Tinkle Tinkle, Little Star

Dexter has been familiar with the potty for about a year. Over this time, his interest in the potty has ebbed and flowed. When he was interested, Ben and I would invest time and energy in promoting potty use. While Dexter would enthusiastically sit on the potty and read potty books, he never actually produced anything on the potty. Last night I noticed that Dexter was talking a lot about going to the potty so I suggested that tomorrow he should wear his big boy underwear again. This morning Dexter was excited to wear his big boy underpants and picked out blue ones with trucks. Ben and I repeatedly reminded him to let us know when he had to go peeps or poops. Suddenly, without our prompting, Dexter came running up to us, exclaiming "I have to go!" I grabbed his hand to lead him to the bathroom and realized he was running funny. He was running funny because he had actually already peed and his pants and socks were soaked. Take two: camoflage underwear, same story but with Daddy since I was at a doctor's appointment. Take three: blue underwear with soccer, basket, and footballs on them. This time he just came up to me and said he wanted to get new underwear. I asked if he had pooped and he said yes so I told him we'd have to change his underwear in the bathroom. But when I looked, I saw that there was no poop, just a tiny spot of pee. I suggested he sit on the potty and he agreed. More potty books, no peeps. This time I suggested that he not put on any pants or underwear and managed to get him engaged in playing with his Lincoln Logs. He started running around a bit (enjoying feeling pretty free) and then came up to me and said, "I peed while I was running!" I didn't see any pee on the floor but did notice some drops on his legs. Back to the bathroom we went. More potty books, more waiting for nothing. The next time, Dexter came up to me and said he had to go. I helped him onto the potty and we started reading "My Very Own Potty" and while I was reading the second page, I saw a funny look on Dexter's face and heard his pee-pee going into the potty!! We looked at each other with sheer excitement on our faces. I said, "You're going pee-pee on the potty!!! Do you hear it?" "Yes!", he exclaimed with a huge smile on his face. He couldn't wait for Daddy to come home from teaching to tell him all about it. He didn't have to wait long - within 15 minutes Daddy was home and barebutt Dexter was telling him all about how he went pee-pee on the potty. We all had a big parade for Dexter and then Dexter again said he had to go to the potty. Daddy took him this time. We both were thinking this would be a poop but it turned out to be another pee! Then we took Dexter out to eat and celebrate the first day he did a peeps in the potty.

Forever I will associate Leap Year with the first time Dexter ever peed in the potty.

Win-Win

Dexter seems to have figured out a win-win solution to getting out of bed before dawn and being put back in bed by Mommy or Daddy until sunrise. The other morning (at 5:00 in the morning!), Dexter was at our bed saying it was time to get up. I told him that it was still the middle of the night and that he had to go back to bed. I led him back to his room, tucked him in, and told him that it wouldn't be time to get up until the sun came up (of course, the sun is starting to rise earlier and earlier so I was pulling his shades and drapes shut to keep out any emerging sunlight). I went back to bed, pleased that he went back down so willingly. Soon, I heard him playing with toys in his room. A fine compromise I thought and drifted in and out of fuzzy morning sleep. Before long, I heard Dexter's door open and braced myself for getting up with him. But as he was walking towards our bedroom door, I heard him say to himself, "Mmmmmm. I'll close Mommy and Daddy's door." And he did! Then he went right ahead playing by himself in the living room without "disturbing" us. Now we just need to be aware of the fact that he might get up and close our bedroom door without waking us up first...

Houdini

We knew that once Dexter was in his big boy bed he would be free to roam around in and leave his room. We not looking forward to this new turn of events but knew it was inevitable. While Dexter did roam around in his room while waiting for one of us to get him up in the morning or after nap, and while he would open his door for us when we knocked, he never took it upon himself to actually leave his room on his own. Ben and I were so relieved - sleeping until 7 and afternoon naps seemed to safely remain a part of our daily lives. Until two days ago when I went out to a cafe to work for a couple of hours while Dexy was "napping" and came home to find Dexter and My Bologna playing quietly in the living room and Daddy napping soundly in bed about ten feet away. Little Houdini had figured out he could just leave his room at will. Bye-bye nap-time for Mommy and Daddy. It was fun while it lasted.

