Special things.

Calvin's all about the word special right now. Once I offered to bring him a special treat if he would behave himself while I was gone, and ever since then the word has been like magic.

Two special things of note this week:

1. Potty training. OH BOY. I am so not ready for this, but Calvin's teachers insisted he was ready, so Monday we sent him to school in underwear. He had three accidents (pee only), but his teachers said he did really well. And yesterday he only had one accident all day! Until he got home, that is. Then he had two, immediately after I asked him if he needed to go potty. For some reason he is NOT interested in going potty at home. Nate encouraged me to pick up a special potty treat for him, so now we have a container of M&Ms in our bathroom. It took Calvin approximately two seconds to drop his drawers and pee on the toilet after we offered him a "special treat" for going potty this morning. Although we said "If you go potty you can have an M&M" and he said "No, I can have two M&Ms!" Already a bargainer. Smart cookie.

He looks so cute in his big boy undies, doesn't he?


2. Anne of Green Gables. I caved and bought the full set of Penguin Classics from Anthropologie for baby girl's room. Calvin saw them last night and immediately said "I want that one, the pink one!" As I handed him the copy of Anne of Green Gables, I said "This is one of Mama's very favorite books." He nodded and said "This is my favorite book, too." He carefully carried it around for a while, and then I left to run some errands while Nate's mom and dad gave him a bath and put him to bed. When I came home Mary told me that Calvin had refused to sit in the chair with her to read before bed. Instead he insisted she sit in the chair and read his books to him (pages turned out so he could see the pictures) while he stood at the ottoman and flipped through his "special book." And then he asked to sleep with it.

When I checked on him before bed, I found this:


Oh my heart.

This morning I found him standing at the end of his crib, book laid flat on top, flipping through pages. He said "I'm reading Anne of Green Tables!" and then asked me what it's about and if I would read some of it to him. He sat there wide-eyed and smiling as I read the first paragraph:

Mrs. Rachel Lynde lived just where the Avonlea main road dipped down into a little hollow, fringed with alders and ladies' eardrops and traversed by a brook that had its source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert place; it was reputed to be an intricate, headlong brook in its earlier course through those woods, with dark secrets of pool and cascade; but by the time it reached Lynde's Hollow it was a quiet, well-conducted little stream, for not even a brook could run past Mrs. Rachel Lynde's door without due regard for decency and decorum; it probably was conscious that Mrs. Rachel was sitting at her window, keeping a sharp eye on everything that passed, from brooks and children up, and that if she noticed anything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had ferreted out the whys and wherefores thereof.

And I was worried I'd never have a daughter to share my love of classic children's literature.

Mommy & me.

Because Nate works every other weekend, I try to take advantage of that one-on-one time with Calvin. Given last Saturday's dark and stormy weather, I decided it was a good day for two of my personal indoor favorites: McDonald's breakfast and a trip to the library.

If not a healthy body, at least a healthy mind, right?

A sausage egg McMuffin, an egg, bacon, cheese biscuit, two hashbrowns, and a mango pineapple smoothie = bliss.

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During breakfast I tried to prep Calvin for our trip to the library by telling him that once we got there we'd need to stop at the counter and get a library card, which might take a few minutes. But after we did that, we'd get some new books! And that the library is a quiet place, so we'd need to use our very best library voice and listen to and obey mommy at all times.

He listened intently to my description of the library experience, thrilled at the prospect of new books. And then we practiced his library voice, which he nailed on the first try. I've been trying to get him to use that same hushed voice in other scenarios by calling it "car voice" and "morning voice" but so far it hasn't caught on. Dang.

After breakfast we made our way over the library, where I applied for a library card. I should note here that yes, I am an avid reader and yes, I should have a library card. However, I am really quite terrible at returning books on time and currently have outstanding fees in both the Dakota and Ramsey county systems. I'm a bit of a fee flee-er. The books have all been returned, but the fees have gone unpaid. I've been too nervous to try and get (another) library card now that we're back in Dakota county, because heaven only knows how much I owe in ten-year-old late fees, but then I realized that I have a new last name since I opened that first library card in Dakota county and they'll probably never know it's me. But I used Nate's phone number on my application just in case.

