My Girl Wants To Potty All The Time
2006-10-04, 12:04

Poopy in the potty! Yay!

Ahem... that is, on Monday night, Laurana had her first successful bowel movement whilst sitting upon the commode. Huzzah. Growing up quickly, this one, and just as she likes it. We didn't really reward her, per se, other than the big hooray and clapping and hugs and kisses, because a step toward impending independence is, for her, its own reward. While she tolerates them out of necessity, Laurana is, by no means, a fan of the diaper or diaper-related processes. Often she insists that she can get them on herself, saying, "I do it!" She has yet to be successful in that regard, though not for lack of trying.

If there ever was a girl who was ready to move on to pull-ups, it's her. So we keep telling her that the road to big kid diapers is going on the potty on a regular basis. And because she's a genius, she knows exactly what we're talking about. She'd already been making requests to sit on the toilet a number of times (putting the kid sized seat on there herself, of course), but that was the first time something actually happened. Self-regulation is on course. Now we just need a new step stool (no pun intended) for her to get up there herself, because we'd really rather not have her climbing up there without one (splash).

If there's any evidence that she's well into her Terrible Twos phase, it was a rip to the grocery store on Monday. I picked her up from day care after work because H was running a little late, and we went to Buehler's. The first ten minutes were a breeze; she rode in the cart - we got one of the ones that's built like a truck and kids can sit in the driver's seat in the front to 'steer' and honk - and even carefully enjoyed a little cup of apple cider they had for shoppers to try. But then it was 'go where I wanna go' time. I'd have put her in the normal cart seat, but there's a problem - she's so nimble that she can squirm out of pretty much any belted seat, even ones with shoulder straps. And she's just strong enough that just getting her in the thing without worrying about hurting her is a struggle. Normally she's pretty good about keeping her hands off things and staying at least in my general vicinity, but that day it was all grab-and-run. She insisted on carrying a half-gallon container of ice cream from the moment it emerged from the freezer shelf until we got to the register. I picked her up a number of times to keep her from running out into an aisle intersection and getting run over by a cart, and the last time she scratched the heck out of my arm (I cut her fingernails that night, strangely enough). To her credit, after she scratched me and I showed her the one mark that had a little blood welling up in it, she turned immediately apologetic and stayed with me.

It's funny how concerned she is about people's booboos. She dwells on them daily. She still refers to one she had on her foot from a bug bite that she scratched too much, and that was months ago. She points to the one H got above her eye a few weeks ago, which is long gone. She still worries about the guy who 'fell off his horse' (on purpose, though she didn't know that) during the jousting demonstration at the renaissance faire we went to the weekend before. I guess we should add Doctor to her list of potential future careers - which already includes gymnast, dentist, professional diver, pilot and astronaut. I'm sure I'm missing some.

Here's where I get to complain about the goings on of the Religious Right - the ones who actively involve themselves in politics (which really strengthens that whole church/state separation thing, no?) - and feel completely justified.

Where the hell is all the outrage over this whole Rep. Foley (R - FL) scandal? If you live in a soundproof box and don't know what I'm talking about, the Rep. resigned on Friday after ABC News confronted him about illicit emails and IMs sent to underage Congressional pages, and the fact that many Republican party House members knew about it as much as a year ago and at best said nothing, and at worst covered it up so he could retain his seat. At a bare minimum, the guy's guilty of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and god knows what else he's actually done that'll be coming out over the next couple of weeks as wary pages tell their tales. And all this from the co-chair of the House Caucus for Missing & Exploited Children.

Like I said, where's the outrage? Shouldn't good Christian organizations be calling for his head, making admonishing statements to the press, demanding answers from house members, etc.? Don't they usually jump all over this kind of thing, an act of pure immorality? Could it possibly be that they're saying nothing - and I mean absolutely nothing - because he's a Republican? Just imagine if it had been a male Democrat offering to undress sixteen-year-old male pages. The streets of Washington would be ablaze with a holy fire.

But hey, they can remain silent on the issue if they want. I'm sure Jesus won't mind.

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