POOPY DIAPERS!!!!!

Bennett is definately the comedian of the family. If it will get a laugh, he will do it no matter the consequences. He is such a ham!! Being the youngest of four kiddos, I guess he decided he needed to be heard and he does this through humor. When I say humor, understand that I am talking about kid humor. Which generally includes, but not limited to, anything potty related and chewing or throwing food. What especially tickles little kids' funny bones is when you can combine the two!! A good example of this would be to yell, "Toot!" and throw a single goldfish cracker. This will cause the older three to go into hysterics!! As we began to potty-train Bennett, one of the catch phrases at our house became, "Poopy diapers!" I was focusing on how they were bad, yucky and only for babies, not for big boys. Bennett didn't really care about that aspect of poopy diapers, but he did realize the comic value of such a phrase. It started to become a regular event that everyone would be sitting quietly eating their lunch and the silence would be broken by Bennett randomly yelling, "POOPY DIAPERS!" As you can imagine, there was no going back to the nice lunch after this phrase is yelled. I encouraged the older kids to not laugh at this because it is not nice to talk about potty things at the table, and if they laugh, it only encourages Bennett to keep yelling yucky things while they are eating. After firm coaching (a.k.a. threatening that they would get in trouble if they laughed) and lots of practice, Bennett could randomly yell, "POOPY DIAPERS!" and the older kids would hardly crack a smile. I was proud of them and felt soon that Bennett yelling "POOPY DIAPERS!" would cease due to the fact that he was not getting any laughs. Bennett had other ideas. Anyone with children knows that when you are in a store, another couple (generally an older couple whose kiddos are grown) will stop to comment on smaller children, telling you how cute your children are and other such nice things. Since Bennett is not an infant, they will look at him and ask, "What is your name?" And what does that sweet little boy say back to them? You guessed it, "POOPY DIAPERS!" The older children nearly collapse on the floor into giggles when this happens. "POOPY DIAPERS" must be funnier as a name than just a random phrase. Lucky for me, he does have normal toddler speech which means that most people who aren't around him often do not understand him. I rue the day people do begin to understand him, because they will, of course, laugh which is exactly what he wants. So if you hear a child in Wal-Mart yell "POOPY DIAPERS!" just do me a favor and pretend he said, "My name is Bennett. Nice to meet you."

I Take a Nap Every Day!!

It's true!!! I take a nap everyday, well almost everyday. Are you jealous? You always hear people saying, "I wish I had a naptime," well, I am one of those people. But I should mention that I lie in the floor of my closet squished up against my shoe boxes (of which there are many.) I should also mention that my naps are only about 30 minutes long, because I then wake up with my hip and shoulder in pain because I have been lying on the hard floor. Why do I do this, you ask. Because I'm lucky enough to do so. Everyday after lunch, my sweet Jonathan washes his hands and face and goes potty. Then in a sweet small voice, he asks, "Mommy, will you lay down with me?" Of course, I can't resist. I follow him into the closet and lay down next to him, but not too close (he has never been a cuddler) then he grabs my hand and holds it as he drifts off to sleep. This has become a special ritual for me and I will miss it dearly next year when he is gone. It doesn't matter that I could be up mopping the kitchen floor, cleaning my bathroom, organizing family pictures, dusting the living room or folding a load of laundry (all of which need doing as I am typing.) Next year, he will go off to Kindergarten. Thus ending, leisurly lunches while watching cartoons, long afternoon naps, and playing computer games together cheering each other on. His world will expand by leaps and bounds. And our precious time is growing short and I am going to treasure every moment, even if it mean lying on the floor holding his hand watching him fall asleep. I pray that someday, when he is all grown-up, somewhere in the back of his mind, he will remember these naptimes.