It's a Really Big Deal

Well, my excuse for not blogging in almost two months is thus: potty training.

It has been a l-o-n-g time coming at our house, but in the last few months Harry started going potty at school, then slowly working on it at home, and now we are at the point where we are running errands with underwear instead of Pull-Ups. It's scary for me, mostly because of the time Harry peed buckets in the shoe section of Kohls, but Harry is always really excited to be wearing underwear, and we've been away from the house for almost two hours sometimes without an accident. He's not scared to go to the bathroom away from home, which I had been really worried about, and he has this awesome habit of commenting loudly on how clean/stinky/noisy/busy said restroom is.

And we have a whole new subject for hilarity in our family:

• One of the cars in his train set is the "potty train."
• He yells "It's an emergency!" when we have to hurry from one end of the grocery store to the other for a potty break.
• Harry wiggles his hips back and forth after he pees, and wants to wash his hands before pulling his pants back up.
• Every time he poops, he looks at it and says, "What did I eat?" and when he has Superman ice cream, he tells everyone, "This makes my poop green."

It's so amazing to me that Harry really just had to decide he was ready, and we just had to be patient and not force it.

And I'm saving about thirty bucks a month on Pull-Ups, y'all. Big win.

3

Harry woke up at 5:50 this morning, which is nothing new. What was a little out of the ordinary was the fact that Kevin popped right out of bed when he heard Harry and me moving around in the living room. He did not want to miss the moment when Harry saw his birthday present.

Kevin picked out this gift more than two months ago, kept it hidden in the basement, and brought it upstairs last night after Harry went to bed. As Kevin went to the dining room to get it, Harry said, "Where's Daddy going?"

"He's getting a birthday surprise for you!" I said.

"Really big cake?" Harry asked, his eyes hopeful.

"No, your birthday present."

Kevin returned with the present.

Harry said, "It's not a cake."

Harry, warming up to his present. Ten minutes later, it was officially a hit.

Harry was, of course, pretty excited to see his cake after lunch. And this was the first year that Harry blew out the candles all by himself, and on the first try. More birthday festivies are on tap, including a minor league hockey game tonight and a trip to an amusement park tomorrow. If I survive, believe that I will be blogging about it.

Nursery Rhymes

Harry has been working on nursery rhymes at daycare. He'll be 3 soon, so it's just plain adorable and hilarious to hear him recite them, especially because he gets really mad/embarrassed when he realizes I'm listening.

Kevin was in bed with a migraine this morning and Harry wanted to cuddle, so we all got under the covers. It was only 6:15, so I was entertaining the hope that Harry might actually fall back to sleep, thus allowing me to fall back to sleep. Instead he started chanting:

Twinkle, twinkle little star
Little star
Little star
Little star
Little star
Little star
Little star
Little star
Little star
Little star
Little star
Where you are?

And at dinner tonight:

Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep
And I don't need to find them

Not the most chivalrous or sympathetic thing Harry has ever said, but pretty cute none the less.

Stress Beaters

It's been a little, well, insane for me lately. Classes are winding down, which is great, but that means I start the Great Unpaid Internship soon, which means Harry will be going to daycare for the first time, which is really expensive, etc., etc.

So, to maintain a little sanity, or just enjoy a little break from the nontuberculous mycobacteria and spectrophotometry, I've been wasting an awful lot of time here. And here. And here. Enjoy.

Constant Entertainment

I watch quite a bit less TV since Harry was born. Kevin and I are still keeping up on The Office (our old favorite), Community (our new favorite), and Lost (because Season 1 was awesome and we've invested too much time in it not to watch the last few episodes). The bulk of my entertainment now, though, comes from Harry.

Sometimes it's adorable, like when he kept yelling "Snow White!" to our waitress at the little sandwich place down the street last night. He was genuinely upset when she disappeared into the kitchen, and called "Wo-white!"

And sometimes I have to hear about something secondhand, but that doesn't make it any less funny. Yesterday my parents were bringing Harry home when they stopped at the ATM machine. Harry did the only sensible thing one does when a moving car stops next to a building and the window is rolled down: ask for French fries.

Finally, there's this little number:

And FYI, the new rug covers up a big ol' vomit spot from last week.

From the Mouths of Babes

5:30 to 7 each night, particular weeknights, is Harry's special time with Kevin. It gives me a chance to pull together what I will loosely refer to as "dinner" and get a little transcription done. Daddy Time usually consists of playing in the basement, which includes Kevin's drums, a big couch to climb on, a full set of tiny plastic NFl helmets, and the VCR.

Last night I was cleaning up the kitchen when I heard Kevin's uncontrolled laughter from the basement. Curious but busy, I went on with my activities, and when Kevin and Harry came upstairs, Kevin asked me, "Did you hear me laughing?"

Me: Yeah. What happened?
Kevin: Harry was sitting on my lap and we were watching The Yellow Submarine. I farted, and then he looked at me, got up, and said "poop."
Me: What?
Kevin: I told him that I didn't poop, I just farted, but he pointed at me and said "poop" again.

Then it was my turn for uncontrolled laughter.

Everyday Humor

I made a really quick stop at the library today and while looking for a book I noted something interesting about one of the alphabetical/informational signs: you know, the ones that explain which authors are to found on which aisles. DEF -- DUM.

This made me wonder how often these signs are changed, and if I will see something this amusing next time.

Random Funny

Me: What do you think makes someone decide to become a colon and rectal surgeon?
Kevin: An opening, I guess.

He said this with complete and total innocence, and went on to add, "or maybe the money," but by this point I was already laughing uncontrollably.