Food, Songs, and Potty Time

This morning I watched our 7-month-old Olivia shovel in a half a diced banana like it was nothing. Then for lunch, she did half a small sweet potato in the same fashion. The pieces started out teeny tiny because, hey, all I've ever known is feeding Collin, who couldn't handle diced banana until he was two. Then I got brave and tried bigger pieces. I was just sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to hear the coughing/choking sound that is as familiar as breathing for Collin, but it never came. Of course my logical mind knew it wouldn't, but I still waited for it anyway out of habit. And then I couldn't help but cry when it didn't come because it was such a relief to be able to feed a normal baby regular food. I shouldn't be so shocked because Olivia has normal anatomy, but with all we've been through with her big brother, I am having all these emotions I can't really put into words...over a regular baby and a banana. Something tells me this will not be the last time I get a little choked up (no pun intended) over Olivia’s food progression. She's really quite good at the whole thing!

On a lighter note, the car ride over to the store was quite entertaining thanks to Mr. Comic Relief himself, Collin Jennings. First he declared out of the blue, “Mommy needs a shower after sleepy-sleep time.” Really? My pint-sized kid just told me to take a shower? I replied, “Why? Do I smell bad or something?” You know what that kid said? “Yeah.” I suppose I should take his word for it since he hasn’t lied yet and has a knack for telling it like it is. Then he proceeded to sing “The Letters Song,” another gem he made up on the fly. Same tune as the “Things To Do Song” from yesterday. This time I wrote down some of the lyrics at a red light. “P is for popcorn, D is for during the day, E is for eggs. Eggs are everywhere! Clean up the eggs with a rake and shovelllllll!” I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried.

And now for more potty training news. After yesterday's lack of frequenting the potty, I thought we'd be on another potty training hiatus that I'm come to know well over the past year. But Collin had other plans, thankfully. It's only 3:30, and we've had eight successful potty usages at home, four being #2s (geez, what have I been feeding him?), and only one accident, which happened in the car on the way home from the store because he froze up again in the public restroom. My solution to the public potty problem? A travel potty that he can use in the car. I've heard about and read many positive reviews for this literal porta-potty, so we'll see if it helps. We'll be going on a road trip to Myrtle Beach next week, so it should get some good mileage then. And if not, I've only wasted about $14. Okay, I’d better wrap this up so that I have time to take a shower before the kids wake up. Don’t want to accost my son with my offensive body odor any longer!