Brave New World

The dishwasher is humming and sloshing, the little ones are napping, Eden is arranging and rearranging set-ups in her bedroom haven, and I am crunching potato chips dunked in ketchup. (Thanks for such a healthful craving, baby.) Rest time is in full swing, and I only wish it could be just a little bit longer today.

This posting has already been interrupted by some wicked toddler molars and/or the beginnings of a summer cold for Selah; the symptoms and effects on the day are the same, so I guess it doesn't really matter which it turns out to be. The babe has held her own with only six teeth for so long, now, she must be overdue.

So Selah is teething (official diagnosis as of one sentence ago) and Judah is potty training. It is official, it is time, and there is no going back. I will NOT put that child in a diaper again. He is three-and-a-half years old, he is READY, and he can DO this. That said, we are on day four of underpants, and day four of pooping in the underpants. He has no problem using the toilet to urinate, and can even manage most of this task solo. When it comes to the Real Thing, though, he will actually verbalize that he doesn't want to poop on the potty. ("It tickles when I poop in my's unnerpants!" Fantastic, honey. Good to hear.) Candy bribes have failed, promises of trips to the pony farm are ignored, accolades are not enough. He just doesn't want to, and I cant make him.

He's got me there.

But will the teeth remain throbbing below the gumline indefinitely? Will I be soaking 3T Buzz Lightyear underpants forever and ever amen? Am I left in this place indefinitely? Of course I'm not. Maybe he'll begin to see the merits of being among the elite toilet-trained Big Kids over the weekend; maybe it'll be another month. (I'm reminding myself again that he will figure this out at some point. The child can put on his shoes upside-down while doing a headstand on the couch; I'm pretty sure he can do without the diapers.) The teeth will come in, and bring with them all kinds of opportunities for new foods and another several pearly milestones passed. Along with the challenges unique to this age come the hilarious phrases, faces, and questions unique to this age. I have no choice but to take the bad with the good.

(Please remind me of this not-so-profound revelation in the coming weeks and months of transitions to potty-training, moving from crib to big girl bed, having a newborn in the house again...)