Daniel turned 3 earlier this month. He's a big boy now! He pooped for the first time in the toilet for the first time in his tender young life. I was so proud. I've heard that you are supposed to positively reinforce this type of behavior so Sophie and I really went overboard in our praise. We whooped and hollered like he had found out how to make gold from his butt. He looked at us a little suspiciously like, "Just because you act like that does that mean that I'm going to do that again." Anyway, I'm hoping that he soon tires of collecting his feces in a wearable waterproof pouch.
The little guy kills me though with his teddy bear looks and straight talk express. Every time I yell at him (not often...ok 1x day), he always looks at me and then yells back even louder. He consumes my negative energy and then flings it back at me with his garbled toddler words. Today he ran away from me at Whole Foods almost reaching the parking lot where cars were driving by. Luckily there was a man there on the curb to catch him. I grabbed him (all 38 backaching pounds of him) and gave him a little pinch. Once we strapped him in his carseat, I said you are getting a timeout! Then he looked at me and said,"No! I'm not!" or something to that effect. Sometimes the straight talk express is really touching. Yesterday night, I was web surfing (ok escaping) and he looked at me and said, "I love Mom." Then he looked at me and said, "Kiss, 3 times..." I freaked out. Melted. So touched was I. I could've just died right there and been happy. It's amazing when little kids start to talk. They can describe what they've been feeling all along and you get to be there...front row!
I once heard that raising children is not fun but joyful. Joy being more lasting than fun. I agree. Parenting is so hard on me but it etches my life with joy.
