two reasons to celebrate
We have two big reasons to celebrate in our household:
Reason 1: KATYA IS POTTY-TRAINED!
Three weeks ago, we threw Katya a Potty Party. A Potty Party is an intense event. It involves teaching your child how to teach a doll how to use the potty, purchasing a doll that “pees,” explaining to your child why water is leaking out of the dolls armpits and hip joints, identifying a proper substance that looks like doll poop but doesn’t tempt you to eat it, and much much more. The purpose of a potty party is to make your child so excited about learning to use the potty that he/she will offer no resistance and be carried away on a wave of big kid peeing euphoria.
Our potty party turned out to be successful, but it didn’t live up to all that. A couple illustrations will suffice to demonstrate on what a lower level our potty party registered on the excitement scale (even though I tried my hardest to be the enthusiastic parent):
•After going with her doll to the bathroom to pee three or four times, Katya completely lost interest. I said “OH, EMMA (our doll’s name) NEEDS TO PEEEEE, KATYA.” You can imagine my voice twittering with excitement and anticipation. Katya said, “Oh?” “LET’S GO WITH HER TO THE BATHROOM” (at which point you are instructed to grab your child’s hand and rush off to the bathroom). I grabbed Katya’s hand attached to her totally sedentary body, and she looked up and said “No, mom, you go.” “You don’t want to go?” I say trying to sound unbelieving and still excited (instead of disappointed – not that she had also lost interest in this game but that she would not see and appreciate what a great poop I made out of prunes this time). “No, you go. I’m busy.”
•At the crucial point a little later, the point where Katya opened her gift of “big kid underpants,” and was supposed to jump for joy and beg to put them on, she looked calmly up at me and said “But where is my other present?” I was confused. “What other present?” She said “Another present. I don’t want this one.” PAUSE “Oh, but these are really exciting. They are your new big girl underpants, just like Emma’s. Let’s try them on.” NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO,” she wailed as she fled from me. For a moment it seemed as if this whole crazy farce was all for nothing. A deep breath. A reach down to center. I walked after her, clear that there was nothing else to do but quietly persist in my objective, which was to get her to put on some big girl underpants. As I put a pair of underpants on her, she wailed “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, NOOooooooo, NO, noooooo, nooo….” But as soon as they were on, she stopped, jumped off the couch and said “Let’s play babies.” And that was all there was to it.
•That afternoon, after she had used the potty successfully three times (another part of the potty party is inventing ways to get your child to drink 12 gallons of liquid) and been greatly celebrated with stickers, treats, hugs and kisses, she had to go again. As she sat down on the potty, she looked up and said with a slightly bored tone “I want no stickers, no treats, no hugs and no kisses, Mama.” And she proceeded to pee in the potty, get up, wash her hands and leave the bathroom.
Reason 2: VANYA CAN CRAWL!
Yes, you read it right. Vanya can finally crawl. He is very pleased with himself. His relations are less pleased… those relations, that is, who like to keep their electrical cords in one piece, their garbage in their garbage cans, their laundry in their laundry bags, the cat food in the cat food dish, and their legs without bite marks.
Oh, yes, did I mention, he also learned to chew (bite) on people? And, did I mention, it HURTS!!? He has four sharp !#%!!# teeth.
Unfortunately, the only thing funnier (to Vanya) than tipping over the garbage can is the word “no!” My parents insist that he even knows how to say this word and that when they say “NO!” he laughs and turns around and says “no” right back.
He is communicating up a storm. The second sign he picked up (after “milk”) was “all done.” He uses it constantly – whether to tell you he is all done with the apples or all done with the meal in general. If you try to ignore it, he gets really upset, arches his back and screams. In addition to this, he has just learned that he can pull his bib off. Even when it seems to be hurting him, he pulls, pulls, pulls, scrunches up his face and throws his head back, and POP! off it comes.
His nickname is trouble (double double toil and).
If you are interested in seeing the two sweet munchkins in action, you can look at these two videos they made to wish their grandmother a happy birthday:
Katya: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wzKSLeVnFs
Vanya: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJCEuC4lEe0