Monday 2 July 2012

Y4 - 276/365: Whatever Works for You


Inspired by his new love of the digital 'memory' game on his Zoodles dashboard, I splurged an entire fiver to get Ryan this Octonauts version. There are 48 cards in total and when we attempted it with all of them I think he found it a bit overwhelming, so I reduced his challenge to 16 cards. It was absolutely darling to watch him as he turned over the first card and placed it down, and then instead of trying to find the match and starting over, he would just turn over one card at a time and respond, "no," then another, "no," and another, "no," all until he finally found his match. At this point I would hear...

"Wook, Mommy...I found TWO!! Wet's see...now I need..." and the game would start all over again with a new search.

Needless to say, when I announced bedtime, the only way I could get him up without a whimper was to suggest he put his new Octonauts game in his bag ready for Nana & Grandad's tomorrow. Boy are they gonna have fun!!

We soldiered on with our usual nightly routine...brush teeth, undressed, wee on the potty, etc. While Ryan was on his tiny loo, we playfully pretended to be Raa Raa back and forth to each other, rawr-ing with all our might when I hear the following...

Ryan: My turn, Mommy. RAWRRRR!!!  ::pffffft::

Me: Was that what I thought it was? Ryan...rawr again at Mommy.

Ryan:  ::giggles:: Okay, Mama! RAWRRRRRRR!  ::clenches fists, face red...aaaand pffftt::

It's about this time when I get a bright idea. I childishly rawr back at my two-and-a-half-year-old and encourage his excitability to see if I can produce a certain result based on the first couple of reactions thus far.

After 3-4 minutes of straight rawr-ing at one another, getting him to clench his fists and his face turning red, I give in and begin to suggest that we head on back to his room to get ready for bed. It's at that moment that I notice something dark in the potty...



***TURN AWAY NOW IF YOU'RE NOT A PARENT OR ARE OTHERWISE DISGUSTED BY MENTION OF BODILY FUNCTIONS OR SECRETIONS***



...Ladies & Gentlemen...

Ryan...POOED in the POTTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (all on his own for the FIRST time!)

::insert fanfare and imaginary ticker-tape parade here::

I shouted for Matt to come up quick, unintentionally caused him to think something was the matter. He rushed up the steps and I made my proud-Mommy announcement...

"He just POOED in the POTTY!!!" I exclaimed.

Without missing a beat, a very proud Daddy congratulated his beaming son and Ryan immediately stood up and announced that he wanted to "see his poo." He looked in the little pot and gasped, "Wooooowwww!"

See? Even HE was impressed!!

Daddy quickly scraped the contents into the toilet while I tended to cleaning Mr. Happy Bum.

Ryan then requests to do "another wee" even though he hadn't even done one yet. I indulged him and put the potty back down. The whole time he's grinning ear-to-ear and sure enough, when he met his goal, he smiled up at me with his huge, baby-blue eyes and held up his hand to collect his high-five.

So well-deserved, mate!!

Now, Matt has just commented as I'm reading that this may just be a bit too much, but I don't even care. I'm so unbelievably proud of our little man. I want him to remember how happy Mommy & Daddy were for his accomplishment and how proud he was for himself. I mean, c'mon...this is like the toddler's version of passing your practical for your driving licence!

It may not be the end of nappies...but it's another small step in that direction. I guess now my only concern is that Ryan will think he needs to rawr like a lion every time he needs to poo.

In fact, maybe I should prepare myself now for the phone call home from his Reception teacher?

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