asteroid B612

Yesterday Ellis went to the dentist for the first time. Can I tell you how much I have been dreading this? Putting it off until the very last minute? It takes two of us to pin him down for a haircut; I could only imagine the horror of the first dentist visit. But, to my utter surprise, Ellis was PERFECT!!! No fussing, no big weepy eyes, no squirming. He just hopped right up there and did exactly what he was supposed to do!

Today marks his First Day of Preschool. He is an official preschooler. There's more to write on that. He's in a new classroom with new teachers, though many of the same students. He hopped on the bus (really, a van) with no problem this morning. I wasn't sure what to expect. And off he goes!

Ellis is basically potty trained IF both of the following conditions are met:

1) His bum is naked.
2) He is using a home toilet, either the potty chair or the seat on the big potty.

He takes himself no problem, number 1 AND 2, if those conditions are the case.

Not even cotton undies can sway him. Must be free to the air. The voluntary taking himself is way more than I ever expected at this point. I just have no idea how to communicate the need to clothe himself AND voluntarily take himself. But you know, minor details.

Has led to some humorous moments such as the prancing down the hallway wearing my black high heels wearing NOTHING but a Tshirt. Or stark naked climbing into a shelf in our wardrobe (he was sure to empty the shelf of all its clothes first). So thoughtful.

I reluctantly began potty training school today. Yep, full force. Reluctant, because I think E has shown enough readiness signs, but it'll take mountains of M&Ms to motivate him. He's sort of the type that's hard to move until he makes up his mind to do so. Just ask his speech therapist. This personality trait can be wielded for great things, but it exasperates a mama whose sick of putting gigantic diapers on this child's bum.

It's almost 2.30 pm. We're on our fourth pair of cotton training pants. Totally expected that. He actually did go once in the potty.

Morale is lagging a bit. It's gotta happen one way or another.

Well, Jeannette was in Lancaster to relax. I was there to work. Ellis went off with Nick so that I could hang shelves unencumbered. Of course, I wasn't finished before E returned, so he ended up helping me with the last stages of the work. He actually was quite good with the drill. I held it and he pulled the trigger. He got the low screws and I got the high ones.

At some point, though, E wandered off from the work area, to return some moments later with a newspaper. I looked down into his beaming face and took the paper to see what he was so excited about. He reached up, and jammed his finger into the picture of the fireworks that accompanied the front page story about last night's festivities. With wide eyes and an ear-to-ear smile, he nodded and signed \.

Man, my heart just about blowed up.

My baby turned three last Sunday. He is such a big boy now.

I can't begin to describe the love and the joy I have for this boy. He made a mother. He's kept me awake for longer than I thought was humanly possible. He's brought me into worlds I never knew. (and yes, that is a lame rice krispie treat cake. at least it's in the shape of a car)

Happy Birthday, Ellis!

This morning while E was watching a little George, I changed his diaper and took off his pajamas. I had his clothes for the days with me, but he snuggled up in the blanket, so I let him be snuggly for a little bit, while I took a shower and told him that when I was done it would be time to get dressed.

As I finished my shower, he came bursting into the bathroom whining. He had put his shirt on!! (And was having trouble with the overalls, hence the frustrated whining. Turns out one of the legs was inside-out. Frustrating indeed.)

My little boy dressed himself!!!!! And I never taught him how. He just did.

So we made our final decision today and bought our new camera. I looked at the Canon SLR and SI series, but they were both too much camera for me. I really, truly wanted super compact. And I found myself gravitating back to the A series. Our old camera was an A95. Today we got the A720IS (image stabilization). Really, it was either that or the A570, the differences were minimal. But the 720s were on sale at Target and we wanted to have the camera by the weekend, so we paid a little extra for the 720. Chris had ordered the 570 at the beginning of the week, but got on email saying they were out of stock. So we ended up with the 720.

