I’m starting to go through parent shock … times two.
Maggie actually smiled at me the other day. And this time it wasn’t because she was making me a gift in her diaper. I verified it the only way I know how – I tickled her under her chin (which works on her sister and mother), and got another smile. It was that goofy ear to ear grin that you can make only when you have no teeth in you mouth. I’ll be making that grin in about 30 years or so if I’m lucky.
Sophie is sprouting up too – her vocabulary and ability to put together sentences cracks me up all day long. She is constantly telling me what to do, “Daddy, off the bed!” “Daddy, play on shoulders!” “Daddy, play sleep under da covers!” I have no idea what I’ll do once her sister starts talking. Then I’ll have three women telling me what to do. I don’t even have a workshop to go hide in.
I think I’ll follow the lead of another guy in the neighborhood (thanks Bob) – go grocery shopping. It’s going to become the new haven for city guys without basements. We’ll meet up in the dog food aisle and hang out for a few hours. Then we’ll return back home with a box of cheez-its and some ice cream, claiming “Boy, the lines were incredible! People were flocking there like it was the blizzard of ’78!”
The other thing I have started to do is take Sophie on little neighborhood trips – the most recent one was to the library, which consisted of her running up to a book shelf, pulling out a random book, exclaiming, “How about this one?” She then threw the book done, ran to another shelf, and started again. I am running after her, vainly trying to reshelf the books (yes, I know the signs say not to, but I am not going to get thrown of yet another library for excessive book pulling). Then we ride the elevator and go home.
I’m starting to read about the next phase of toddler development – potty training. From what I have read, it involves lots of stickers, lots of wipes, and lots of extra changes of clothes. I’m looking forward to it. Really. Of course, first I have to make a trip to the grocery store.
Don’t need lots of changes of clothes if you first graduate them from diapers to PULL-UPS! They are great!
I’m in the process of potty training my 2yr old now…she’s almost to the point of wearing the “big girl panties”, but not quite…when she can go a week without peeing in her pants, I’m gonna try it again. So far her record stands at 3 days of dryness.
My top tip for toddler training – the later you leave it the easier it is 🙂
A friend of mine told me – you train ’em at 2, it takes 6 months for them to be dry… train them at 2 and a half it takes them a week. Definitely held true for us!
Pewari, does that mean if I wait until she’s three I can get through it in a day? If so, sign me up!
*laugh* I dunno – reckon if you waited until three and they had an older sibling, they’d be BEGGING to use the toilet *grin*.
Well, that’s my philosophy anyway, as my youngest will be two and a half in the wintertime next year, so we’ll probably be hanging on until the following Easter 😉
Oh also, we never had much success with pull-ups in the day, but at night they were FAB in the toilet-trained-by-day child. My eldest would try and get to the loo in time at night and could easily pull down the pull-ups, but if he didn’t wake up in time it was no biggie. No changing sheets in the middle of the night! Then just before his fourth birthday he said he didn’t want them any more, so we didn’t buy them any more… have only had a wet bed once, and he was poorly at the time.