Bait and Switch

Lordy, but its been awhile! August is the craziest month of all so far but it is slowing down. I got to go to Washington DC for a conference and I did no sightseeing at all. In fact, I have come up with a new phrase: "Offsite Staycation." Basically, I set up shop in my hotel room--which assisted me by providing a mini fridge that was in no way connected to a minibar--and lived an in-between-the-sessions life as a lady with no responsibilities. It was lovely.

Once I got back home, however, it was potty training bootcamp. Donny has basically 3 weeks between the end of Waldorf and the start of Montessori so Mike and I have been taking turns taking off of work to look after him and work on the whole Pee In the Toilet message. The jury is still out but we, the Defense, are optimistic.

Here are some photos that have been piling up from the last three weeks or so:

From the series starting with our "cover photo" for this post, Donny has been playing outside alot (our house is mostly carpeted...) Here he is in a pair of his big boy microgutchies in the role of Nature Boy:



Ah, crap--the other photos did'nt download. Check back in a day or two for more photographic evidence of Donny's Between School Adventures...

Day One: So Far, So Good

Today was Day #1 of 5 of being home with The Boy. It was also Day One of Potty Training Boot Camp. That went ok but I'll spare you the details.

Because its Potty Training Boot Camp the next five days will be spent close to home. That's fine as it means both saving money and reactivating toys that have been neglected. Today we got out what I call the Architecture Blocks and we made houses. I would set up the base for the four walls and Donovan would take it from there. This one is my favorite of the day:


You'll note below that the horse and the ladybug are having a birthday party in the house. According to Donovan they ate a big red cake. We sang happy birthday to them a few times. Then we knocked down the house, which is obviously how you end any decent birthday party.

What the Boys do when Mama's Away

Can't Stop, Won't Stop

So far, the big boy bed experiment is going well. Of course, Donny gets out of his bed to play and walk around his room but he does eventually get back in and fall asleep. We still use the monitor and last night he was singing all sorts of snippets of this and that. At one point, I heard him singing letters but it wasn't the alphabet song. Then I realized he was singing the names of notes. I have no idea if he was singing a C# when he sang "C#" but he was singing them in groups of 3 and 4--Mike confirmed the note groups he was singing were chords. Which just goes to show, you can put the boy to bed but you can't make him stop playing the piano.

And that reminds me: how cool is this? I may just have to do this if there's any lumber left from the new porch we are eventually going to get!

Big Boy Bed

A couple--well, maybe a few--months ago, we bought a toddler bed for Donovan. It sat in its box next to the front door from the day we brought it home. Last night I finally put the damn thing together.

I put it together in the front room, which was'nt very good planning, but Mike brought it upstairs while I was trying to get the kid to nap in our bed. Mike dismantled the crib and set up the bed. While he and Donny went to the playground this afternoon, I gussied it up


Please note the framed prints. Donny is in love with the book Uncle Andy's Cats, and I managed to find a cheapo set of Warhol cat prints on Ebay. Got some frames at Michaels Crafts, et voila! Expect a new paintjob and (hopefully) new carpet soon.