Judah has been sleeping on a goosedown palette since April when we converted his 3-in-1 cherry sleigh crib to a daybed and he flat out refused to ever step foot in it again. We bought him the PBK Catalina toddler bed (in honey-colored wood, not white) this past Saturday and are transitioning gradually. The crib mattress is now on the floor and after a week (per my mom's advice), we will graduate him to the toddler bed. The only bummer about the toddler bed is that we can't sit in it with him to read bedtime stories (a very important part of our nighttime ritual).

Around 1am last night, he stirred and called for me. When I checked in on him, he asked if his Little People could sleep in his bed. I put one in with him, but he said, "more people." He slept with Cow, Horse, Pig, Bird, Girl, Boy, Lion, Bear and Elephant.

***Big news in my house*** We got TIVO yesterday. I feel re-engaged with pop culture. I will only watch shows after Judah goes to bed, but what a relief that CSI and Lost will always be there when I'm ready for them. The reason we got TIVO is that we don't really watch adult programming, except on Sundays when Poirot is on A&E and I'm tired of living vicariously through TWOP recaps.

Katie & Mom, circa 1974(ish). 

I forgot to mention earlier that Judah sang Happy Birthday all the way home from the store. It went something like this...

Happy Birfday you
Happy Birfday you
Happy Birfday Mommy
Happy Birfday Daddy
Happy Birfday Miles
Happy Birfday Mike
Happy Birfday Potato
etc.

Potato is his new Mr. Potatohead. I taught him how to put Mr. Potatohead's arm up on top of his head and his lips where his arm should go.

***WARNING: Straight-up Indelicate Poop Talk***

Judah was overtired tonight, most likely due to "Swim Tuesdays" at his daycare plus I took him book and grocery shopping tonight, so we retired early for clean-up and bedtime stories. We brushed teeth, washed hands and then I decided to take his diaper off while I went to use the potty. He followed me over and sat on his potty and told me the pee pee goes in the bowl and then "flushed" about 7 times (it's a battery-operated sound effect). He shifted off the seat and squatted beside his potty to "flush" some more and went poop on the floor.

During clean up, I transplanted the waste to his potty bowl (you know you're a mom when...) and told him "Poop goes in here." Then, we pulled the bowl off, dumped the contents into the grown-up potty, he contributed some toilet paper, I waved and said, "Bye bye poop!"

This experience made me face the #1 reason I feel ambivalent about potty training. I am such a pro at the thorough wipe down of Judah's bottom when he's on his back getting a diaper change. But I am extremely wipe-challenged when he is sitting on a potty. This concept of having to clean someone else's butt at a 45 degree angle has me all confused, particularly when he was trying to run away the entire time.

The whole episode concluded with an experiential lesson on the critical importance of post-potty hand washing with a Purell chaser.

New books purchased today: Toilet Training: The Brazelton Way (T. Berry rocks!) and Between Parent and Child : The Bestselling Classic That Revolutionized Parent-Child Communication by Dr. Haim G. Ginott, et al. My friend Morgan is moderating a summer parenting seminar on this book, so I wanted to go ahead and read it.

Breezy (Mom's Picassohead) 

Oh my Gosh. I will get nothing done today. This is more addicting than Virtual Bubble Wrap.

~*~*~
~*~*~Mr. Picassohead~*~*~
~*~*~

Potty Potty

Yesterday morning, Judah followed his daddy to the bathroom, pulled off his own diaper, pottied on the bathroom floor, then seconds later ran to the toilet to stand beside his daddy and potty some more on the floor by the toilet. I had originally decided to wait until August to potty train since I will be traveling with and without Judah for the whole month of July. It just seemed too chaotic and I want to be there by his side to cheer him through this experience.

My mom and grandmother determined that he was sending all the right signals of readiness and that I was possibly holding him back a bit. So, I decided to give it a go. We went to BRU tonight to buy the mother of all potties. The Totco (on recommendation from a playgroup friend). It is more than double the cost of most potties, but it truly looks like an adult potty-in-miniature with a handle that makes water flushing sound effects. The "tank" is an ingenious storage compartment with a toilet paper holder and an indention to fit a box of wipes.

Totco Potty 

Judah was in the bath tonight and as soon as I pulled the potty out of the box and placed it on the floor, he hopped out of the tub, plopped his dripping wet self down and said, "Pee Pee! Poo Poo!" A moment later, he got up, closed the bathroom door (this was *very* important to him) and went back to his potty seat. I sat down on the big kid's toilet and we talked about potties for less than two whole minutes before he looked down, said, "Mess! Messy!" and stood up to show that he had gone pee pee in the potty. Wow! That was even faster than the Dr. Phil Potty Train in One Day method. Of course, the proof will be in the pooping, so to speak. But, at least Judah seems to have the concept and mechanics down.

To celebrate, we cheered and danced around and then read "Once Upon a Potty" as one of our bedtime stories. I am really proud of him.

I Miss You, Grandpop

I am listening to internet radio and Brick House by The Commodores is on. This song reminds me of my Grandpop. That may seem unusual to most people...why would a song about a lady who is stacked remind someone of their grandfather?

My Grandpop was the center of my universe in so many ways as a child. I was a latchkey kid and my grandparents lived on the same street, so I often made my way to his house after school where he would fix me an afternoon snack and we would watch Gilligan's Island or Ultraman together. I was a big fan of the salad bar at Pizza Hut in those days and he would take me there so I could load up on bacon bits (I *really* liked them) and he'd give me money for the jukebox. My favorite song for ages was Brick House and I would play it a lot.

The fact that my grandfather took the time to enter my "child's world" and respected my desire to eat a plate of bacon bits or play the same song over and over and over again while we talked about my day at school meant a lot to me.

I see some of the same qualities in my son that I admired in Grandpop. If he were still alive, I think he would be having the time of his life with Judah in his easy chair beside him poking out their tummies to see who had the bigger pot belly, like he did with me. He would admire the handful of acorns, grass blades and oak leaves that my son would bring to him as if they were three of the great wonders of the world. And best of all, they would laugh at each other's stories and enjoy the same charming sense of humor and charisma.

"Mommy, look! Cow! Right there!" as Judah points at the sky.

He is in full-on imagination mode now. He points at the ceiling, at walls and at high rise buildings proclaiming cows, sharks, snakes and many other animals to be right there! It is great fun.

His language skills have become infinitely more complex in just the past week. This morning, I had to get ready for work, but for a few minutes I colored with him. When I finally had to get up to dry my hair, he looked at me, patted the chair and said, "Mommy, sit!" So, I sat again for a few more minutes. He announces when he has dropped food to the floor or spilled on his high chair tray, "Uh oh, it is messy!" and the best thing is that he sings songs. We don't understand everything he sings (things he learns at school), but I have figured out "Row Your Boat" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider". There is one song that has a hand-jive routine that he says, "See See Saw, See See Saw". Christy was over for dinner the other night and we are convinced it is a song he learned in Children's Chapel and he's really saying, "Jesus".

He had his first dentist appointment yesterday. No cavities! We've been pretty scrupulous about at least 1x (but usually 2x) per day brushing. He didn't put up too much fuss, either, though when Celeste tried to have him open his mouth to say "aaah", he pointed at her artwork and said, "Look, butterfly!" trying to distract her from what she was doing.