The next big thing has come.

Right inside the door is Baby’s potty. After about six months of saying no to our gentle questions about using the potty, he has suddenly taken interest. Within a day or so of practice, he can effectively poo poo and pee pee in the potty. His favorite part is flushing the toilet after dumping out the the contents. “Want to flush!” he’ll say after the first time, wanting to do it again. Sorry Baby, your system isn’t quite ready to handle the kind of meal it takes to necessitate a double flush.

The best and most helpful part is the pride he takes in pulling it off. Mama has figured out that leaving him bare-assed is the key. Only a couple times has he actually gone by accident and hopefully those moments are what further teaches him control. He also goes in waves on asking to go potty even if he has his diaper on but is thus far unreliable. In between is him wearing pants with no diaper, but he’s wet himself a lot with that since it probably feels like having a diaper on.

This is fortuitous timing, as we have yet another gigantic milestone coming up. Preschool! The nanny moved too far away to commute and timing was such that a preschool option opened up. It’s one of the best programs in town and it starts this coming week. Nanny’s last day was Friday. We’re enrolled in the all day, three days a week program. Lala will continue to care for him twice a week and will change to Tuesday Thursday. As long as Baby adjusts okay, I’m pretty happy about the situation. It’s that time where he should start learning how to interact with others. All that exposure though – the opportunities for sickness this winter does not excite me.

Unrelated to all that, I want to record something I don’t want to forget: For the past four months or so, our bedtime ritual involves me taking the milk to our couch with a book to read (almost always about construction). Baby then comes up and climbs himself on the couch and then on to me. He doesn’t exactly have the technique down. It’s a clumsy mess of throwing various parts of his body upward and forward, then figuring out how to get the rest of himself to follow. Every time looks a little different than the last, and usually takes about thirty seconds while I just sit there and watch. It’s cute and funny and I love it. Once he gets bigger and more coordinated it will be gone forever and I will miss it.