My Big Little Man..

Much to my disbelief, Kessler turned 2 on Saturday. He's such an amazing little guy, just like his dad--except for the little part.

I have much to say about Kessler, but I'll start with Saturday. One of Mark's co-workers invited us over for a BBQ and a dip in the pool. We had a lot of fun. At one point Kessler was walking around trying to pull his swim trunks down. We asked what he was doing and he told us he needed to go to the potty. Mark took him. And, he went peepees and poopies. We were shocked. We haven't tried to potty train him; we hadn't even started thinking about it. We had no big boy underpants, pull ups or anything.

Later in the day he asked me to take him to the potty. I did. And he did it again. Now, I didn't realize how completely unprepared I was for this. Truthfully, I suspected he just liked the novelty of sitting on the potty. I didn't expect that he'd have to go again. But, as he was sitting there.. and I was squatting there, I noticed that his 'member' was pointing straight at me. As I was contemplating what to do with it, he let loose. I tried to push it down, which produced multiple streams in various directions. It's a draw really, whether that was worse than one stream coming straight at me. We were in someone else's bathroom; I'm thinking the latter was better.

Kessler and I are both still working on our potty skills. He's had a few accidents; he seems to only think the potty is for when he needs to pee AND poop, not just pee. And he and I both got drenched going to the potty at Fantastic Sams today. We'll pull it together, I'm sure.

(To those with potty training in the future.. I swear, it has something to do with not wearing a diaper. After months, Makena finally became "trained" when we put her in big girl pants. We kept expecting her to tell us when she needed to go; it never happened in diapers/pull ups. I expect this wouldn't have happened with Kess if he hadn't been in swim trunks. Later Saturday evening, we put him in a diaper as we had nothing else for him to wear--when he had to go, that's where he went.)

Anyway, I had a really cute video of Kess singing Happy Birthday, but he broke the camera before I could download it. I'll try to get him doing it again. It's quite adorable. He has a HUGE vocabulary now. He's been talking in complete sentences for quite a while. His first one was "I want some." Now he just jabbers on and on. The most recent addition to his vocabulary repertoire is "I love you daddy dads/mommy moms." Suddenly I have forgotten all the sleepless nights; just like that. In addition, he’s learned how to give real hugs. Not just nuzzling up for a cuddle, but full on wrap-both-arms-around-your-neck hugs. Unfortunately, that particular hug, along with a running start, produces a very effective tackle—poor Makena. It mostly makes her laugh, for now.

More on Kess--Mark and I were taking Makena to school a few days ago when she grabbed a piece of paper and rolled it up to form a megaphone. She started to yell into it. Kessler screamed, “NUFF, MAKENA, NUFF!”. Apparently he doesn’t like things that are very, very loud. The other day we were in the living room when he dropped the remote. Something happened and the TV started blaring static. He jumped on the sofa in a panic. He looked at Mark and me and said, “That was bery, bery louwed.” He points out loud things all the time, well only the very, very loud ones.

And lastly, my little man starts school tomorrow! He’ll only stay for an hour, the same for Thursday. Then he’ll have a full day on Friday. I think he’s going to love it. I have to drag him, often kicking and screaming, when I leave after dropping off Makena. They both will be going five days a week starting next week.

I have to say, having two kids under four was tougher than I thought it would be, a lot tougher. But, we’re definitely turning a corner. I’m selfishly looking forward to having a bit of time for me. I’m not exactly sure what I will do with the time, but I know it’ll be good for both me and the kids.