Warning: Pee & Poop references...Hey, it's potty training. What do you expect?

So, I'm pretty suspicious at this point that Alex has decided to crawl and possibly has been for the past week or so, but that he doesn't want his Mamma to know it. Last night, I set him on the floor, a couple of feet from his music table, while I went and brushed Bren's teeth to get him ready for bed. I came back from brushing Bren's teeth only to catch Alex "red-handed" KNEELING at the music table. He would have had to successfully crawled at least 2 steps to get to the table and the whole KNEELING thing I had no idea was even possible. I tried waiting for Alex to figure out getting up on his knees for crawling and it went well past when Bren was able to do it so I kind of pushed him into it by showing him his legs could function that way and he seemed happy about it so I don't feel too much like a "Showbiz Mom" (ones that force their kids to do things their kids don't want to do) on that front.

However, I'm already fully entrenched in my "complex" about him figuring out Kneeling all on his own and possibly crawling without me being there. I thought all along that if I ever had kids, I would be a working Mommy because I never thought I had it in me to be a Stay-At-Home-Mom (SAHM) as I was never too fond of children in general. So I guess I'm taking it a bit personally that God has blessed me with being able to be a SAHM so that I can be the one witnessing all of their "Firsts" and not a daycare worker (nothing against daycare workers as I KNOW I'd NEVER be able to do that--volunteering in the nursery every other Sunday is quite a challenge and that's just for a couple hours)--and my son is choosing do to all these NEAT and WOW things without me there and then giving me a, "duh Mamma, of course I can do that" look when I do my "VIN COME SEE WHAT HE'S DOING! ISN'T HE AMAZING! GOOD JOB ALEX!!!" jumping up and down.

My nose being out of joint and my ire are also aimed at my oldest son who on Wed. after his bath and WHILE I was dressing Alex, peed in his potty successfully without me hovering over him. He just came walking into Alex's room saying "Potty" and pointing so I quickly finished up with Alex and ran into the bathroom and then started cheering at the like 1cc of pee-pee that was in there but hey, it's a start! He had been sitting on the potty after his bath the past few times, bearing down, farting, clapping and saying "Yay" like he'd succeeded at *something* so I would clap with him and get all excited about him "passing gas" as it seemed to thrill him to no end.

We're not doing too much with the potty training as Bren is EXTREMELY stubborn (yes, just like his Mamma) and the one time I did try to insist, he was then constipated for 3 days and a book I have said that was a reaction to feeling "forced" as nothing in his diet had been changed. Bren's always been a good little pooper (he's a stinker too but that's with his attitude mostly) so I knew it had to be related and it was because as soon as he felt comfortable going in his diapers again, he hasn't had a problem since. We'll be moving in a little over a month to the States to a 9 hour time difference and I don't want him to "regress" so I'm just being insistent that he NOT pee in the tub (something he likes to do as I'm rinsing him off) but that he save it for his potty or his diaper and he's luckily felt cooperative on that point.

And Vin's pickiness when it comes to eating has taken root in Sir Alex. He decided he LOVES the baby food/cereal combo and wanted NOTHING to do with his bottle so I had to stop giving him the solids and insist that he drink his bottle for a few days to get him going on it again. The solids are still his preferred meal, but I think he might have figured out Mamma means business and he doesn't want that "Sweet Nectar of the gods" to go away again so he's humoring me and drinking his bottle again...seemingly willingly.

The other night, Bren didn't like what we were having for dinner and was being quite vocal about it and Alex was pushing away his bottle (he is a STRONG little bugger) and Vin just stopped mid-bite, looked me deeply in the eyes and said, "I'm sorry." I knew he was apologizing for the inherited "taste-buds" so I told him, "You BETTER be!" He assured me he was and then we laughed because of ALL the things those boys could and have gotten from their father, why oh WHY did it have to be THAT!!!???!!!

Love to everyone,

Shannon:)