The Downside of Potty Training

What do you do when you’re in the car, with a ways to go, and there’s nowhere to stop? Wee Laddie had to pee on the way home from base. It’s too cold to stop anywhere outside and there’s not really anywhere convenient where we can stop inside. We had to go home for him to potty, which means I couldn’t drive around ‘til he fell asleep… and that makes for a tough naptime.

And then, my darling Guitarman wouldn’t go pick up a döner kebap, which is what I really, really wanted for dinner since the nearest Chipotle might as well be on another planet. I’m on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Wee Laddie has been saying some pretty funny things lately. Well, they’re not really that funny unless you think about the fact that they’re coming out of a two-year-old’s mouth:

“Maybe, but I'm not going to do that right now.”

“Stay there. I'm just going to go play by myself.”

“I'm just going to look. I won't touch them.” (in regard to the babies at Total Mom)

My Little Helper

Wee Laddie very much likes to dress himself so I usually let him… mismatches and all. Two different socks? Boots when it’s warm out? Whatev. So today, no big deal that he put his pants on backwards. At lunch Guitarman commented on it. I said that yes, I knew they were on backwards. Wee Laddie makes a remark about taking them off and putting them back on sideways. I laugh, ‘cause I’m trying to picture sideways. My son jumps up & drops trou right in the middle of the mess hall! Guitarman jumped up and stopped him… I was laughing too hard to be of any help whatsoever.



I’ve figured out a new way to get a few minutes to work on a project: let Wee Laddie wash the dishes. He loves to do it and it takes him ages so it gives me time to actually do something, as long as I can do it close by… because it makes me nervous, him standing on a chair or something. (I’ve been using his highchair for it since it has kind of a step on it.) So today I got a little knitting done while he did the dishes.

Now THAT is a beautiful thing.

Waiting for Waffles

Wee Laddie’s breakfast often consists of a waffle (you may have heard me mention them here before) eaten in the car on our way to an activity on base. For some reason, he has recently decided that he doesn’t want to start eating it until we get to the main road. I don’t know why. So the first part of our trip is always filled with, “Is this the main road?” “No, not yet. Soon.” Then when we get to the big announcement of the main road, he will finally start eating.

What this all means is that when we arrive at our destination on base, we have to sit in the car while Wee Laddie finishes his waffle.



My mother finds this very funny.

No Kiss

No yoga today because of the holiday. I had an okay day with Señor Runny-Nose. Poor guy. We did go to have lunch with Daddy at the mess hall. Wee Laddie’s been doing this thing where when we drop Guitarman back at work and he asks Wee Laddie for a kiss, Wee Laddie’s like, 'No! No kiss!' and he’ll put his hand over his mouth. If Guitarman kisses him on his cheeks, he’ll wipe his cheeks off afterward. I think it’s one of those power things…like he doesn’t want Guitarman to go back to work (he does it in the morning, too) but since he can’t control that he refuses to do the part that he can control. As soon as Guitarman starts to walk away from the car, Wee Laddie’s saying, 'Bye, Daddy, see ya later!'

It’s pretty interesting to listen to the radio here. The stations seem to have general themes, sort of, but they play an odd assortment of music. Guitarman was commenting on how they play lots of ‘80s music (which is great for us) and then there’ll be some cheesy German pop songs mixed in. But we’ve heard some stuff that may not have been played on the radio in the states since the ‘80s… such as the German version of that Peter Schilling song about Major Tom, and the Nik Kershaw song about the tree by the river (I think it might even be called 'Tree by the River')… neither of which Guitarman had heard before. Now THAT is shocking.

Food Choices

Wee Laddie’s on a cheeseburger kick at the moment. Or so he thinks. He actually keeps saying he wants a cheeseburger, then adds, 'No meat, please.' I keep telling him that’s a grilled cheese sandwich, but he doesn’t agree. The other day I was lamenting the fact that all he wants to eat are waffles, cereal and crackers and that we’ve really got to get some protein in him. He told me, 'No eat protein, Mommy.'

Sunday closings kind of suck. We end up on base a lot on Sundays, just because things are open there. Today even the library was open so I got to do a little email (Yay!) while Guitarman and Wee Laddie went to the commissary. When we were heading home, I asked Wee Laddie, 'What did you and Daddy get at the store?'
He said, 'Dinner.'
I said, 'Dinner, huh? And what kind of food did you get for dinner?'
He said, 'Cat food.'

Echo, Echo, Echo

We had dinner at and looked around the Möbelhof furniture store. It’s right across the road (well, and a field, too) from our house but you have to drive about a kilometer to get there. It is a very cool store. IKEA style but more upscale. Rather like Bova…not quite DWR, but nicer than Scan Designs and way nicer than IKEA. Wee Laddie was quite taken with a table & chair set that’s just his size. (Already, with the high-end taste… maybe we can talk him into IKEA at least.) I love that there are all these furniture stores around with stuff that we like. There are some other shops around the IKEA that we’ll also check out on some other trip over there.

Tonight was the first night in the house. It echoes like crazy with the tile floors and no furniture. We can barely carry on a conversation, and then only if Wee Laddie’s not shouting something (which he often is). It’s maddening. Guitarman was unpacking the TV & stuff and it was just insanely loud from the bedroom upstairs.

When I tucked Wee Laddie in tonight he was crying for the hotel. I’m sure it’s just because that’s the only place he’s stayed here and he didn’t want to be in a new place (we don’t even have the bed set up, we’re just on the mattresses on the floor). I had taken some photos of the hotel room so I showed them to him. That seemed to help and he did finally go to sleep.

Funny thing Wee Laddie did: He picked a boogie and tried to put it in Guitarman’s nose. Hehe

Crap!

Wee Laddie and Grandma were playing around with a deck of cards. Wee Laddie puts down an eight and says, 'Eight.'

Grandma says, 'Crap! That IS an 8!'

Wee Laddie looks over at me and proudly exclaims, 'Crap!'