It's Never Too Early to Plan for Halloween

Tai is having trouble deciding whether to be his favorite superhero or his favorite character-from-a-movie-he-has-not-even-seen next Halloween.

His interests are eclectic. Stay tuned for updates.

Don't Read This One While Eating

This morning Quynh pooped in the toilet. Feeling the urge in the middle of breakfast she announced "poopy! poopy!" And when I asked, "Do you want to go to the potty?" She nodded and said "beeeg toy-lit." So off we went to the Big Toilet.

After making her classic Pooping Face she announced she was "all done" and lo-and-behold there was a little poop nugget in the toilet. The whole family celebrated. She got to ring the bell twice and eat her first-ever jelly bean. She was very excited to tell Tai and Daddy of her accomplishment and to show off her jelly bean. For 10 minutes she walked around the house bare-bottomed with her diaper and pants in one hand and her green jelly bean in the other. Someone needs to teacher that girl that, when licked, jelly beans do melt in your hand and ought not to be savored quite so long. After I wiped the green stickiness from her mouth and hands, got her dressed, and turned down her request for "Moh Jelly Bean?" I sent her and her brother downstairs to play.

What no one suspected was that the little poop nugget was merely foreshadowing of Greater Things To Come.

Ten minutes after being sent downstairs, Tai called up to us, "Quynh took her pants off!!" Just as I was calling back, "Oh, that's OK!" I heard Minh (looking down from the top step) ask, "And where's her diaper?" And then Tai said, "I smell something poopy."

Oh no.

Apparently our little ready-to-potty-train girl had pooped in her diaper and then took it upon herself to remove her pants, and diaper, and sit down on the carpeted floor, in three places. All hands were immediately on deck, as Tai and Minh worked to spot-clean the rug while I wiped Quynh's bum (and back, and calf, and foot) and plopped her into the bathtub. Understandably, her shirt was smeared with poop. As were, somehow, Tai's pants.

Quynh was delighted by the idea of an unexpected weekday morning bath and seemed quite amused by the whole situation. Fifteen minutes later, when it was all over, Tai announced wisely, "That was terrible."

Paper or Plastic?

The book club I joined is still going, despite losing several members and having one cancelled meeting. I'm still enjoying it and am looking forward to meeting again next week. Somehow, membership in this club (which only requires that I read a book every 6 weeks) has re-ignited my former love of reading and I'm actually reading other books in-between the official Book Club Books.

Even better, I've been getting all these books from the local public library, which is something I never did before. For some reason I had always wanted to own my very own copy of every book I read. I no longer feel that way, probably because I have (a) so many other things to spend my money on, like day care, and (b) so much less storage space after the home renovation.

So Tai and I have been enjoying the library. He quietly walks through the stacks to help me find my "grown-up book" and then he gets to pick a book, or CD, or video for himself. As long as Quynh is not with us (standing on rocking chairs, climbing on tables, banging at keyboards, and just generally wandering off) it's a pleasant outing.

So here's the thing. I want a Kindle. My friends have them, my boss has one, my mother has one, even Darryl from The Office has one. I want one!

Presumably, if I get a Kindle I'll start reading even more, just so I can use my new toy. And at $10/book, that could get pricey. So what I really want to be able to do is get free e-books from the library. And, apparently, this type of thing exists. The local network of libraries has almost 1,00o fiction titles available digitally, for e-readers. But you can't use a Kindle. It has to be another kind of e-reader if you want to use the e-library. Because Amazon.com is just that snotty about things.

So the dilemma is this -- do I get any sort of e-reader? If so, which one? How do I decide between a Kindle, a Nook, a Kobo, or all the others? I find this task overwhelming, to say the least, and I'm terrified of unknowingly purchasing the BetaMax of e-readers. And part of me really just wants the Kindle because that's the one All The Cool Kids Have. Or do I just stick with the Old Fashioned books made out of actual paper, so that Tai and I have a shared reason to venture out to the library?

Thoughts?

Ring For Service

Not long ago I was cleaning the bathroom in preparation for some house guests and realized some people might find it odd that we have a desk bell sitting on the vanity. Those of you "in the know" realize that this was a long-ago attempt to get Tai excited about potty training that had mixed results, at best.


But even though it never quite had the effect I had hoped it would, we never managed to remove the bell from the bathroom. So there it sat, largely unused. As Tai became adept at peeing on the potty he would sometimes remember to ring the bell, and sometimes not.


But now that he is FULLY potty trained, the bell has taken on a new purpose. Tai rings the bell twice after he has pooped in the toilet and it is the "I'm done! Come wipe my ass!" signal. He requires privacy for doing his business, so he needs the bell as a way to let us know he's finished in there, behind closed doors. When we hear that "ding ding!" either Minh or I make our way to the bathroom and inevitably find Tai standing up on the stool, facing the toilet, and bent over like he's about to be frisked.


So that, my friends, is why we have a bell in the bathroom.

