Saturday 4 October 2008

Newsflash...

OK, so some notable things have happened today.


Firstly, I just noticed that this is my 201st post. I ignored my blog birthday back in July because, well, simply because I never got round to noticing it, but 200 posts!!!!!! Who knew I had so much to waffle about? Admittedly, it's taken me nearly 18 months to get there, but still, 201? Really? Time flies when you're having fun...


Secondly, Boy #2 - bless him - is developing a sense of humour. Well, he's had one for a while now, but it appears he's fine tuning it. Hence the following conversation at the dinner table this evening;

Boy #2: "Finished. Let. me. down."

Me (using our parental stock answer when please's and thankyou's are not in evidence): "I beg your pardon?"

Boy #2 (slowly, as if to an idiot): "Let. Me. Down."

Me: "Come on, Boy #2. You know how to ask properly."

Boy #2: "Down."

Me: "When you ask properly. Like this. 'Please may I get down from the table?'"

Boy #2: "Yes."

Me: "No, not may I get down from the table, you. 'Please may I get down from the table?'"

Boy #2 (barely cracking a smile): "Yes. You. Can."

Me (struggling by now to keep a straight face): "No, Boy #2 say it. 'Please may I get down from the table?'"

Boy #2 (openly grinning by this stage): "Yes. Can."

And so on....

God help me when he's three.


And thirdly. Well, thirdly. I can't believe I've been able to leave this until the end of the post, it's such a milestone. Today, as he often does, my younger son sat on the potty before climbing into the bath. And today, as he often does, he assumed an air of concentration. What usually happens here is that he finally consents to stand up again, 5 minutes later, with nothing to show for this performance. But today - oh happy day - when he stood up, there was wee in the potty! Hallelujah! (Of such little triumphs is a mother's day composed...)

I'm trying not to get too excited though (well, if you call not getting 'too excited' texting the news to Husband in Italy and putting in a long distance phone call to his grandparents). Primarily because no-one seemed more astonished than he did by this development. And also because, after the bathwater had drained away, he wee'ed again, in the bath. And then asked "What's. That?" in a mildly interested tone of voice.

I think we still have a way to go before I need to change the name of this blog.

18 comments:

  1. Congrats on your 201st post! Add a few noughts for the number of laughs you've given us all!!
    We never bothered with the table thing - hubby is always the first to go as he can't abide the slow pace of a child's eating - or he has been known to read the paper...... and his manners are so good outside the home!
    Can't comprehend the potty thing - I missed Boy no. 1's experiences. But I'm guessing there's definitely a clue in the fact that the little man didn't know who did it! What a hoot! t.xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love his sense of humour! He is clearly going to be a bit of a heart breaker in the future too. As long as he cracks the potty training thing though....

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congrats on the 201st post, keeping a straight(ish) face when confronted by the wit of a 5 year old, and last but definitely not least on a wee in the pot!! A momentous day indeed;-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Squeeze boy #2 in his cute little cheeks for being adorable and you sure do spend a lot of time parenting on your own, don't you? Hats off to you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh, I'm so looking forward to this. For a start, it'll mean washing fewer towels. (Charlie habitually wees after his bath when I'm getting him dry!)

    ReplyDelete
  6. You'll have to watch boy #2, he sounds like one of those 'cheeky charmers' we get at school!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Congratulations.....it's prompted me to have a look at my tally!

    I can't tell you how pleased I am I stuck with my original plan (however tedious it sometimes gets) to eat all meals at the table. My friend Eliza and her husband and children eat from trays on their laps in front of the TV. As a result Ashley (who is the same age as Mac) doesn't know how to sit down at a table to eat so any outing that involves her doing just that doesn't happen - it's far too stressful according to Eliza. It certainly is the for the diners!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I've been missing these little excerpts from potty training for some time. So glad to see them back again.

    He sounds divine really - they both do. You are so lucky. Sigh....

    ReplyDelete
  9. Well done PM - I am very jealous about the wee in the potty. My youngest daughter is still determinedly refusing...

    The nappies are bankrupting us.

    BM x

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi KP, and yes, as expected, no potty action today. Oh well. There's always tomorrow.

    Iota - I bet your tally's higher.

    Mud, as long as he gets it sometime in the next 2 years we should be fine. Bored of changing nappies, perhaps, but fine...

    Hi Sharon - actually, the wit (this time, anyway) was from my 2 years 9 months old. My 5 year old tends more towards the 'my dog has no nose...' sense of humour right now...

    Irene, how did you know his cheeks are so squeezable? As for parenting solo a lot, well, needs must - for the time being, at least. And thankyou - I'll take all the praise I can get!

    Gosh TD, that would drive me crazy!

    WM, you have no idea... Took him to a party this afternoon. All the mummies were in love with him as he charmed them out of their biscuits...

    NH Mum, dinner at the table is the only way as far we are concerned. It may be stressful, messy, and long-winded, but I live in hope of being one of those 'sweetness and light' families who discuss interesting 'stuff' over their meals. Please, god, please?

    Aims, you are so right. They are divine. I am lucky. I know it.

    BM - don't worry. No wee tonight, probably none tomorrow or for ages, given his older brother's potty training record. It'll be a while, I'm sure...

    ReplyDelete
  11. Congrats on both counts. Next you can try putting Cheerios in the potty and getting him to aim at them. Just make sure you explain that they are not to be consumed after being in the potty!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Congratulations, and what an achievement re the potty.

    I well know what a relief it is to make these leaps, as we have also made progress; since the introduction of a 'star chart' a few weeks ago, Littleboy 1 has gone from several 'accidents' a day to about one a week.....how I wish I had thought of it before.

    ReplyDelete
  13. EPM, you see, there's the flaw. The not eating them afterwards... I may leave that one for a while.

    NVG, now I think about it I do remember doing something similar with my Boy #1... Not sure that Boy #2 is quite ready for that yet though. The potty has been dry ever since. At some point soon I will need to just make the leap and put him in normal pants, but since he's going to my parents for a few days shortly I think I will spare them the constantly running washing machine and leave it till he gets home.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Yikes! It's so funny when they realise what mummy is saying is up for questioning.
    My son sits there like the Dinner Police - elbows off the table daddy, don't talk with food in your mouth daddy (notice how it's always daddy, that's because mummy is perfect (cough cough).

    ReplyDelete
  15. His sense of humour sounds brilliant (and he's only two?!!)- i would not be able to keep a straight face.

    Great on the potty training. I perhaps got a little too excited when Betty came running into the kitchen the other day, pointed to her nappy and said 'Poo poo'

    'This is it' i thought, 'we are half way there' You being a seasoned trainer will probably tell me that i have a hell of a long way to go with it though!

    Great on the 201 posts!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Tara - aren't all mummies perfect? (That's what I tell my two, anyway.)

    Elsie, he's heading for 3 but yes, not there yet, and must admit I don't remember his older brother so actively taking the mickey out of me at the same age... As for potty training Betty, I would never say to anyone that it will definitely take ages. Some children (mostly girls, in my experience) seem to get it almost overnight. Others - like my sons - take just a little longer to be bothered with it...

    ReplyDelete
  17. I love this story and I will be tracking your potty training progress. As you may know, I will be going there before long.....oh the places they'll go...and hopefully not in the diaper much longer!

    ReplyDelete

Go on - you know you want to...