Start the stripper music

I have been trying to reinforce the pre-potty training exercises that they have been working on at school by letting AJ sit on the toilet at home. When we were gone out to eat lunch yesterday, I ask him if he needed a clean diaper. We went into the restroom and he headed straight into one of the stalls and started pulling down his pants. He didn't do anything while he was sitting on the potty, but at least he's making progress.

Last evening I heard the toilet seat banging and went to investigate. AJ was in the bathroom. He had lifted up the lid and the toilet seat, and was trying to climb onto the toilet. I got there just in time to keep him from sticking his foot in the water. While I was getting everything reorganized, AJ climbed into the bathtub, completely removed his pants, and was trying to turn on the water in the tub.

Guess I'm gonna have to start keeping that door closed now...

C...O...O...O...

AJ went to his first football game on Saturday. It was Band Alumni Day at the UH vs UCF football game at Robertson Stadium. I saw some friends I hadn't seen in 15-16 years. It was fun catching up and participating in some of the UH band traditions.

1) The band has a 350lb brass bell that they ring for every point after each score. By the end of the first half, AJ was waving his version of the "Cougar Paw" in the air to count points also.

2) The band sways left and right while they play the fight song. We had AJ swaying along with us. He was very cute.

3) AJ loved dancing to the drum cadences. Particularly the "Cougar Spellout". He would yell "C!", "O!", "U!", "O""O""O"......so maybe his spelling needs a little work.

It's Potty Time

AJ went poo poo in the potty for the very first time yesterday at school. Does it count if it wasn't on purpose? Apparently the teacher was changing his diaper when he decided he wanted to fill it, so she scooped him up and sat him on the potty to finish. He was very proud of himself...

I SOOO don't want to be in the middle of potty training when we leave for the cruise in a couple of weeks. I was hoping he would hold off on making any progress until we get back. I suppose that's kind of selfish...On the bright side, if he does actually figure out this whole potty thing before we leave on the 12th, we will be able to go into the kiddie pool on the ship. They don't allow diapers in the pools.

Oh NO! Not nice!

Two of AJ's latest phrases have been popping up in hysterical places lately. AJ now has a very dramatic way of saying "Oh, no!" that makes it sound like his little world has just been ruined. When we are watching "Deal or No Deal" on television, when a contestant opens a large number, the audience reacts with a gasp or "aaawww". AJ screams out "Oh, NO!"

This weekend when Daddy had to apply the brakes pretty hard while we were driving, we all lurched forward a bit, and hear AJ shout "Oh, NO!" from the back seat.

His other new phrase is "not nice". Yesterday's application came when Daddy was tickling AJ on the leg. AJ pushed his hand away and said, "Not nice!" I just about fell out of my seat.

The Great Pumpkin

Saturday we decided AJ looked bored so we took him out for a ride to the park to play. On the way to the park I had the great idea of taking him out to Dewberry Farm in Brookshire. It's only about a 20-25 minute drive from our house and looked like we could have some fun. Let's backtrack to last Monday....when the Houston area was deluged by several inches of rain....Let's take a toddler out to a big field. What a huge, muddy mess!!

AJ took his first hayride out to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin. Of course, first rattle out of the box, he steps into a ditch and gets stuck in the mud. From then on, he doesn't want to walk -- only wants to be carried. So Daddy and I are taking turns toting this 23 pound squirming weight around in a muddy, uneven field full of pumpkins about the size of an orange. AJ had a blast on the hayride, though.

He also got to ride the corn train. The corn train is a "train" made of 55-gallon plastic barrels that have been turned sideways, a hole cut out of the side, slapped on some wheels, and dragged through a field by a tractor. AJ was too small to ride by himself, so I had the privilege of riding with him. Here's the visual -- muddy toddler and me wedged into a 55-gallon drum, staddling a piece of wood "seat" about 6 inches wide, being dragged and bounced along with other parents and children through a muddy, hilly field for about five minutes. Count me out for the next ride!

