Yo Anthony Bourdain!

M has a crush on Anthony Bourdain.

Seriously.

Before you rush to scowl and silently judge me over what I’m allowing my kids to watch on TV, hear me out.  We’re not a TV-centric household by any means, but the girls do have a few shows that they like that we keep on the DVR rotation.  The Mickey Mouse fixation (and subsequent 2nd birthday party theme) of last year has since been replaced with Olivia, Yo Gabba Gabba and the occasional Special Agent Oso.  The Hubs and I first watched an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba from a DVD that was gifted to us, way back when the girls were still all about Mickey.  A few minutes in we were convinced that the people making that show had to be on major hallucinogenic substances.  I just didn’t get it and the girls weren’t interested.

Fast forward to this spring shortly after we moved out here.  One random morning I flipped to Yo Gabba Gabba and went about cleaning up the kitchen after breakfast.  Things suddenly got very quiet and the girls were completely transfixed.  Okay, I was kind of impressed the second time around.  Good messages and themes, lots of color, learning opportunities and thumbs up for dancing and movement.  I went back to cleaning, half listening half lost in the brief moment of uninterrupted thought (sigh) when I hear the YGG host, DJ Lance, mention Chromeo.  What the sh*t?!  Chromeo?!  I even texted my sis-in-law because by god I had to tell someone how freakin fantastic it was.  Consider me hooked from that point forward.  I even bought one of the YGG soundtracks after hearing this happy little Of Montreal tune on an episode.  We rock out in the car to this one almost daily.  And yes, it really does make my girls more interested in brushing their teeth.

So back to Anthony Bourdain… he made an appearance on a YGG episode from a couple of years ago as a doctor, “Dr. Tony”, where he made a house call for one of the characters who was sick and to show everyone that doctors aren’t scary.  It is a frequently requested episode by M, who gets all smiley when she talks about Dr. Tony.  I guess I can’t blame her; YGG aside, he is pretty awesome.  And given all the other crap TV and mindless/weird/downright creepy kids programming these days, I’ll gladly take 30 minutes of slightly trippy, groove-infused, celeb-studded goofiness any day because I get to see my girls listen, learn, dance and have fun.  And maybe pick up a little crush here and there.

‘Lou-sick

It was a gray day here today.  We’ve had our fair share of “June gloom” gray mornings lately but it usually burns off by noon into clear skies and a lot of warm sun.  Not so today.  Noon rolled around and still gray, and even smelled a little bit like rain.  Random, since we rarely get the wet stuff out here, but that little bit of rain-like scent immediately made me miss STL and miss a good rainstorm.  Now I certainly don’t miss the wicked thunderstorms, wind, hail and tornado sirens that would push me into palpitation central and gut-wrenching fear.  Also not missing the two week stint of 100+ degree temps that recently settled over the midwest.  But a good, solid rainy day every once in awhile does the heart and mind good.  And I miss that.

By late afternoon today that smell of rain revealed itself as droplets that couldn’t quite decide on a rhythm, and by dinnertime the humidity had risen enough to make my hair frizz and my skin feel sticky.  Ah, there it is.  Just like being back in the ‘Lou.

Buh-bye dipes!

We’ve made it through another major chapter over the past week and surpassed a milestone.  And let me add a little note here – if discussions of potty training or even underpants offend you or make you squirm just stop reading here – no worries, I get it.  But a virtual high five to our success and new diaper-free status would be appreciated.

Anyhoo, very little in the parenting realm to date has truly freaked me out or flat out scared me.  I know there will be MUCH to come that will fill me with suck-the-breath-out-of-my-lungs fear (i.e., the teenage years – ugh) but prior to last week the mere mention of potty training truly scared the crap out of me, no pun intended.  Maybe it’s the mess factor or the (lack of) control thing or the fact that to do it right in my mind would require not leaving the house for a few days.  Whatever drove that fear I’m not exactly sure, but we tackled it head on last week while the girls were on a pre-summer session break from preschool, and which also happened to fall during a week that the Hubs had to be back in STL for work.  I think his absence and knowing that it was all up to me motivated me even more.  I literally woke up with the Rocky theme song in my head last Wednesday morning, Day One.

I had been talking up the process with the girls for awhile prior to last week and after tossing the final diapers into the nasty, ridiculously stinky diaper pail (we’re talking nearly three years of use nasty – if I could burn the darn thing I would) on Wednesday morning, the girls donned their new “big girl underpants” and proceeded to run around sans shorts, leggings or pants for the next three days.  We opted for Hello Kitty and Dora the Explorer underpants, which were a big hit.  And let me tell you there is nothing cuter than watching those undie-clad toddler tushies dancing around the house, sprawled out on the kitchen floor while coloring and going about their playful days as if we did this every day, no biggie.  I quizzed them over and over again about keeping underpants dry and most importantly telling me when they need to go.  I stayed close to them – as in put everything else on hold and hardly took my eyes off of them – to catch the accidents (of which there were really very few) and to notice the cues to help them get to the potty on time.  It was a long three days but honestly it all went very smoothly, naps included.

I gave them lots of positive reinforcement and praise, coupled with stickers and M&Ms for successes.  Every day ended with a long discussion of how proud I am of them and how they’re big girls.  It was an amazing process to watch with each of them as their individuality and uniqueness stood out even more.  C embraced all of it and by Day Two was completely accident-free and so, so pleased with herself.  It is a wondrous thing to watch her light up and break into a HUGE grin when I express how proud of her I am.  It’s often followed by a bear hug of epic, borderline chokehold proportions, and the sweetest “Mommy, my Mommy”.  Her affection melts my insides over and over again.  M was equally successful with the PT process and her stubborn streak is becoming even more prominent.  It’s part stubborn streak and part strength of attention span that often requires me calling her name multiple times to get her attention.  The few accidents she did have were due to the “I don’t want to be bothered with it” stance because she was too busy doing other stuff she wanted to do.  Combine that with a seriously strong little bladder and let’s just say we’re still battling a bit when it’s so obvious from her physical behavior that she really needs to go but absolutely doesn’t want to, for whatever reason of the moment.

I thought I might be a bit sad or emotional over this milestone but not so.  This was the right time for them, proven to me by the ease of the transition.  That realization made it all the more of a personal success in conquering my own mama-fear.  And now I have a batch of unused size five dipes floating around this house that will be shipped this week to little lady Z for her to grow into, and I’m super excited for quite a bit of cabinet space to be freed up once the dipes and wipes are no longer in this house.  I plan to dance a jig when I toss that beyond-disgusting diaper pail out for trash pickup this week, and our packing list for the upcoming Gulf Shores vacation just got a little smaller.  All very good things in my book.