Musings About Life... After Birth

Here in DC, my Momtourage and I are in full-on potty training mode. Some of us have all but accomplished fully potty training our kids (Dana), some are well on their way (Alicia), and some are just beginning to introduce the idea (the rest of us). Regardless of where we actually are in the process, it’s all on our minds, as most of us have kids who will be 3 between August and December.

I fall into the “just beginning to introduce the idea” category, as Big Bro is no where near being fully ready. He is, however, interested in the subject, which is promising. He loves sitting on his little potty before he takes a bath at at other times during the day, and occasionally, as luck would have it, he pees in it. My husband and I make a huge deal of it when he does, he feels happy, and all is good in the world. Now he’s fixated on pooping in it, which I consider a sign of progress. He’ll sit and sit and grunt, hoping to make things happen, confused as to why “the poop’s not coming out!” each time he wants it to. Despite this frustration, a few days ago, he actually was successful. My husband and I were freaking out, we were so excited (never thought we’d be those parents, but, of course, we are), not to mention proud of him. It hasn’t happened again since then, but he keeps on trying, and that’s all we can ask for at this point.

To maintain a child’s potty training momentum, a lot of professionals and books recommend instituting some kind of reward system - you know, a sticker a star or some sort of treat each time they go, as incentive. My kid’s not into stickers, but he does love hand stamps, so I’m using Melissa & Doug’s Happy Handle Stamping Set as his bathroom bonus. Each time he goes, he gets to pick one stamp (current favorite: the paw print, which he says is a “clue” as in a “Blue’s Clue’s” clue). They’re easy, convenient and economical, and, best of all, he really feels like getting one is some special sort of treat. Therefore, in my opinion, they’re the perfect potty reward. And if you’re one of those folks who gets all concerned about the psychological ramifications of rewarding your kid each time he poops or pees on the potty, chill. Do you honestly think he’ll be 13 and still expecting a sticker each he poops? Glad we’re clear.

You can get a stamping set of your own for $9.95 at divasanddrooligans.com. For 15% off your purchase of the stamping set and anything else you find on there that you must have, enter code MOMTOURAGE15. The site is also running a cool promotion where if you spend $35 or more on merchandise, you can purchase any of their screen tees or onesies for $1 when you enter the code DOLLARTSHIRT.

Now go forth and potty train!

Those of you who read this blog regularly know that I have two sons and no daughters. As it looks less likely every day that I can handle having more kids (read: another shot at a girl), I am therefore hoping that at least one of my sons will be gay. If this is true, perhaps I will have one shopping and Project Runway-obsessed companion who will not think twice about traveling to the beach with me when he’s 30. Let’s be honest here: if one of my 30-year old, married,  straight sons wants to go on vacation with his Mommy, that’s a little weird. If one of those sons is gay, however, not so much. You feeling me here?

My littlest guy is only 2 months old, so I have no read on him yet. My oldest son, however, I think I do. He is 2 1/2, has always been obsessed with tractors. His obsession of the moment, however is monster trucks. No only does he reek of “straight”, he also smacks of my South Georgia heritage. Sadly, I’m just not thinking he’s gonna be gay.

To divert his attention from tractors and monster trucks towards pink tutus and The Nutcracker, I begged Momtourage member Alison to take him as her twin daughters’ “special guest” to ballet class, but she didn’t, opting instead to bring Momtourgae member Jen’s little girl, Maddie. “I guess he could go too,” she said, “but it will probably be all girls.” I know she was humoring me in pretending to entertain the idea, but I was serious.

Recently, however, I’m feeling a little more optimistic, as he’s been exhibiting some slightly promising tendencies:

1) He demonstrates a CLEAR preference for the colors purple and pink (usually purple, but #2 is pink). I’m gonna ignore the fact that he asked for a red balloon instead of his predictable purple the other day when we were at Trader Joe’s. He said it was because it was the same color as a fire truck, but I think by “fire truck” he meant lipstick.

2) He is WAY into blow drying his hair with my hair dryer.