potty trained

well, i think it's pretty official. i think mosey is potty trained. at age 2 years and 8 months. i'm so proud.

today is his seventh day in underwear, and he's had just one accident, and i think it was miscommunication on my part. he did say he had to go potty, but we got caught up in playing and getting ready for the day, and all, and then he hit his foot on a box, and there you had it. the first thing he said when he realized what had happened was, "mommy, i peed on myself. i have to get new underwear."

he also cried during naptime yesterday because he had to go pee on the potty, even though he had a pull-up on, he really insisted he had to go potty. so, after a nap, his pull-up was will dry, and he was pretty happy about that.

i still can't believe it happened. he looks like such a big boy now. love that kid.

potty training, verbal skills, and feelings!

moses has had some big things happen over the last couple of weeks.

• he's worn underwear the past two days and has had zero accidents!!!
• he's been speaking in clear, complex sentences, like, "look, that police car has blue, flashing lights!"
• along the verbal skills, he's been using words like: actually, probably, sometimes, later, and too many. and he uses them properly most of the time! :) 
• he's been super aware of where we're going. the other day, he knew we were going to daycare, and when i missed the turn, he let out a whoop, because he knew we missed it!!
• he's been super aware of feelings: he told his daycare teacher the other day that his friend hurt his feelings, that he didn't like it, and he wanted her to go talk to him. 
• he asks me to interact with him, saying things like, "mommy, talk me, please."
• yesterday, he ate a whole peanut butter and jelly sandwich without having me cut it or opening it and making a mess. he still calls it a "swamich," but he ate it like a big boy for the first time!

in not so great news, these past couple of days, he's also had mega-sized meltdowns, complete with screaming and hitting and bouncing off of furniture. wow.

lovelove,

me

"need to go potty, mommy!"

this past week, mosey has been periodically saying "need to go potty, mommy." and sure enough, he runs to the bathroom, pulls his pants/pull-ups off, scoots the stool up, lifts up the toilet seat, pees, and flushes. all by himself! actually, really by himself, because right after he says, "need to go potty, mommy," he also says, "no, don't follow me, mommy... you sit on the blue sofa." how specific.

anyway, i'm baffled. is he suddenly potty trained? i mean, i'm happy about it, but what? could it really be this easy? i haven't done anything to encourage this. i'm trying not to make any sudden movements to make sure that i don't spoil this good thing.

oh, also, he cried when he woke up from his nap (not super unusual), but when i went in to get him, he told me he was crying because he needed to go potty. maybe it's time to switch to a bed? yes, he's still in a crib, because why change a good thing? maybe because of the need to go pee pee in the potty.

in other news, our child is super compassionate these days. if he hits me mistakenly he'll tell me he hurt me and that he's sorry, and then he'll give me kisses. so sweet. this morning, it kind of went awry because he dropped a toy on the bathroom floor, and he said he hurt the floor. then he said, sorry floor, and started to kneel down to kiss it--bleck!!! i told him the floor was okay, and we shouldn't be kissing it. :)

also, in other news, i just noticed that mo has a new molar. maybe that's been one of the causes of so many meltdowns over the last couple of months. maybe.

lovelove,
me

turn the seat around...

can you hear percussion?

we turned mosey's car seat around this weekend. we thought we'd leave him rear facing for a lot longer (because they do up to 3-4 years old in Europe), but he was getting to the height limit, which was one inch below the shell of the seat. who knew.

pros:
* when i turn around to check on him, i see his cute smiling face.
* i can point at things (like police cars and trucks), and he can see them right away.
* i can hear his sweet ramblings more clearly.

cons:
* i can't sneak snacks without his knowledge. i can already feel the toddler drama.
* i feel like i'm not very good at buckling him in anymore, since everything is backwards and my hands don't know what to do.

i'm sure there are more, but this is what i've gathered from the past 1.5 days.

fell down stairs, mommy

we were at a friend's house about a week ago, and on our way out, mosey fell down the front porch steps. the steps were wooden and quite big, so he took a pretty big spill, complete with a big old goose-egg on the forehead.

daddy scooped him up and held him for a little bit while he made sure to check all his vitals and regular details, as any good emergency room nurse does. mosey stopped crying pretty quickly.

later that night, moses told me, "daddy hold me... fall down stairs... be careful, mommy."

a couple of days later, he told me the same thing again. i was so comforted by this because i think it shows a little bit of what kind of person he is becoming. he's not stuck in the mistake or injury, he is telling me about what happened next--that he was okay and that he received his father's love, and even further, that he learned a lesson from his tumble. this is the sort of response that i hope he'll be able to have to any mistakes that he makes, even into his adulthood. i'm proud of him.

lovelove,
mommy

blaaaaaack shoooooooesssss

it was a very normal morning, and i got mosey ready and in the car. about a minute into the commute, mosey started wailing. i asked him why he was crying, and he just wailed and wailed. and finally he was able to choke out, "black shoes." i knew he was wearing his black shoes, so i figured he had taken one off and dropped it or something. i also knew he was buckled in properly, was safe and nothing could be actually hurting him, so i kept going. he cried for about 10-15 minutes. when i finally got to daycare, i opened the door, and you know what it was? 

the velcro on his shoe had come undone.

grandpa

i am so thankful that nana and grandpa live close enough to see them at least a couple times a month. i think grandparents do something really good in kids--i think you can tell that something is special about kids who have spent significant time with their grandparents.

the daycare teachers spend all day with about a dozen toddlers, so they try all kinds of things to keep them in line. well, after a particularly difficult day, one teacher, miss hafizah, told mosey quietly that she was going to call up Grandpa and tell him that Moses wasn't listening.

well, she said moses's eyes got real big, and he said, "Ed?"

and she said, "yes, i'm going to have to call up Ed and tell him that you're not listening, Moses."

and moses's big eyes started to fill with tears, and crying, he told her, "no, don't call Ed."

he started listening right then, and he behaved the whole rest of the afternoon! she realized she had found the big guns. not to be wasted.