And now you know the extent of my criminal activity. I'm not proud, but I'm also not going to lie about it. Well, to you at least. I've obviously done my share of lying to the library system.

Side note: The woman in front of us in line was a total cat lady. Middle aged, crazy hair, sweatpants. And she was requesting a new library card because the night before she'd left it at a restaurant. She told the librarian that she'd gotten it back less than an hour later, but she was very concerned someone had used it during that time. (?) So the librarian checked her account and said it hadn't been used, and the woman said "Oh, I'm so relieved. But I'd still like a new account because I really don't know what they did with it during that time. Believe me, I know how these things work. I watch a LOT of true crime."

That was one of the more challenging "must not laugh out loud must not laugh out loud" moments I've had in life.

Anyway, after I succeeded in scamming the library into giving me another chance at borrowing books, Calvin succeeded in being the most well-behaved toddler at the library. And he loved it there! Maybe I have a shot at redeeming myself by raising a kid who loves and is respectful of the library. And by returning my books on time from now on.

He read and played while I browsed:




And then he insisted on carrying our bag full of goodies all by himself.



Our Mommy & me day ended when Daddy came home from work and crashed the party, but we still had fun. On our way home from dinner at Chili's that night, Nate and I were listening/dancing to Katy Perry in the front seat. From the backseat we heard Calvin say, "Mama, look! Look at MY moves!" I turned around to find Calvin raising and lowering his right arm again and again to the music. He dances about as well as his parents do.


I love my cutie boy and our special weekend time together. Oh, and I highly recommend Duck & Goose: How are You Feeling? and Lots of Spots. Those two books have gotten a bedtime workout this week!


Anyone notice his awesome Merichka's shirt? Nevermind that it says "tap room" on it with a picture of a cocktail glass. I may have sent him to his (church) daycare in that shirt once or twice before I even noticed...

Ugh. McDonald's, fee evasion, Katy Perry, cocktail shirts...this post isn't doing me any favors. Good thing I'm not up for any parenting awards this year.

Ham.

"Ham! Ham! Ham!" shouts Calvin — morning, noon, and night.

"Ughhhhhhhhhhh," says his mom in return.

Am I the only one who had fond memories of reading Dr. Seuss books as a child and couldn't wait to read them to my own kids but then once I did realized they are really long and quite annoying? Making this even worse, my child refuses to read one book and move on to the next...it's Green Eggs and Ham, and then Green Eggs and Ham again, and then maybe, if we're lucky, a round of Dr. Seuss' ABC before once again reading Green Eggs and Ham. And then we* have a tantrum because, SERIOUSLY, no. No more Green Eggs and Ham. ABC, fine. Ham, no.

I would not, could not in the dark.
I could not, would not in a park.
I DON'T LIKE THIS BOOK YOU SILLY MAN.**
I don't like it one bit, Sam-I-Am.


*By "we" I mean me.

*The silly man being Dr. Seuss, of course. Not Calvin. I love Calvin. Which is why I read him annoying books over and over and over again. I just wish he'd branch out...maybe to Fox in Socks. Or One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. Or Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections.

Freedom.

Every once in a while we get a glimpse of our old life — the one that didn't revolve around diaper changes and reading Barnyard Dance fifty times in a row each night before bed.

This was one of those weekends. Calvin went to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Breyer for the weekend, and Nate and I went to Appleton, WI to visit our friends Lisa and Eric. And, as an added and unexpected bonus, Nate's brother Kris and his girlfriend Alex came up from Madison to spend the day/night with all of us.

SO. MUCH. FUN.

Boating, sleeping, eating, drinking, zero responsibility for anyone but ourselves...bliss.

We spent all of Saturday looking at this:


And doing this:


Sometimes it's nice to just be Abby, and not Mom, for a little while. To have the time to really talk with and listen to my friends. To sit — blessed sitting! — for an extended period of time. I enjoyed our weekend, and the freedom that came with it, so much.

But by the time Sunday rolled around I couldn't wait to get home to Calvin, diaper changes, and yet another evening devoted to Barnyard Dance.

It's nice to just be Abby...but I like being Mom best.

Strawberry Seusscake.

Something about this series of photos reminds me of a cross between Strawberry Shortcake and Dr. Seuss.

I think it might be the hair. And probably the strawberry.