A New Chapter

This last weekend has been quite momentous for several different reasons. First, Jeremy got sick. That is "momentous" because Jeremy NEVER gets sick. He had a fever for two days and then got something akin to food poisoning on Saturday and even skipped work on Monday in order to fully recover.

Second, we had a date! I'm sure that's momentous for obvious reasons. We had a really nice time. Jeremiah had a "date" with Miss Lori from the church and it was Jonah-free. He needs a break just as much as we do. So, during our date, we went shopping for food and for underwear (trust me, you'll see the link soon), had lunch at Olive Garden and then went home to decorate our tree and surprise Jeremiah with it when he came home. All in all, a great day!

Third, our little boy started being potty-trained. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Jeremiah is now going potty on the toilet... some of the time. The underwear was for him (just in case you needed help with creating that link I talked about earlier). We started on Sunday and it was a terrible beginning. We found out that our son has no problem being nasty and dirty... he'll be dripping down his pants and when I ask "Are you wet?" he'll perkily say, "Nope!" And that obviously brings up other issues, such as lying and deceit. Several times, we'd find a trail of pee on the carpet... it definitely wasn't from the dogs as they were trying to track the scent. It would inevitably lead to an oblivious and ambivalent Jeremiah. He did go on the toilet twice on Sunday... but Monday was a much better training day.

We had Kindermusik in the morning like we normally do on Mondays... but since we had Daddy home, we decided to make a special stop at McDonald's to play on the slides and get ice cream. While we were there, I decided it was time for Jeremiah to try, try again. They have child-sized toilets in the play area bathroom, so while Jeremiah was "trying" I left briefly to get another pull-up (since he had gotten the other one dirty). When I came back, Jeremiah was hunched over himself looking at his "Peepee" marveling over the little drop that seemed to be hanging on with all its might.

As mothers ought, I got very excited and clapped my hands and said "Let it go in the potty!" Jeremiah tried to help it into the toilet by touching it, but I said "Noooo! Just let it drop in." So, he started furiously blowing on it to try and help get in the toilet faster. He had three more drips and ran outside to tell Daddy about his "drops in the potty."

We've had two days with successes in both of them. Jeremiah went potty three times on Monday and even told me (belatedly) when he had to go, so at least he's getting the idea and progressing positively.

This morning, he already woke up with a wet pull-up, but we'll just keep trying. He sat on the toilet for 5 minutes with no complaining.

I've realized that potty-time is a great time to just listen to my son talk about whatever he wants. Jonah has been a real distraction to all of us and now that we are working on a "no diaper" goal with Jeremiah, it is in my schedule to just sit down with him for 5 minutes while he is on the toilet. Don't get me wrong, I was spending time with Jeremiah before, but Jonah was still there. Jeremiah has been including Jonah in as many activities as he can. I think, though, that Jeremiah needs to know that it is okay to just be with Mama by himself. Since Jonah doesn't go in the bathroom with us, it has become part of our time together and Jeremiah is seeing that I don't always put Jonah first. Just as Jeremiah sometimes needs to wait for what he wants, so does his little brother. It's good practice for me to make good decisions on what my priority should be at any given moment. I'm sure this is part of what God is trying to teach me during this parenting time of life.