Constantly Amazed

Let me just say that I am really happy that our son can sleep right through thunder and lighting without even a peep.  I'm also glad that our dogs don't give a damn about it either.  With that being said, and as the title of my blog indicates, I am constantly amazed by our son.  This entire week has been wonderful in terms of potty training at day care.  The majority of the week our son has remained dry and actually used the potty about 90% of the time.  Sure, there are still those accidents, some at day care, some at home, but all in all, he is really starting to get a handle on this whole potty training thing.  Its funny in a way that it seems like such a natural process to us as adults, especially those without children, yet when it comes down learning how to control your bowels, sometimes it is not the easiest thing in the world to master.  Any child my son's age is absorbing more of the world around them than they will at almost any other time.  The early years of life are filled with prodigious learning, exponential leaps of advancement and understanding, and a ingrained yearning to master the world around them.  Then we throw in potty training.  "So while you are inundated with all the little details of the world around you and on top of that learning how to talk, I want you to focus on your own body and figure out how to control the muscles that keep you from urinating and pooping in your pants."   Sure, why not.  It sounds so easy to us, yet I am sure to a toddler, it can be a challenge.  Yet, like everything else that they take on right now, they meet it head on with a tenacity to learn that can not be matched by any older person.  Their developing brain is expanding its base of knowledge every second and every day brings new developments that are hard to fathom sometimes as adults.  And of course, with all learning comes those little mistakes, those accidents, and when you have pets, those accidents can sometimes take a turn towards the disgusting.  Yesterday, as my was using the bathroom, our son decided to let himself out the screen door into the back yard.  Quickly finishing, my wife ran out to check on him and as she opened the screen door, she saw our older dog Princess roller her head in something in the grass.  (She only rolls her head in poop of species other than dog).  Fearing the worst, she went outside to check and sure enough, our son had pooped both in the driveway and a little in the yard.  So she ran back inside quickly to grab some paper towel to clean up the poop in the driveway and clean up Princess a little.  Yet, as she exited the back door, she saw Princess in the driveway gulp down our son's poop.  I'll leave it at that and let it sink in.  I will only say that Princess will not be licking me for at least a week. 

 

Beyond the improvements in potty training, our son is on another spurt of learning words.   He has returned back to the stage where he wants to know what everything is.  Just last night as we were reading, he tried a number of new words that he came really close to pronouncing.  It is amazing to watch him learn and grow.  Perhaps it is the way we are raising him or perhaps he is just a unique little child, but both my wife and I forget sometimes that he is not even 2 years old yet.  Sometimes he acts as if he is almost three.  After all, we saw a three year old over this past weekend and our son was perhaps half an inch shorter than this other boy.  Beyond learning new words, reading, playing with his blocks, helping with breakfast, and all the other little tasks that he has mastered and helps out with around the house, he also has a love affair with cars.  He can watch cars go by for hours out on our front yard and heaven forbid you let him have free reign in a parked car for you will never get him out of there.  Even while camping, there are times he would rather be playing in a car, climbing from front to back, back to front, and playing with all the knobs, levers, and buttons than playing outside.  He even has his favorite chair for watching cars out of our living room window.  It is an old 70's era chair that my parents used to have and the back aligns perfectly with the sill of one of the living room windows.  Yesterday, as I was playing with our son before bed, he wanted to "wa cas" as he says.  I was sitting in the chair and picked him up to put him in my lap.  The first time he sat there and watched cars but quickly got off and went to another window.  As that window was not adequate for watching cars, he came back, climbed into my lap, and proceeded to start pushing me off the chair while actually saying, "Dada off cha".   So what else could I do but laugh and get off the chair so he could sit in it by himself and watch cars go by on the road.  It was quite hilarious.  I've said it before and I will say it again, our son is one little independent boy.  Yet I wouldn't want anything else for our son.  I would rather have him be independent and have a desire to learn about everything around him than be a couch potato in front of the TV (which he has not seen yet).  Oh, and one more little funny tidbit before I sign off for today; our son consistently takes his nap at day care with only one shoe on.