The potty is MINE!

A few days ago I was watching Matthew in the morning as usual when all of a sudden I had an urgent need to have a BM. I went to the bathroom, but Matthew followed. "Daddy's got to use the potty, Matthew," I said. "No! Mine! Potty! Mine!" He got quite upset by the idea that Daddy was going to use his potty before he did.

So, fine. Take him out of his sleeper. Unbutton the onesie, undo the diaper. Pose him long enough to tinkle. All the while needing to go myself in the worst way.

Wash his hands. New diaper. Into the sleeper. "Treat! Treat!" Of course he took FOREVER to choose a treat while Daddy is practically hopping with impatience.

Finally he made his choice and Daddy made a dash for the potty while Matthew was distracted by his candy.

Rachel thinks this story is a lot funnier than I do. :)

Potty reasoning

Changing another poopy diaper today -- Matthew still hasn't pooped in the toilet -- I asked Matthew rhetorically but with some exasperation why he didn't go poo-poo in the potty? Poo-poo belongs in the potty.

"Poo-poo... potty... treat!" he said. "Mmm!"

Maybe there is hope.

Some Matthew-isms

Watching his vocabulary grow:

[Inviting Dad to share a bagel with him] "Sih! Wigh heawh!" (Sit! Right here!)

[Dad opens the fridge door] "Hmm. Wes see..."

[Accepting Dad's offer] "Aw wigh." (All right.) Also: Rachel tells me he says Sure sometimes, but I haven't heard it yet. He used to say Okay on occasion; that seems to have taken a back seat to Aw wigh.

[Taking Matthew outside] "Tsurts!" (Church!) Clarification: Matthew likes to tromp around in the snow in our neighbors yards where the houses block enough sun to leave some unmelted in the grass. Some of our neighbors are touchy about the tromping of little feet, though, so I take him to the church where he can tromp as much as he likes.


And now, a little Matthew story: yesterday our son was a total pill after waking up from his nap far too early. He was grumpy all afternoon, whining a lot and throwing tantrums at the drop of a hat. I offered to take him out to give Rachel a break, but she wanted to come too. So, we went to the mall to let our pill run around. After running Mom and Dad ragged trying to keep up with him for half an hour, Dad spotted a baby-sitting service. $5 gets you an hour away from your son! A bargain at twice the price!

There were about half a dozen other kids in there playing, and Matthew couldn't wait to get in. Rachel was skeptical, but we left our cell phone number just in case and had a nice "date" for the next hour. The cell phone didn't ring and when we came back, he didn't want to leave. He really does like playing with (around, anyway) other kids. Still, it was getting close to bedtime, so we picked him up and he immediately reverted to grumpystiltskins mode.

He woke up happy this morning, though.

The Peanut Returns

The weather's been mild this week so yesterday we walked to church. It turns out that at least one person in the area is quite inconsiderate about where his dog drops its turds; one stretch of grass was littered with them literally every 3 or 4 feet.

Naturally, this fascinated Matthew. "Yuck! Poo poo!" Just as naturally, I got a kick out of this. "Look, Matthew! More poo poo!"

I probably don't have to tell you that Rachel wasn't amused. But, on the way home (while I was in a meeting) she got dragged into the conversation enough to tell Matthew that it was probably dog poo poo.

This information in hand, when I took Matthew outside tonight to stretch his legs, he ran the whole way to where the turds began. "Poo poo! Dog! Yuck!" Really amazing how little it takes to make his day. I think he was a little disappointed that we didn't actually meet the dog responsible, though.