Advancements

The big news of the weekend is that Madeleine has had success on the potty for several days straight. Unlike Julia, who absolutely refused to poop on the potty (and then insisted on taking off all her clothes once she finally got comfortable pooping in the potty), Madeleine has had no hesitation about depositing her poop in our toilet. She has also peed several times in the toilet, although she has continues to pee freely in her diaper in between potty sessions, so we are certainly not ready for underwear anytime soon. To keep her entertained while she sits on the pot, and to keep her from undoing the entire roll of toilet paper all over the bathroom floor (as she has done at least three or four times now), I have been reading to her and singing her songs while she waits for pee or poop to come out. I'm not 100% sure she actually understands why she is sitting on the potty; to her, the expulsion of urine or feces seems to be incidental to her sitting on the potty for story or music time. In fact, when she first peed in the toilet, I got her down to wipe her and she immediately asked, "A sit back on potty?" because I had not finished the story I'd been reading. This morning, while she tried the potty, she was more in the mood for music, requesting song after song from me:

MADELEINE: I want Two Little Blackbirds Sitting on a Wall?
ME: (singing) Two little blackbirds sitting on a wall, one named Peter one named Paul... etc.
MADELEINE: A Twinkle Twinkle Little Star?
ME: (singing) Twinkle Twinkle...
MADELEINE: ABCDEFG?
ME: (singing the alphabet)
MADELEINE: I want Trot trot a gramma's house get little girl cherries we got there tree was bare so we'll trot back? (Otherwise known simply as "Trot trot to Grandma's House")

While she is reaching a new milestone in her developments on the potty, she apparently thinks she's ready for other milestones marking her maturity, such as kissing boys on the lips. Yesterday we got together with my old childhood neighbor and her husband and son, and Madeleine planted several big wet ones right on Alex's mouth. Yikes.



And on a completely unrelated note, other than the fact that Madeleine is involved, I present to you two of the weekend's most memorable quotes:

MADELEINE: (as we walked to meet Daddy at the train and Madeleine spotted him in the distance) AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!
ETHAN: looking our way and waving
MADELEINE: AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! DAAAAAAAAADYYYYYY! Don't worry Daddy, I just scweaming.


MADELEINE: (stuffing a Dora figurine in Butt Crocodile's mouth) Say Abre, cwocodile. ABRE! (removing Dora and saving her from being devoured)