novelty of tinkling all over the place and wiping it up wore off, Sofia dutifully went pee-pee on the potty mid morning. It was exciting! We poured it into the toilet and she flushed and got to do her favorite activity - hand washing.

She napped in a pull up which was only slightly wet when she woke up. To sum up the afternoon/evening, there were three pee pee occurrences. (1) I caught her mid-stream at the pantry and redirected her successfully to the potty. (2) She asked my mom (by pointing) to use the potty during her bath and did. (3) Total miss during playtime in the basement. So I'd say we are operating at a 50% success rate! No poopy yet. We shall see what happens tomorrow...

Styrofoam Karate

Lucas has been itching to destroy things lately (in a positive way.) The other day I was trying to convince him to watch a nature show instead of Power Rangers and he almost complied, "but I really want to watch destroying." So I suggested a National Geographic about lions killing their prey but that wouldn't do. It had to be people, specifically ninjas destroying something. So Power Rangers it was.

He's also been kicking boxes and things around the house. He's doing a great job of channeling all this ninja energy (Sofia doesn't have a single bruise!) but I wanted to come up with a really great outlet for him. These styrofoam pieces were protecting a bookshelf I bought. The boy was in heaven. Martial arts classes, here we come!

Oh, and Sofia started saying baby today! It rhymes with her favorite word "Mommy" so it's actually "Bobby." :)

First Potty

A couple of weeks ago, I put a little potty in the bathroom for Sofia to sit on when she wanted to. At first she wanted to have nothing to do with it, and then it became a passion of hers. But she never did anything other than sit on it. Yesterday, she brought it to me while I was cooking and I asked her if she wanted to go potty. She said "Yeeesss" - the first word she says consistently (more on that later.) So we took it into the bathroom and I helped her sit down. And she went pee-pee!

Someone told me that according to Montessori wisdom, the "sensitive period" for toilet training is 12-18 months. So this is either the beginning, or a random occurrence. I'm thinking about going for it.

One Benefit of TV

Lucas, On Art

"Jackson Pollock's art is, like, massive!" Lucas says to me in the bathroom one day. "It's like this, and THIS, and this..." (making artistic, ninja-like swooshes that are way too grand for our little pink bathroom.)

Lucas's Jackson Pollock

His class was planning a trip to the High Museum and they were learning about several artists. I asked him which was ones he was going to see and he said Jackson Pollock, Pablo Picasso, and Renee (really Piet) Mondrian. He has Renee on the brain - more to come on that.

L: But one of them is not a real artist.
Me: Oh ya? Which one is that?
L: Pablo Picasso.
Me: Why not?
L: Because sometimes when he paints faces he paints them like this (looks as if he is molding some sort of slime that keeps slipping through his fingers) and paints diamonds for eyes and stuff. When he was older he got better though.

Incidentally, Lucas is also a sock artist.