The first thing we did when we got home was get Ellis to bed. And the first thing I did was get out my camera for the first step in the process: the Bath. We have found a new way to make baths appealing and exciting again to E, who had declared a bath hiatus (though he wasn't getting one; he just wished he was and proclaimed so loudly). Bubbles!! The Bath Giving Parent blows bubbles and E catches them, and since he's all wet and soapy he can catch quite a few. Today he was aiming the Squirty Penguin at them, too.

I took a bunch of pics with the flash. haven't figured out the manual settings yet. But I'm pretty excited. And this A model is so much more compact and lighter than the old one. Responds waaaaay faster. And the construction is more solid. There were some construction flaws that exacerbated the quick demise of the old one (mainly loose seams) that are all one piece on this one. So hopefully we are well on our way to Second Child Photo Plentitude. He shall not be left in pictoral abyss.

We had fun enjoying some warmer temps the other day. I played with my friend's camera and got some cute shots of Ellis and Maddie. He's about 10mos older than she is, and the age difference is starting to close a bit. It's fun to see!

Also, notice his car shirt? Yea, basically E's two favorite articles of clothing are anything with cars on it and fun socks. The other day he insisted on wearing a pair of my socks (infinitely funner than the white sport socks I was offering). And it's pretty much a Major Tragedy to take off a car festooned shirt or pajama if another such car sporting item is not offered in its place. Yea, I'm thinking some stencils are in order to make part of his wardrobe acceptable items. haha.
He also seems to favor the color green. I can get him to wear a shirt that has green on it if it doesn't have a car.

Just when you think you have two-year-old figured out, he goes wonky on you. Morphs into a new human. There's a hundred little ways he's growing and changing. He wants to do it himself--he gets the juice out the fridge, hands me the bottle to pour for him, and puts it back. (I'm dreading the day when he decided he can pour it, too.) He comes up with more games to play. He obsesses over his cars. He hangs out in Blue Ikea Bags.

And then after two years of a consistent bedtime routine that starts with a bath, which has always loved, he decides that he hates baths. I mean loathes them. Like the water is going to make him melt. And then two nights ago, baths are okay again. We never stopped giving him a bath, because we can't think outside the box of the Bedtime Routine. We all depend on it, so even if he just got his toes wet, we still could check that off the Routine Checklist.

And the CI? um, he's never been thrilled with wearing it, but was getting into a new groove. But then, he just decided he was over it. And now it's cool again.

Wearing shoes? well, he can be persuaded to wear yellow, rubber boots.

Because I'm the mom, I see the long-term benefits of having a bath, wearing the CI, wearing shoes, so I have to find a way to speak his language. And he will be persuaded eventually. For a 2yo life is play, a game. That's how he learns. I can't compromise on the things that need doing, but I can alter how I approach him about doing them.

This is a typical CI-putting-on session:
Me: "It's time to put on your CI." (signing)
E: shakes head, signs "no", covers his ear.
Me: "Should Mommy wear it?"
E: laughs, shakes head no
Me: "Should Monkey [or Bear or Cow or Doll or Lightening McQueen] wear it?"
E: laughs, shakes head no
Me: "Whose CI is it?"
E: signs MINE, laughing
Me: "Where does it go? On your toes?"
E: laughs, no
Me: "On your thumb?"
E: laughs, no
Me: "On your nose?"
E: laughs, no
Me: "Where?"
E: laughing, offers his right ear, where I calmly attach it to his head

Repeat scenario for dressing, diaper changing, baths, eating. At the end of the day we have a cared for toddler and a mom expert in diplomacy, seriously, the UN should hire me. Sometimes he needs more of this others. Sometimes, he's just like OK! What can I say? Toddlers like routines. Even if it is a play routine.

I only had to do the CI Routine 4 times yesterday. Beats 4 times in an hour.

We played outside for a solid two hours.

And built a snow Daddy and a snow horse.

And enjoyed some drinking hot chocolate and watching a little monkey when we came back in.