Dexter Unplugged

About six months ago, Ben and I thought it would be best to wean Dexter off of his pacifier. We tried the, "you're a big boy now and there are little babies who need pacis - wouldn't you like to help those little babies?" approach. Dexter was totally receptive, helped box up the pacis for the Paci Fairy to give to the little babies, and was proud of himself for being such a big boy. Until it was bedtime and he lost his mind. Ben and I panicked, brought back his pacis, and Dexter clutched them all in fear that they would disappear. When Dexy moved to a big boy bed, we tried the same song and dance again but let him keep one paci for himself. That worked - we were successfully down to one plug. Over the past month, Dexter has chewed on this paci until it sprouted so many holes even he didn't want it anymore. As I was putting Dexter down for bed on Friday, he handed me the paci and asked me to take it. "This plug is broken. I don't like broken plugs." And he slept the night without it! Last night there was some back and forth about the plug so I kept bringing it back to him and taking it away at his request. It was clear he was having some trouble falling asleep without it (he kept sucking his cheeks in and putting his hand to his mouth like he used to do to feel the paci) but he did it. I don't want to jinx it but I think he's finally kicked his paci habit!

First Field Trip

I took a personal day from work on Thursday so I could accompany Dexter and Daddy on Dexy's first-ever field trip with school. Dexter had to wear his "regulation" Park District T-Shirt for the day. We took a school bus to see the play Jack and the Beanstalk. The school bus was a HUGE thrill for Dexter (Daddy's and my backs are still aching from riding that thing). Dexter did great throughout the whole thing - waiting patiently to board the bus, waiting patiently for the play to start. He enjoyed the play - sat through the whole thing (it was almost an hour long) and is still talking about how Jack ran around and around and how the beanstalk grew REALLY REALLY tall!

Cowboy Dexter

Dexy put on my boots and hat and said, "I'm a cowboy, Mommy!"

Hurricane Dexter

The power struggles with Dexter have begun. While Ben and I are happy to not have a wet noodle of a child, we are trying to figure out how best to foster Dexy's agency without breaking his spirit and still guiding him towards socially-acceptable behaviors. The most recent manifestation of this was around Dexter's books. Dexy has a bookshelf in his room and a few weeks ago he decided that rather than nap, he would pile all of his books onto the floor of his room and run around on top of the big pile. For a few days we explained that this was not the way to treat books and made him help us put them back in the bookshelf. But the big pile of books continued. Next, we tried to make Dexter clean them up all by himself. He wasn't happy but complied. Still, the pile of books continued. Finally, we gave him the choice: Whichever books you put into a big pile on the floor are going away until you learn how to properly treat them. Sure enough, Dexter chose to make a big pile and we brought in a bag and put all the books from the floor into the bag. We explained to Dexy that these were going away because he didn't treat them properly and we would give them back in three days if he didn't make any more big piles of books on the floor (he still had some on the bookshelf that we left in his room). Dexter did a great job of not making a big pile of books and got a lot of praise from Mommy and Daddy until after nap on the third day, right before he would have gotten his books back, Hurricane Dexter hit. When I walked into the room, before I could say anything, Dexter said, "Get a bag, Mommy." He had trashed his whole room! Table on his bed, stuffed animals everywhere, and every single book on the floor. Now, we make him clean it all up before he can leave the room. The nap-time destruction continues but now he does the post-nap reconstruction. Interestingly, he hasn't put a book on the floor since and declares proudly, "I didn't take any books off!" each morning and when we get him out from nap.

Three Term Obama

Ben and I spend a few minutes before bed at night talking about our time with Dexter that day. I told Ben that Dexter kept saying something about Obama and three terms. "Three term Obama?" Ben asked. "Yes! He kept saying 'Three term Obama'!" I said. Ben said, "Oh, he was actually singing 'Sweet Home Alabama'." Between the two of us, we eventually get the translation right.

Some Kind of People

Dexter and I were talking.

Me to Dexter: Are you my snuggle bear?

Dexter to me: No...I'm some kind of people.

Yup, you sure are some kind of people, Dexy.