As much as I love being a mommy, and as fulfilled as I feel when Noah learns something new-- like recently he learned to say "N," and "O," and identify them, and now every time he sees those first two letters of his name, he calls them out excitedly.
I also really love the opportunity to create my own curriculum.  It is amazing the freedom that you can have when you can tailor your classes to the interests of your students, rather than having to only discuss the state-mandated idea of what students should learn. 

My son is so sweet, in fact after viewing a photo of him in his puppy costume my brother told me that all of his female co-workers had baby fever.

Today though he did something that would make even a woman holding her ultrasound photos and looking at newborn baby girl dresses at Peapods wonder if she was really ready for this:

The setting, my dear son, who is nearing the beginning of potty training had just hone poopy in his diaper.  (Why is it that we think that poopy sounds less icky than poop?  I went round and round of what of the many words available to call it.)

I thought,  What a great chance to set him on the potty and use TP to clean him up and let him have the experience of being a big boy.  I took off his diaper and set him on his potty chair, which I mentioned in a previous post.  Now, my son has a hair trigger gag reflex and apparently the smell of what he had just done in his diaper was more than enough to set him off.  He has gagged before from just pee diapers, but no- he wasn't just gagging this time. 

He proceeded to vomit violently all over himself, his potty, the big potty, the floor and me.  (and of course this happened while Jim is conveniently out of town.)  Yup-- I was then sitting on the bathroom floor with a poopy (I hadn't cleaned him up yet when this happened) snotty, vomit covered toddler.  Being a mom is sooo glamorous.

I stuck the poor guy in the tub, whipped his remaining clothes off and wiped him down.  I would say I learned a good lesson from this- but what do I do now?  He still has to potty train, which will eventually involve him wiping himself, so do I give him a nose plug for when we reach that point in the training, maybe a fan to keep things fresh?  A candle?  Strong air freshener?

Noah has been interested in the potty for quite some time now.  Elmo's Potty Time   was a frequently requested DVD until we had to take it back to the library and it was never seen or heard from again- mysteriously. ;)

We bought him a little IKEA potty, but his interest in it has been limited to pretending to rinse it out and dump it, and getting a piece of TP, putting it in his little potty and then in the big potty, where it is time to FLUSH  and FLUSH  and FLUSH! 

He even peed once, a little, on the potty, but because he is so young we really haven't made toilet training a big deal.  We have gotten him boxer briefs that he sometimes wears with his diaper just to get used to the concept (and he looks dang cute in boxers) However, since Noah's main interest is in the big potty and the little one, I think, is more of a toy, we decided to get him a potty insert so that he can sit on it.  Yesterday we picked up this one at Target the other day and have had it in the bathroom and had him sit on it a few times.

When Da got home from work last night I asked Noah, "Do you want to show Da your new Potty?"  And he rather sweetly walked over to Jim to take hold of him and push him into the bathroom to see the new contraption, which he proudly picked up from where it was sitting on the seat of our toilet. 

Then, today Noah had already had a BM in his diaper (sorry people for whom this is too much information) without my knowing it-- which is a good thing since he tends to be realllly constipated and everyone within eyesight and earshot know when he is trying to go-- and opened the lid to the toilet, picked up his new potty seat and placed it on the toilet. 

"Do you want to sit on the potty with your diaper off?"

"Pease," he said in his little gruff baby voice, signing with both hands.  I took off his diaper and while I wished he had told me before he had gone, I couldn't be prouder that he is making these steps of knowing what the potty is for, connecting it to his body's activities and wanting to use the toilet for himself.

He was also happy to get to use toilet paper instead of the dreaded chilly-wet wipes.  When he is being cleaned, sometimes I will soothe him with, "I know this is no fun.  When you are ready and go poopy on the potty we can use toilet paper and be all done with this."  I ask him if he would like to go on the potty and he nods seriously.   I think today he knew that I would have to put him on the changing table on his back and strip and clean him, and the potty sounded like a far better option in his little toddler logic.  I couldn't agree more.  Keep up your hatred of wipes, Big Boy!

I previously claimed that I was going to be posting here much more frequently, and that I would post photos, stories and little anecdotes of our lives in Minnesota.  However, so far, February of 2011 has been moving so fast anf furiously that I have barely had the opportunity to pause and spend time with my guys, let alone post here.

The first day of the month found me teaching the first of my current session of Beginning Digital Photography  through Fridley's Community Education.  It has been wonderful to meet with my small class of just four students, and to share some of what I love.  It has also reinforced that I know all of my technical information about photography, and not just so that I can use it, but so that I can express it. 

There have been a few questions from my students that have come close to being unanswerable other than by someone currently employed as a product designer for Canon, but mostly my students have wanted to know things like how to get that fuzzy look behind their heads in portraits, and why the flash just went off when they don't want it to. 

It is hard to believe how fast this first session has gone, and I am brimming with ideas of ways to improve for the next group of students, but before next semester can begin I have my BIG intimidating as a teacher class to hold-- Beginning Photoshop.  (dun dum dun!)  There is so much to cover and such dense matierial and it is difficult to guage the experience level of my students before meeting them for the first session. 

Aside from teaching, we had a rather rushed but wonderful trip to Missouri to visit my Grandma and Aunt Susie, and it was great to reconnect, and let them both meet Jim and Noah.  We're hoping to head down there for another visit in the not to distant future and hopefully to allow Noah to have a bit more than a day with his Great Grandma. 

She is doing pretty well, and has an amazing attitude about everything, considering the health issues that she has been facing, and the frustrations that can come with having words you want to say, but just not quite being able to get them out.  At times I think about how similar Noah must feel when he wants to tell me something, but just can't quite say it.  He and Grandma are two peas in a pod right now, and it was amazing to see them together.

Jim mentioned to me the other day what an honor is must be for her to have met Noah and to see my dad as a Bopp to him. Jim said, "It is like if we get to see Noah become a Grandpa."  That really struck me, because I have thought about Noah someday being a daddy, but the idea of him becoming a Grandpa is just so far away and such an amazing idea. 

Aside from teaching and my travel, Jim has a business trip coming up, I've been dealing with editors reluctant to pay for my time, and getting ready for a new monthly playdate I am holding here in our house.  Speaking of which, big things are afoot in that arena, but that will have to wait for  a later date.

Blessings!