Falling in love all over again...

I woke this morning with my game-face on. The M&M's were ready. The doll that wets and poos had batteries. The brand new Thomas the Tank Engine, CARS, and Diego undies were ready to go. I had read the potty training book till I fell asleep last night. I was ready.

But, the big question was, was Andrew ready?

In a small re-cap, we plugged along. I instructed, we talked pee-pee and poop, we had some success. We had some accidents. The amount of pee in the potty exceeded the amount of pee on the floor, so I considered it a potty-training victory.

What I was prepared for was exhaustion (which I am) and frustration (which I wasn't). What I wasn't prepared for was falling in love with Andrew all over again.

I love my husband. I love my children. But, sometimes, in the daily grind of school, work, carpool, blah blah blah, we forget how much we like each other. What was so nice about today was the fact that I had nothing to do other than spend time with Andrew. And, face it, you can only discuss the wee-wee for so long, and, then, well, let's play.

I have read books till my voice hurts. Played cars. Played trains. Danced to Barney. Ridden scooter cars through the house. Laughed till my sides hurt. Andrew is funny. He actually has a really quick wit and loves a joke. He would sit on the potty and innocently hold out an M&M to share - then pull it away from me and eat it - while giving me a "got-cha" look - and then giggle so hard he would almost fall off the potty. We played peek-a-boo between the levels of his cars' parking garage. He was laughing so hard at me that he actually DID fall over. We had very complex conversations with the creepy doll that sits on the potty. The doll would giggle and say, "uh-oh, I made a stinkie." This made Andrew laugh every time! He loved sayin the word stinkie - and would then wave his hand in the air (like he was clearing the air) declaring that the dolly was eeewwwww gross! Hilarious stuff.

And as the day wore on and we collapsed on the sofa to watch some TV, he snuggled into me and the smell of his baby-hair took my breath away. The softness of his cheek never felt better. The tenderness of his voice melted me all over again.

So, like during a great date with my husband, when half-way through dinner you have the,"hey, we really do get along and I really do LIKE you," conversation, I fell in love all over again with Andrew.

Like I really could fall any harder?

So while I don't think we completed our "toilet training in a day" like the book claimed we would, I think we accomplished much more.

We'll try to conquer the potty again tomorrow.