Like Rorschach Ink and Clouds,

but grosser.

This is a post I've been debating about posting because it is another potty training one, but I really want it to make it into our blog book for us to remember.

Last Friday Mike bought jelly beans to give Ethan when he goes potty in the toilet (instead of a sticker chart). We also have a jar that Ethan gets to put a noodle in each day and night he keeps his underwear clean (noodle because it isn't a choking hazard like marbles). When he gets enough noodles we go to a water park, and did so on Friday. Between those two exciting things Friday, and Mike being home for the weekend and helping me recover from the negativity of an overwhelming week or two, all the sudden Ethan started being in a much better mood, using the toilet all the time again, and even sleeping in later most mornings!

Anyway, onto the real story. Now that Ethan is going #2 in the toilet again, I've been reminded of another little quirk he's developed. He still prefers using his little training toilet most of the time. When he goes #2 he always names his accomplishment. Sometimes he just says big or little, but most of the time it is something like these actual examples: Mickey, snake, dinosaur, pickle, etc. "Look Mom, a pickle!". Then he opens the toilet "open the lid, open the seat" and dumps his training toilet. As he flushes the toilet he'll bid a fond farewell, "Bye pickle! Bye pickle! The pickle went down!". It cracks me up! He has even done this when his pee did not cover the bottom of the little toilet so a hole was left behind, he'd name the shape of the hole. These names are used throughout the day as he remembers his accomplishments or shares them with others.

On a side note, Ethan's vocabulary is increasing a lot. For example, we have never had pickles in our house and Ethan won't eat them, but one of his favorite books lately mentions pickles. I showed him a black and white picture of me from my college days (wearing a beanie) the other day and asked him who it was and he said "woman". I had no idea he knew that word. He's soaking everything up and changing so fast!
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed