Letter to my son

Dear Son,

On Sunday, Mommy spent some time with Aunt Kim.  Mommy shared with Aunt Kim, "We told Gregory that he was a big boy and needed to use the potty.  This was after he pee'd in his underwear.  I asked Gregory why he didn't use the potty and he told me, because I didn't want to.  Then I asked him if he wanted to be a big boy.  He told me no, he wanted to be a baby!  What do you say to this?  He knew how to answer the way that I didn't want him to."  Aunt Kim laughed.

But you surprised Mommy and Daddy Sunday evening.  You walked up to Daddy and said, "I can't make it work."  You took Daddy to the bathroom and showed him the step stool.  You know you can carry your bedroom step stool into other rooms and reach things you normally cannot.  This time... you wanted to reach the bathroom light!

That's right, you were trying to turn on the light in the bathroom to use the potty all by yourself.  Daddy asked if you wanted to use the potty, but he realized you had already poo'd in your underwear.  Mommy saw all this and said, "Gregory, sit in the potty and see if you need to pee."  You sat down... and pee'd AND pooh'd - big time!

Then, a few hours later, you went into the bathroom by yourself, took off your underwear and pee'd in the potty.   You didn't say anything to either of us.  You just did it.  Mommy sat down with you and said, "This is great!  When you go to school, you need to tell the teachers "I have to potty!" so they can bring you to the bathroom."  The teachers won't bring a child unless they tell them.  So, you have to learn to use your words, even though you are doing things by yourself now, which is awesome!

When Mommy brought you to school on Tuesday, Mommy spoke with Mrs. Maria about your potty training.  Mommy told your teacher, "We aren't using diapers at home.  I really don't want to bring him home from school in a diaper.  How can we make this work?"  Mrs. Maria said, "I will put him in a diaper, but then put his big boy pants on over the diaper, so that he feels like he has his underwear on, but no accidents.  After his nap, I will take off the diaper so when you pick him up he is only in his underwear."  Until you can speak up and say you need to potty, this is the plan.

This past weekend, Mommy and Daddy brought you to Jean Lafitte State Park.  Daddy told Mommy, "People don't bring children here, because alligators see the kids and think it's meal time."  Nice.  But it didn't phase you one bit.  You put your hands together and said, "Alligator, snap, snap!"  In most of the pictures, you see the back of your head, as your forged ahead of us.

Listening to the sounds of animals.

Being an airplane with Daddy

On the way to Granny and Grandfather's, you fell asleep

Aunt Madelyn, you cousin, Caiti and her boyfriend, Austin and their two children - Livy and Roman arrived!

Caiti and Livy!

Aww, Austin and his son, Roman

You woke up and gave Livy a kiss. So sweet

If you walked somewhere, Livy wanted to be with you.  Total look of adoration.  You're her buddy!  But she had a cold when visiting... and I think you have one now too :(

You saw baby Roman and had this look of, "What to do with a baby?"  Aunt Madelyn is in total heaven with her baby and grand babies back home!

This weekend, you got into the Tinker Toys box you received from Santa.  You pulled out the diagram with pictures and said, "MAP!"  Yes, it was a map of sorts, to create different things.  Daddy sat down and made a house with you.  You were so proud of the house!  You walked around with it everywhere, parked cars in it and put your Paw Patrol pups in it too.

Lunch at O'Henry's.  You ate a cheeseburger (no bun) and sweet potato fries.  In the picture below, you are holding on to the artwork outside of the restaurant - a painted oyster.

Lego Table time!  But you won't let Mommy play!  Mommy used to love playing Legos when she was a little girl... but you said, "No, Mommy can't play."

Mommy had to work on Martin Luther King day.  You and Daddy were able to visit with Granny and Grandfather and Uncle Jerry.  You and Grandfather ran up and down and up and down by the levee.  Later that day, you used the potty at your grandparents' home (Daddy brought your potty with you).  You told Granny that you needed help with your pants, but afterwards you pee'd and pooh'd like a big boy in the potty!  Yeah!  But then... later in the day at home, you got tired, wanted to watch TV and had an accident.  You are learning, but before you want to do something, we need to bring you to the potty first.

