a final pooping story

My grandson is completely potty trained. The last part of this project was using a grown up toilet instead of a child's potty. One day he had to go so badly that his only choice was the toilet. Without any help from any one he pooped, cleaned himself and got his clothes back on. He is very proud of himself  for doing this and calls us to look at his poop and then flushes away saying,"good bye poop. I asked him the other day if he was afraid to use the big toilet because he was afraid he would fall in and he said,"yes".
I should have had a special ceremony the other day when I put both of his child potties in the attic but he wasn't home so they just joined all the other pieces of his early years .

a bike for his birthday

Our grandson just celebrated his 4th birthday. We got him a 2 wheeled bike (with training wheels) as our present. The other day we took him to Piedmont Park for his first chance to ride it. He had to get used to pushing the wheels foward and not backwards so neither of us stopped suddenly. He wasn't sure how to stear the bike so I guided him holding onto the handle bars. He kept looking at the ground and not where he was going and at times started to tip over. I was thankful that he liked dogs as he took a break from riding and had to pet every dog he saw once Pa made sure the dog liked children.
  About 3 days later he wanted to ride his bike again. So we put it on the cement walk that surrounds the pool. Without any help he was able to ride his bike around and around. He kept the speed low and used the breaks appropriatly. I was just amazed he became so comfortable on the bike so fast.

grandma's closet

For reasons I don't understand my grandson loves to be in my closet with me and with the lights out. It is not my favorite place to be but I stay in there for a while. I have a globe that shows all the constellations. He loves to get this down and turn on the light . He then shines them on me, or the door or on himself. I usually tell tim what the constellation is but he doesn't care. Once done with the globe, he leaves the closet and get his grandfather to try and find me.

trip to Chattanooga

Our grandson's other grandmother needed to be away some extra days when she usually cares for him during the day. My husband and I decided to drive to Chattanooga, TN. He loves trains so we decided to stay in one of the train cars. at the Chattanooga Choco-Choco Hotel. Once we parked we walked down the lane of train cars and he could hardly believe we were  going to stay in one. Once in the car he  explored all parts of it and was really taken by the bathroom. Once he and my husband got out of the car before I did. It was a liitle dark and he came running back to get me so I "would be safe. I thanked him and gave him a big kiss . He proceeded to run down the aisle toward the engine. He always wanted to know what the name of the rods that are connected the wheels on the steam engine. My husband looked it up on the web and found out they are called connecting roods. Everytime he sees a steam engine he says "look at those connecting rods like he has discovered them all over again.
   We went to the Chattanooga aquarium in the morning and then drove out to the TVNR and took a ride on a stean drawn train. He was so well behaved it was amazing. The other day he asked if we could go back again.

Time out

My husband and I tend to be a little more lenient  with our grandson then his mother. We don't put him in time out very much. The major offenses are picking on 1 of our 2 Westies or hitting us. When he won't stop either activity he is told he now has to to into the corner for time out. On the way to the corner he gets teary eyed and says, " I am sorry, I am sorry." When he gets in the corner he cries and my shout at us or sit on the floor and move his legs back and forth. If we try and talk with him he shouts,"don't talk to me." The part of this entire process I find most interesting is that he is personally offended we put him in time out and it made him cry.It is not that we are mad at him or he hurt one of the dogs (for whom he shows warm affection for 95% of the time ), or that he is missing out on some other activity. He is 3 years old and stay in time out for 1 to 3 minutes. When the time is up I offer to comfort him . He say no and won't leave the corner. The time outs seem to help. I  now just say that the corner is still there and I don't want to make him cry. He will stop what he is doing.

the dead cricket

I came out of the back door and Brandon walked up to me with his hands on his hips and then thrust them out to the side saying," O well the cricket died in the pool and I burried him in ther garden but I didn't say a prayer."

having mouth washed out wih soap.

I can't ever envision that my grandson will have his mouth washed out with soap but he loves to have me tell him what happened to me. "tell me the story of soap in your mouth."And once again with the telling I connect with my childhood. It was my mother's expectation that when she called me I would come home right away. This particular summer evening ,I was 8 or 9 years old and was playing playing kick the can with my friends on the next block over from my house. I heard my mother call me but didn't want to stop playing. I figured when I got home I would just tell her I didn't hear her because I was so far away. Well, she kept calling and I finally decided to go home. When I got home she said'" where have you been." I gave her my excuse but she didn't buy it and told me to go up to the bathroom. Up there she proceed to push a bar of soap into my teeth. It tasted awful and it took hours to get the the taste out of my mouth. I never did that again.. When I tell Brandon the story he thinks it is so funny and wants me to repeat it again.

fall with a bumped head

Brandon slipped off the bathtub and bumped his head coming to me for comfort. While sitting on my lap I asked if he would like to ice on his head and he said yes. I put an ice cub on his head thinking he was not seriously hurt. Quickly he looked up at me and said, "I have a better idea." He went into the bathroom, got a wash cloth, wrapped an ice cub in it and put it on his head and sat on my lap again. I smiled and said,"yes that is a better idea."

humpty dumpty

Brandon is now 4 years old

I am not sure why I started saying the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme but my grandson loves to repeat it. He  is now putting a new twist on humpty's recovery. Brandon's plan is to pick him up and put him back together again doing a better job than all the king's horses and all the kings men.