weinraub’s words

How can that boy be so dense and so smart all at the same time?

Benjamin (2y7m) comes to me and asks me to get him something on the table that he can’t reach. I look to see that he is asking me for toilet paper. After handing over a few sheets, my curiosity piqued, I follow him into the other room to see what’s up.

Turns out he has taken a dump right in the middle of the floor. We’ve discussed it a million times. We ask him “Where are you supposed to make poopie?” and every time he correctly responds “Bathroom”, even pointing his finger there for good measure. Just being lazy about it, I imagine.

Tissue in hand, he uses it to cleanly pick up his creation and dumps it in the toilet. He then brings me the bottled soap we use for washing his bottom, removes the water sprayer from its wall holder next to the toilet and lays it on floor, pulls up his shirt, and squats in the shower area, exactly as expected, waiting for me to get on with the business of cleaning.

What a great kid!

We are in that toilet training phase with Benjamin and he’s doing great. He announces his intention (usually), goes into the bathroom (usually), and does his business. Of course, we have a little potty for him. His aim is horrendous, but slowly improving.

Lately, he has been opting for the full-size grown-up toilet. In general, I view this as positive; he has apparently figured out on his own that everybody else does their business in the big toilet, so he ought to do it there, too. Excellent.

However….

He’s not quite tall enough. So the poor kid’s little pee pee can’t get over the rim and point down into the bowl. Instead, we get a vertical spray that occasionally launches forward, but never even gets close to the bowl.

Ai yai yai…

Benjamin still seems to be a bit far away from using the potty. But one encouraging episode occurred this morning when he grabbed his (mysteriously semi-erect) honker and sprayed back-and-forth across the kitchen floor. A bit of manual control as a prelude to actually targetting the toilet/potty. Woo hoo!

Big first today. Becca announces that she is going to make poopoo (’kee’ in Thai). Nothing so special there; she does that all the time. However, this time, she goes to the bathroom, pulls out the baby toilet, and does it there.

What a star!