Daddy wanted to bring you to the levee to look at the ships.  Mommy asked you if you wanted to see a ship.  You said, "Yes, a pirate ship!"  Mommy asked you, "What does a pirate ship look like?"  You said, "Hmm... like this!" and you put your hands together (see picture below) and moved your hands together up and down as if it was a ship in the water.

On Tuesday, when Mommy and Daddy picked you up from school, Mrs. Maria and you were in the hallway and Mommy saw you running for the bathroom.  Mrs. Maria confirmed the destination, so Mommy took you into the bathroom where there is a small potty and you pee'd.  Mrs. Maria said you stayed in the diaper, but then that evening you asked to use the potty.  It's a start, at least, with school. I can understand your teachers not wanting accidents at school and until we can be certain, this is the course of action.  I feel that we are more than halfway there with your potty training, but still with a lot of work to go.

After school, we brought you to Lafreinere Park.  You climbed  and ran and slide down slides as usually.  But you are doing some new things too...

At the top of the hill, there is a scope to look through.  You grabbed both sides and pulled yourself and legs off the ground.

Normally you only want to walk up the steps to get on the gym.  But now you are going up the ladders too.  It's a different type of skill and balance required; I'm thrilled!

When we were ready to leave, Daddy took his keys off of the key holders, because it wasn't making his keys work.  He put them on your fingers.

Daddy said, "You have sticky fingers now, like a tree frog."

You said, "Tree frog?  Sticky tree frog?"

Daddy pulled up a picture on his iPhone of a tree frog and you said, "I'm a tree frog!"

Which is perfect timing, because this week at school, you are learning "E" for Elephant and "F" for frog (and the number 2).

Picture below is the end of the day at school.  Before you saw us, your teacher, Mrs. Maria said, "He asked to go to the potty today and he received a potty treat."  Yeah!

You said, "I'm stuck."  Your shoe was stuck with another chair and you were ready to leave.

King Cake art work at school!

Chilling out at home.

Mommy made some really cute cookies for your class that never made it to school.  The cookie cutters were adorable!  I was following a recipe for home made sugar cookies.... Daddy said they were way too dry.  I asked, "Do you think the kids will notice?"  Daddy shook his head, yes.  Mommy made you the Guinea pig... you took two bites, said at first it was good and then you spit it out.  Nope, not going to waste my time with icing the cookies that night.  UGH...  so upsetting.  Guess I will go back to the store bought mixes.  I really wanted to do homemade cookies though.

Mommy did figure out what she did wrong with the recipe.  I'm so used to grabbing the powdered sugar for icing... that when the recipe called for icing, I grabbed the powdered sugar bag.  It made the cookie wayyyyy too gritty.    Lesson learned!

While visiting with Oma and Opa, you told them, "You crack me up!"  I think your teachers must tell you this, because Daddy and Mommy don't say this.  I can easily see your teachers saying that to you, because you like to make people laugh.

Oma and Opa had a King Cake and YOU got the baby!  You said, "Baby eat my pancake."  You call King Cake.. pancakes.  

Mommy was determined to try the homemade sugar cookie recipe again.  Definitely tasted a lot better and worthy of icing.... but it's denser than store bought cookie mixes.  I will keep searching for recipes and find something that works.  BUT... that said, I'm really happy with how the royal icing flooding is coming along!  Much smoother!

You kept asking for the cookies tonight.  I'm so sorry, my sweet boy... it's for school to share.   Maybe next time I'll make sure to do more than one batch of dough and have some that you can eat the night of.

Brr, it's a cold weekend.  Daddy says, "It's Christmas."  Mother Nature missed her timing by a week or so late.  Ah well, such is life in the south.  In the meantime, Mommy will take advantage of the cool weather to make a hardy meat and beans soup that Daddy likes.  You, oh no!  You still have a limited diet you enjoy.

You and Daddy both have been sick this past week with congestion, cough and running noses.  Grumpy Gus number 1 and Grumpy Gus number 2.  Hoping you both get better quickly, though this back and forth, hot and cold, weather doesn't make it easy to do so.

Love Always,

Mommy