Knots in my stomach...

We've been potty training intensely for three and half days now. Ivan is doing great. Mom, however, is all tied up in knots. I never thought that the "wanting your child to succeed"stress would occur so early-on. I thought that this type of ulcer-causing stress came later when you watched them start High School or College or Med. School or whatever, but not potty training!

In short I am a mess.



This morning we had our first outing with big boy pants on. Ivan desperately needed a haircut and Liz (my stylist that cuts his hair too) was on vacation all last week so she squeezed us in this morning at 10:45. I thought of little else all day yesterday, trying to plan for success. When Ivan woke-up this morning he had his usual glass of milk (strawberry and chocolate please) and a yogurt bar for breakfast. The plan was to keep all other liquids away from him until we were safely home again. Well, we went to brush our teeth at 10 and before I even realized it Ivan was downing his "rinse water". It didn't even register with me that he was drinking until he was almost finished. The already existing knot in my stomach began to grow. Then the doubt crept in..."Should I put him in a diaper, should I put the rubber training pants on him, should I cancel the appointment all together?" Then sanity knocked on the door and I chilled out a little bit. I decided that the only way that he was ever going to learn what to do was to do it...so we had a potty time before we left the house and again when we got to Liz's. He produced results on both occasions much to my relief. When the haircut was over his pants were dry and all was well with the world.

But wait there's more!





Ivan really dislikes getting his haircut. He loves Liz, but doesn't like anyone messing with his hair (except Mom). Since I know that I would butcher it, he must suffer and sit in Liz's chair. Since he dislikes it so much he can make it rather difficult to cut. To avoid this I promised him a special surprise this morning if he sat still for Miss Liz. I had to pull that one out several times while we were there, but in the end it worked and Ivan got a great haircut. As Liz was snipping along she asked me what the surprise was. I was panicked. I hadn't thought of anything yet, I was flying by the seat of my pants on this one and now I was busted! I blurted out that we were going to McDonald's for lunch and a little play land time. What? What did I just say? As though I wasn't already sweating our outing enough I had extended it! Had I lost my mind? In short, yes I had. Unfortunately, Ivan was all ears and immediately started saying "McDonald's Mommy?" meaning "Are we going to cheeseburger heaven, Mommy?" What was I to do? I couldn't let my little one down. I had said it and so it was to be. Despite the knot in my stomach which was beginning to feel like a boulder, we drove to the house of cheeseburgers and had two more successful potty times. Ivan ate his lunch and played on the indoor play equipment for awhile, until Mom could take no more of it.

We drove straight home and as we did so I could feel the knot unraveling inside my stomach. A huge smile of relief crossed my face as we entered the house. Ivan had done it. He had gone out in big boy pants and had kept them clean and dry the entire time.

One knot creating incident down, 3 million to go!

It Feels Like Home...

Before we moved to our new home my sister shared a warning with me. She advised me not to be surprised if the new house did not feel like home for a while. She admitted that it took her almost two years to really consider their new house their home. She said that with your fist house it is just that, your first house. It takes little to no time to consider it your own. However, the second house seems to take awhile to "break-in". I appreciated the advice and really started to prepare myself for that feeling of I live here, but it isn't home yet.

I am thrilled to say though that nothing could be further from the truth for me! This house has felt like home from the day we moved in...literally It is remarkable but both J and I feel this way about the house. There is work to be done but it just feels right. That is not to say that our old house did not feel like home, it did...but it was J and C's home, not the house we plan to raise Ivan (and maybe some day another one) in.

I am attributing this instant comfort to the fact that this was the house that God had set aside for us all along. Despite my insistence (at the time) that the other house we bid on first was the right house. J was never as comfortable with the other house, but I was CERTAIN that it was the one for us. In truth, I was seduced by all of the wrong things and God knew it and spared us from making that mistake. He hardened the hearts of the seller's to our offers because He knew where we were supposed to be...I just wouldn't listen.

Thank you Lord for sparing me from my own short-sightedness. Thank you Lord for putting us right where we need to be.

Talking on the phone...

Yet another sign pointing to how quickly Ivan is growing-up before my very eyes.

Ivan has long enjoyed listening to others talk to him on the phone. He would, on occasion, use his play phone to call someone, usually Nana. However, when he was on the phone he would rarely interact with the person on the other end of the phone. Over the past several months he has enjoyed calling his Daddy at work and saying on cue "Hey Daddy!" but that was about all he would say while J talked to him and engaged him in "conversation". All of that has dramatically changed recently.

Now, Ivan calls lots of people on his phone and yaks at them. When someone wants to talk to him on the real phone he answers their questions to the best of his ability and even closes with "Bye, Bye." at the end of the conversation. I experienced this first hand the other day and it was so wonderful. Our conversation went something like this:

Mom: Hi Ivan.

Ivan: Hey Mommy.

M: What are you doing at P W's?

I: Wholey Polly. (He was is search of more Roley Polly Bugs)

M: Are you having fun?

I: Uh-huh.

M: I love you, Ivan.

I: I love you, Mommy.

M: Bye, Bye Ivan. I'll see you soon.

I: Bye, Bye Mommy.

And with that he handed the phone back to my Dad. That was my first real phone "conversation" with Ivan. It's going by at lightening speed.

Driving around in my automobile...

I know that some people really dislike the carts at the grocery store with the little car in the front (there are no TV's in them where we shop - thank goodness) but I think that they are kind of cute. I have offered a ride in one to Ivan on a few different occasions and have always been met with a "No, please." He says please instead of thank you - we're working on that one but I feel that a misplaced please is better than none at all. Anyway, today we were at our local warehouse club when Ivan spotted a cart with a car on the front waiting in the cart coral. He dove into the little car and immediately buckled himself into the seat. He was thoroughly delighted throughout our shopping trip with his new seat and I was just as delighted to watch him "steer" the cart and honk the horn (sometimes both horns) from the back of the cart.

As I sit here writing this it is hitting me...he is growing-up so fast. The last time that I offered for him to sit in the car cart he said "No, please. Up, please". He wanted to be where he could see and interact with me. We do a lot of talking while we shop. I'm a talker what can I say? He is more secure now and really starting to embrace his Independence more and more. That's not to say that we didn't interact during our shopping trip, we did. However, it was limited and usually consisted of Ivan a) making sure I was still there and b) the two of us talking about his "driving" of the cart.

It's going by so fast and I love him so much.

WHY?

Guess who's favorite word is Why? This is not my favorite stage...to say the least. When will it end?