Stuck!

Molly and I had a great time visiting family over the 4th of July. Molly swam and insisted on holding her breath even when she wasn’t under water, let alone in the pool. She would close her mouth and push out her cheeks like she was holding her breath, even though she was completely breathing through her nose. I guess that behavior will stop once she gets a cold!

Molly is learning a new word every day. Most popular right now is “stuck.” When we were in TN, my mother was pushing Molly in the shopping cart and Molly had to put her finger between the rails and got it “stuck.” So my mother rescued her finger and said “did you get your finger stuck” and kissed it better. Since then, Molly gets her finger “stuck” in everything!! Even if the hole is 5 inches wide, she will stick her finger through it and insist that it is “stuck.” If I don’t respond fast enough, she grabs my hand with her “unstuck” hand and directs my hand to her “stuck” finger! I then must kiss the finger better. One time, I didn’t so kiss it fast enough, so she had to kiss it herself. Another time, I showed her that mommy’s finger could get stuck too and I had her kiss my finger better. Now she tries to stick my finger in holes so that she can get it “unstuck.” I now have to grocery shop with a baby yelling “stuck” every 3 minutes!

Other favorite words are “up” with a strong pronunciation of the p; “fall” (used when Cookie Monster “falls” or more likely is thrown out of the crib); and “messy” (I got her out of her carseat the other day after she had been eating crackers – she takes a look back at the seat, points, and says “messy” – now she crumbles everything to make it “messy”).

One day, she will kill me for telling this story, but I can’t help it. For the last few weeks, whenever she has a poopie diaper or is about to, she says “poop poop” and searches out a person to “show” it to! Anyone will do. She begins by identifying her target, she then says “poop poop” and begins to walk backwards to her target. The target must then check her diaper. My father was a target once and didn’t do exactly what she wanted. Instead her scooped her up and went in search of my mother to check for poop poop. She has shown a few other signs that she might be ready for potty training, so I decided it was time for a potty chair! I put her on it just before her bath or bed starting a few days ago and she has used it once. Another time, she sat on it for a story, did nothing, and then stood up while I finished running her bath. All of a sudden, she let loose and peed everywhere. Me, being the genius that I am, got really excited and started yelling “pee pee” – hoping that she would learn to associate what she just did with peeing in her potty. Instead, she got so excited seeing her mommy jumping up and down, smiling, yelling “pee pee”. So she decided to jump up and down and yell “pee pee” too. Fortunately I realized that she is jumping up and down in pee on ceramic flooring and was about to slip. So I grabbed her and sat her on the potty. Smart idea right? Well, she notices all the pee is now lying in a puddle at her feet. Didn’t she learn how to kick in water at the pool? Wouldn’t it be a great idea to practice now? Yes, she thought so and began to “splash” in the pee. I’m laughing hysterically, which encourages her even more and Molly pee is flying everywhere! I’m trying to mop up, but can’t find the toilet paper. Of course, I have put that out of arms reach because Molly likes to unravel it. So I am trying to reach the toilet paper, hold Molly on the potty, while dodging the flying pee! Finally success. But onto the next problem. I had a child proof lock installed on the toilet in Molly’s bathroom, but not in any of the other bathrooms in the house. So I cannot remember how to unlock it. So now I am using one hand to hold Molly down on the potty (even though I have cleaned up some pee, the floor is still slippery) and unlock the lock with the other. She still thinks this whole thing is hysterical and I’m still having trouble containing my laughter. I finally get it unlock and can finish the clean up. By now the water in the tub is too high for Molly and I have to drain about half of it. Finally, I get her in the tub and clean! However, she has still not made the association between her “pee pee” and the potty, but I know she will. I just wish I had a video camera with me.