Dec Figures It Out

Hi everyone! I've surfaced from the all-encompassing vortex known in my professional life as Emerson Exchange. The week of Exchange - and the weeks leading up to it - I'm basically off the grid. I'm back, slightly less fueled by coffee, and sorting through the piles of laundry. It's 99% amazing to be back - but I did enjoy other people bringing me food and being able to eat it while it was still hot.

Anyhoo ... I had a different post planned for my re-entry, but as they do sometimes, one of the kids slotted themselves in ahead of the regularly scheduled programming. And this time, it was the D man!

Once upon a time, long long ago, Declan pooped in the potty. And then had absolutely no desire to ever repeat that success again. Clearly he'd been there, done that. This summer, he became somewhat interested in wearing underwear because they "are more comfortable-er." This was all well and good - except that the pieces had not all connected for him yet. When he would start to pee, he would look down at it in surprise as if it was completely independent of his body. Our carpet did not appreciate it.

Two weeks ago, we had an unexpected day care closure and Mike stayed home with Dec. Mid-morning, I got a text from them. It was a photo of D with a Hot Wheels car carrier. Perhaps the car carrier that had been in Mike's closet for months, just waiting for its future owner to stop making puddles on the carpet. He kept it going all day and has been mostly in underwear since that point. We've had a few "leaks" (where his underwear gets wet but not his pants) because he gets distracted and forgets to make it to the bathroom. But for the most part, he's doing a great job.

While I was at Exchange, Dec had a couple surprises in him. Mike sent me a text on Wednesday night that they found themselves into a bit of a situation at the park ... and he had successfully taught D how to poop in the woods and wipe with a leaf. Dec took that lesson to heart on Thursday night and tried to wipe himself when Auntie was babysitting. There may have been some washing involved after that experiment.

We are just awfully excited because this boy went from us figuring that the college roommate was going to have to put some peer pressure on him to full-time underwear. Just like that. Who says ignoring the problem doesn't fix it ...