Lemonems and Other Mini-Miracles: A Bubdate

"See poop. See poop." Some version of "see poop" has been the favorite phrase around here of late. I am of the camp that once your toddler begins expressing a passionate interest in investigating and admiring his own excrement, he is perhaps ready to start depositing said excrement in a potty. For the past month or so, the Bub has been so excited to see his poop that when I change his diaper I can barely get him wiped before he starts grabbing for the diaper to get a peek. He usually does not want to touch the poop, but he really marvels at his product. Last night when he was supposed to be asleep, I heard him on the monitor bidding me to "See poop. See poop." I arrived upstairs to find he had removed his diaper and was kneeling beside it. He gestured with enthusiasm, "Mommy, see poop." I'm not sure how I am supposed to respond. I don't want him to feel ashamed of his poop, but I don't want checking it out to become one of the great passions of his life. I made a lame attempt at a "teachable moment" by reminding him that if he poops in the potty, it will be a lot easier to see his poop.

All of this leads me to the first of the mini-miracles that are the subject of this bubdate. With an "lemonem" reward system, we started upping our potty training efforts two weeks ago. The Bub is kind of hot and cold on the whole thing, but we had a major breakthrough on Friday. He told me he wanted to poop on the potty and then did so. He has also peed on the potty several times. We are nowhere near ready to stop with the diapers, but progress is progress. On Saturday morning, he did wear a pair of Thomas the Train big boy pants for two hours before wetting them (this despite my asking every 3-5 minutes if he needed to use the potty). When the Bub does use the potty, he savors his "lemonems" as if they were indeed miraculous.

The next mini-miracles come in the culinary arena. The Bub is a good eater insofar as he eats plenty and does not need a lot of cajoling to do so. I am proud to report that he eats a ton of fruit and still drinks milk quite willingly. I am semi-ashamed that, except for grape tomatoes (technically a fruit but a vegetable in my mind), the Bub still will only eat vegetables in baby food form. So, basically, my almost-40 pound, 29 month-old child is still rocking Gerber Stage 2 peas and sweet potatoes on a daily basis. My goal is to change that situation by the time Bub 2.0 is ready for baby food (kidding, hopefully way before then). I also feel ashamed that his regular rotation of "entrees" all require dipping sauces. The first culinary miracle is that the Bub finally ate and seemingly enjoyed macaroni and cheese this past week. Not that mac and cheese is so healthy and great, but I was starting to wonder why my toddler would not even swallow a bite of the stuff (especially considering that, NTB, it is one of my few culinary specialties). The second culinary miracle is that the Bub also ate a sandwich. It may not sound like much, but I was practically crying tears of joy as he ate his ham sandwich the other day and told me it was "so good." Sure, I put mustard on it, but other than the condiment on the bread, there was not a dipping sauce in sight.

The last of the mini-miracles is the absolute joy the Bub takes in bubbles. We blow them outside and in the bath tub. It is one of the things he has learned to "do self," though he still asks me to take turns too. The best part of it is the way he smiles as he watches the bubbles and says, "Amazing. Amazing bubbles mommy." Truly warms the heart. NTB.

Finally, the last of the mini-miracles is this. I am sitting at the table writing this post. My husband is lounging on the couch watching Pretty Woman.

Any mini-miracles in your life these days?