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Michael is in underwear! I admit, when I picked Christmas break to push him over the hump from “toilet trained while naked” to “toilet trained while clothed,” I was more than half expecting it to be a very messy, unhappy two weeks. And it started off that way. I started off with him in diapers, knowing there would be a learning curve. But Christmas Eve when he opened the package of dinosaur-and-Pixar briefs, he went insane with excitement. It was cracking me up. Alex, flummoxed, said, “He’s excited by underwear?”
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The underwear didn’t seem to be doing the trick, though. We were setting the timer for thirty minutes between bathroom breaks, and Michael did not like that schedule. Then we left for my in-laws’ house. We decided not to mess with toileting on the road (it’s a 4-hour drive, not counting stops). We just put him in a disposable and took off. And when we arrived, he was dry. And he hasn’t wet his underwear since. Can you believe that? He’s still not convinced of the need to do his other business in the toilet, but I’m crossing my fingers to clear that hurdle soon.
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Christian says Michael’s so focused on the physical, he just doesn’t have the attention to spare for learning to talk. But I think a 25-month-old who can be toilet trained is clearly cognitively ready to be pushed toward speech. I’ve decided it’s time to go ahead and see about some speech therapy. I’m guessing it won’t take very many sessions to get him talking.
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Christmas break is long this year, a full two school weeks off, but so far it’s been good. New playthings help, of course, but they still bicker plenty. Yet I’ve been taking time to really be with them–focused on Trivial Pursuit, or the threading of a wooden rosary, or whatever, not allowing half my heart & mind to drift to the writing not getting done. It is truly amazing how that has shifted the way I see my children. I am feeling these constant shivers of awe and gratitude and, well, presence. So much of these early years I’ve felt overwhelmed by the demands of physical caring for multiple littles (especially because Julianna still needs help with so much), and guilty for how quickly the frustration built. People were always telling me to enjoy it because it’s so fleeting, but there was just so much weight to bear, all those admonitions only made me feel worse for feeling the burden to be so heavy. For the first time, I’m feeling that weight lifting, allowing me to enjoy the kids and live in the moment. I’m going to have to write a full post on this one, there’s so much to say on the topic.
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Okay, finishing up with the Grammar police:
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Lest you think that is merely a cute spelling to draw attention, here’s the sign in their window:
I know it’s dark and hard to read, but it says Discount Walpapper. Ahem.
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Oh, why not add the other photo I took on the road? I call this one Creepy Mary:
What in the world? It looks like they glued on a statue’s head backwards and then put a littler Mary head on top. My question is….why?
Kathleen M. Basi 
I think it’s the ET Mary.
HA!
Reindeer for angels? The whole creepy thing would have given me nightmares as a kid!
Ana YAY!! For Michael and no diapers.
That Mary statue is just weird. And I abhor spelling mistakes on storefronts. Out of five boys, I only had one early toilet trainer and he was trained virtually overnight (night and day). He was two years, two months when he came to me and told me he wanted to use the toilet. I thought he was being cute. (The other four were older than three when trained).
I’m glad my fellow Catholics find that statue as creepy as I do. I thought I might get roasted for being anti-Mary or something. 🙂
Definitely creepy.
Yay on the toilet training! And yay for #4! I always loved those moments when it was less about doing for them and more about being with them.
Yes, exactly.
Congratulations on the potty training! We did the “big push” with our two year old over Christmas break too. Unfortunately, we weren’t quite as lucky visiting the in-laws (and it affected their carpet, yikes!), but we are making some progress now. He’s a big fan of the underwear too. Exciting times! 🙂
I too feel the haze lifting. Actually, it has lifted. I’m constantly surprised by the capability of my two oldest girls, and even the 6 year old. I’m so appreciative of these little ones. It’s such a blessing!
Creepy Mary indeed. I don’t get any of that display, including the two balls. Maybe somebody was on LSD when they set it up.
Spelling mistakes anywhere, but especially on businesses make the owners look bad. I was wondering if maybe non-English speakers owned the store. “Wallpapper” LOL. Maybe “Dizzy Wallpapper”.
Ew, That statue of Mary give sme the heeby-geebies. It has to be the strangest statue of Mary I’ve ever seen.
Yay to Michael with his potty training! I will never forget when Andrew was trained. He resisted like crazy and said he won’t go on the toilet until he “sees the Christmas tree.” Then three or four months after his third birthday he looked out the window to, saw the huge tree in our front yard and said, “Oh, it’s a Christmas tree.” He went to the bathroom, did his business and that was that. He never had an accident since. True story!