Alpha Mom

Overheard...

GENEVIEVE:  Oh no!  I got a grass stain on my pants!

MAKENZIE:  It's OK, Nevie, Mom can just steam it out in her new washer.

Thanks a lot, Whim, now my work will never get done!

Scene: Giovanni sitting on my lap at Nevie's graduation.  He grabbed my hand and started doing "Piggies", with just the right sing-song rhythm...

"This little piggy go Target."

"This little piggy go Target."

"This little piggy go Target."

"This little piggy go Target."

"And this little piggy go WEE  WEE WEE WEE...all the way home."

 "Mommy, we go Target now?"

(Must be those Target Dog cookies...)

Here is a screenshot of an IM I had with Brett:

How much do I love that kid right now?!

  Giovanni informed me on Sunday that he was going to wear big boy underwear.  This is because he heard me tell Lamar that Logan, our nephew, is wearing underwear.  Van is totally fascinated with Logan.  Logan is totally fascinated with Malakai.  That does not phase Van in his affections for "my fend Wogan." 

  Kenz was barely two when she wanted to go on the potty.  I held her off until Genevieve was born because I had heard she might regress, and I did not want to deal with it.  She wore pull ups successfully for a couple days, switched to panties and never went back.  So I thought that was how they would all be.  WRONG. 

  I decided it was time for Nevie to be potty trained when she started to close in on her third birthday.  She had other ideas.  She had been pooping on the potty for several weeks so I assumed that the pee was a matter of will.  WRONG.  I bribed her, threatened her, rewarded her, praised her, promised her...no luck.  She was closing in on her fourth birthday by the time it clicked for her.  She decided it was time, put on panties and never looked back.

  After being mad at Nevie for like 6 months, I realized that I could not make her do it.  So I waited for Malakai to decide and then followed his lead.  He was also closing in on his fourth birthday when it clicked for him.  It helped when he figured out he could pee in the yard.  This backfired when he thought the playground at school was the same as the yard at home.  Oops.

  Giovanni is two and a half.  He has had two days in pull-ups so far.  The first day he wet it once.  We did a bunch of running around in the morning and he managed to hold it when he needed to, and tell us when it was time.  Later in the evening, he was outside playing, and we were not reminding him at all...hence the pee in the pull-up.  To be honest, I thought he would lose interest so I was not putting my heart into it.  The next day, he was dry ALL day.  And he pooped in the potty.  That means that yesterday I did not change one diaper.  That is the first time (aside from my annual three days a year away from my kids) that has happened in eight and a half years!  WOW! 

  I had told him that if he stayed dry for a whole day, he would get a scoop of ice cream after dinner and would be able to wear big boy underwear the next day.  He had ice cream last night.  I tried to put a pull-up on him for drop off at school this morning, but he reminded me what I had said, and a deal's a deal, so he wore big boy underwear when we took the girls to school this morning.  I did have to change them once because he waited too long, but since reminding him that boys who have no accidents get ice cream, he has been successful.

  Next week I am going to tell him that Logan makes his own bed every day...