Labor & Delivery Barbie

Ever since having the good fortune to attend the Radio City Christmas Spectacular with friends last month, Tai has been enamoured with the Rockettes. His playbill from the show is thoroughly tattered from being flipped though daily. He turns to the two-page-spread of Rockette head shots and pours over them. Many a night at bedtime he told us of his plan to dream that he, "went to the spec-tack-ee-lar show again and then had a playdate with all the Rockettes." (Side note: we figure this recurring dream either means he's really straight or really gay).

Lucky boy that he is, he was given his very own Rockettes Barbie doll for Christmas, complete with skimpy Santa-type outfit, white lace tights, and silver high heels. He named her Sarah (after one of the actual Rockettes in the playbill, of course). For the past couple weeks, Sarah has been living on Tai's headboard along with several small stuffed animals. She and Emmit seem to have become good friends.

Tonight, just before bedtime, Tai informed me that Sarah was pregnant and that the baby was coming *tonight*. "Well," I asked "does she need to get to a hospital? Or will she have the baby at home?" "Not at home," he said, "that's too messy. There would be blood everywhere."

So off to the hospital she went.

Upon arrival, Sarah met a team of several doctors ready to help her out. They included a turtle, a cat, a carousel horse, a snake, a lobster, and (of course) Emmit. Clearly, she was in good hands.

Sarah apparently breezed through Stage 1 of labor, because she was clearly ready to push. I found it extremely difficult to get Sarah into a Bradley-Method-approved birthing position, but did my best not to model flat-on-her-back delivery. So I propped her on some pillows and Tai said, "She has to open her legs" and grabbed her from me. But then he became frustrated with Barbie's in ability to spread her legs left-to-right. "She can only open her legs this way," he pointed out and he positioned one foot in front of her body and one behind. I assured him that was good enough for pretend, though in real life a woman would indeed need to spread her legs wide (and not just do a split).

About a minute later Sarah gave birth to a beautiful little fluffy yellow chick. She really is an amazing woman, as her figure seemed to bounce back instantly and she never even took her tights off. Barbie, you rock.

Four.

Four seems impossibly old.

At his annual doctor's appointment yesterday Tai aced his eye and hearing tests, as well as all the gross-motor tests. It was adorable to see him (dressed only in a johnny, socks, and cookie monster underwear) jumping and hoping and standing on one foot alongside the pediatrician. At four years old, Tai stands 38 inches tall and weighs 32 pounds. But he's so much more than that.....

He's articulate even in the worst of circumstances. While getting his upper arm swabbed in preparation for three shots, he started to cry pretty hard. As soon as the first needle went in, he said (through tears) "That hurts! I don't want any more! That's enough, don't do the others!" It was heartbreaking, but only lasted about 1 minute.

He's absorbing new information at an alarming rate. Tai received a Smart Globe for his birthday and uses it frequently. Somehow, without being given much instruction, he already knows how to adjust the volume and change modes. He can now point out Madagascar on the globe and tell you all about Giant Bird-Eating spiders and other bizarre creatures. In addition to learning about animals all over the world, his two favorite modes are Population ("Wow, that's a lot of people!") and National Anthems. When in National Anthem mode, he clicks on Mexico and tells me that when he and Emmit go to Mexico (nightly, apparently) they hear that song a lot. Then he clicks on the USA and says, "Daddy knows all the words to this song!!" proudly.

He's responsible for other living things. For some time now Tai has been feeding the pets their breakfast. Somewhere along the way we decided that once he turned four, he could feed them their dinner too, right before he goes to bed. He's pretty excited about this new chore, but one night last week he and I both forgot about it at bedtime. After I tucked him in and left the room I realized the pets were hungry, so I started to feed them. Tai heard the commotion and came running out of his room, exclaiming, "Mama. I'm four now. Remember? I feed them their dinner!" Tai has also started brushing the dog without being asked. And he does a decent job, too.

He's using technology. He has just started to play the occasional computer game, and is loving it. Although it took a bit of time to learn how to use the mouse properly, he can now navigate his way through a Blue's Clues game unassisted. At school, his teachers were having a terrible time keeping him quiet at nap (resting) time. He doesn't nap anymore and just wants to play or sing or tell loud stories. So we bought him his very own discman, headphones, and collection of audiobooks on CD. The teachers are ridiculously thankful and Tai comes home every night and tells us about the stories he listened to. We've adopted a similar technique for rest time at home on the weekends -- Tai now has his own ipod and speakers in his room.

He's learning how the world works. The other day Tai asked his teacher what the director of the children's center does in her office all day. He was told that, among other things, she holds meetings. Tai immediately decided he'd like to set up a meeting with her. So he did. Yesterday afternoon he went into her office, at a previously agreed-upon time, and met with her. They read two books, talked about staying healthy, and Tai gave his feedback on the school. When asked what he likes about the center he said, "I like that I don't have to nap and I can listen to stories instead." When asked what he would change about the center he said, "After nap story we should just play and not have to have resting time." Apparently the Director took notes.

Luckily, he's still my little boy. Although it seems that he's growing up too fast, he sometimes reminds me that he is still quite young. He writes his name backwards. He's still scared to watch Finding Nemo ("Maybe I'll watch it when I'm 5.") And he can't put his own snow boots on or operate the fly on his jeans.