There were lots of neat things for the kids there, but AJ will probably not be back until he is a little older....and that will give my butt time to recover...

Cleaning the Bathtub

Well, I have now had another momentous "first" with AJ. Last night during his bath, he actually pooped in the bathtub! I made AJ stand up and asked him if he was finished, then sat him down on a towel on the floor. I left the tub draining while I went to dry AJ off and put on his pajamas.

Unfortunately, I then had to go back into the bathroom and figure out the least offensive way to remove the poop from the tub...EEEWWWW....

Renewable Resources

AJ posesses a highly valuable renewable resource. It's called N.O.I.S.E. He has so much of it inside of him that occasionally some of it just bursts out. And no matter how much of it he uses, there always seems to be plenty more...

Homecoming

I have finally returned home from a week away from my family working a show in Washington, DC. It was my first time away from AJ for more than 2 nights, so I was really a mess leaving. Daddy kept me informed every day about happenings on the homefront....AJ wandering around the house with one of my shoes.....AJ looking for me in the mornings in the bed, then pointing the the bathroom sure I must be in the shower....

I was really excited to get home Friday night. I thought AJ would be excited to see me too. The van door slid open for me to get in next to him. He had a HUGE smile on his face. But rather than shouting "Mommy" with joy in his heart, he just threw his arms out wide and screamed "AIRPLANE" (well, his version of it). Apparently when they were driving around the airport, there was a plane sitting on the overpass above the road. He thought that was just the coolest thing he'd ever seen. He spent the rest of the ride home pointing out the window saying "airplane".

On Saturday, the local fire department had a open house. AJ got to sit inside a fire truck and an ambulance. Then they brought in Life Flight. AJ got to sit across the street and watch the helicopter land in the parking lot. That just got him started on "airplane" again.

We were looking online at the Carnival site to find our stateroom for our upcoming cruise. AJ was sitting in Daddy's lap at the computer, pointing at the ship on the screen and saying "airplane". I think I'm sensing a trend...

Transition Time

AJ started transitioning into his next classroom this week, and it looks like we have some practicing to do! In this class, the kids eat in the cafeteria with the rest of the school instead of their classroom. There are no more sippy cups (I see a lot of wet clothes in our future). AJ will have to put away his own toys when he is finished playing with them. The room is divided into different "stations". Throughout the day, the kids move from station to station for a set period of time. They can play with whatever is in that station, but must stay in that station. No more running crazy around the room. And the strangest thing to me -- stand-up diaper changes! They start potty-training here, and there is no changing table. At potty time, the teacher takes each kid into the restroom, lets the "trainers" sit on the potty, then changes their diapers while they are standing up. I have tried this. IT'S NOT EASY! How do you keep him from walking away while you are holding his shirt up with one hand and trying to put on a diaper with the other hand?

My first spontaneous kiss

5:20am this morning...AJ standing next to my bed waving "hello" and raising his arms up to get in the bed...He laid down between me and Daddy in the middle of the bed. A few minutes later he sat up, leaned over me, and gave me a big "SMACK" kiss on the mouth. Then he laid back down and giggled.

AAWWW....

Communing with nature

My baby has turned into a little boy before my very eyes and seemingly overnight. I know he's a little boy because of his newly-found fascination with dirt, bugs, and worms. He loves his new sand/water play table and spent over an hour on Friday evening throwing sand across the yard, putting sand on his head, and using handfuls of sand in the "water" side to build a dam. When we got back into town last night, he got out of the car and went straight to the sand pile.

Saturday night he made friends with an ant and a cricket. While spinning around in circles he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. It was a tiny ant crawling across a small leaf. He leaned down over the leaf and waved a cheery "hi" to the ant. When the ant kept walking, AJ lay down on his tummy next to the leaf to take a closer look and tell Mr. Ant "hello" from up-close.

A few minutes later, he discovered a cricket walking across the way. He had to lay down and talk to the cricket for a while also.

Yesterday while we were unloading the car, AJ found a live earthworm crawling across the sidewalk. We had to stop and carry on a conversation with the worm too.