Not sure what his deal was today, but Gavin was very morose. Really quiet, really clingy (to Stacy, primarily. No surprise there). Had a really rough wake up from his nap. Stacy ended up cuddling with him for awhile in his room and they both ended up falling back to sleep together on his floor. Even seeing Jamie ("Jude!" is what he calls her) didn't perk him up today. I dare say that even the garbage truck would have done little to lift his spirits. Maybe he's getting sick. Stacy said she feels a lot like him today. Just really worn down and tired and crabby. Maybe they're both getting sick. I hope not.
Tomorrow morning we're scheduled for a tour of the Ferndale Fire Department. I'm not really sure how this works since Stacy arranged it, but I think it will blow Gavin's mind. In fact, she even said she's not sure what to expect tomorrow. I think they're going to inspect our car seat and make sure it's installed right. But I also think Gavin will get to see real firefighters (I have my fingers crossed that it will be firemen and firewomen) and a real fire truck up close.
Stacy is sitting next to me right now reading about toilet training. For Gavin, not herself. Gavin has been really interested in the whole going to the bathroom thing lately. He sometimes announces when he's about to fill his pants or right after he's done it. Although he says, "Poop," sometimes he actually means pee. He'll even say it while he grabbing his the crotch of his diaper as he goes. He knows the difference, though, and he says both words in relation to everything but his diaper. He's been peeing in the bathtub lately (and who can blame him, really? Who doesn't have the urge to pee as soon as they get in the shower? Mind you, peeing in the bath is different because then you're all soaking in it, but he's a baby, he hasn't thought this through. Did I mention that Stacy almost always bathes with him? A recent Stacy Facebook status: "Bathed in urine again. 2nd time this week. Still waiting for the fabulous results of this exclusive spa treatment" followed by the comment, "I heard this gives you softer, younger looking skin. So far it's only working on Gavin"). The other day he was standing in the tub and started peeing and it was clear he was pretty surprised by the whole thing, but also a little pleased.
Stacy just said, "Having read this, I don't think I'm ready to start toilet training. Meaning that I think it will be easier in the summer when it's just us instead of us and daycare." But then she said, "I think it would be nice to have him trained before our trips." We're going to Florida right before his 2nd birthday in July. And then at the beginning of August we're going to Riviera Maya where we're meeting up with Lisa and Brenden (and yes, I've already been warned about how we're all going to end up kidnapped and murdered by Mexican drug lords. My dad sends me links to articles about mass graves and bodies thrown in pools of lye on a daily basis. Though if one were to look at a map of Mexico, one would see that Riviera Maya is near Cancun, which is far away from and not the same as, say, Ciudad Juárez). So if Stacy wants to wait until she's done with school for the year, that puts us at Potty Training Day 1 around the middle of June. Since we leave around the middle or July for FL, I am worried she may have wildly misplaced expectations about how long this whole potty training thing takes or how easy it is. Granted, I haven't been involved in potty training for quite some time (I've been trained myself for at least a decade now) and I know that every kid is different, but I have my doubts that Gavin's going to be wearing big boy pants before our TransAir flight takes off for Orlando. It does occur to me, however, that we might be toilet training while in Mexico. Which is pretty much a vacation dream come true.
As I said, he knows the difference between "pee" and "poop" so long as it's IRL and not in relation to his diaper. If you say to him, "Uh oh. What did Emma do in the house?" he will say, "Poop. Uh oh." Because she goes in the house on a pretty regular basis, unfortunately. She's old. She can't help it. And Gavin seems to know this. He's very gentle with her. He puts a blanket over her when she's on her bed. The other day Laura saw him try to help her up and into the kitchen. She has a lot of trouble with her back legs and sometimes struggles to get up after she's been on her bed. We often have to help her. She was trying to get up and her legs were wobbling and Laura said Gavin went over and put his hands under her belly and kind of lifted and then walked behind her into the kitchen like that. He's seen all of us do something similar many times. It pretty much makes me want to cry just thinking about him doing that. If only Aunt Laura had gotten a video of it like any competent Aunt would have done.
Speaking of things Laura should have gotten on video, on Wednesday I was in Ann Arbor and Stacy called me around 4:30 as she often does when I'm not going to get home before Gavin goes to bed. She put the phone on speaker phone and asked Gavin what happened today to somebody's shoes (Stacy is saying this all in Spanish, mind you). Gavin said, "Dirt," which means, of course, "Mama D." So I said, "What happened to my shoes?" And Gavin said, "Uh oh," and then, "Emma," and then, "Poop," and then, "Uh oh," again. "What?" I said. "Emma pooped in my shoes?" I am thinking this is a joke, and a pretty sophisticated one for a kid who isn't even two yet. But it wasn't a joke. Emma had explosive diarrhea directly over a pair of off-white Sketchers with orange laces that I had left by the front door. This happened just a few feet away from Laura and Gavin who had just finished watching the garbage truck out the front door. Laura said she and Gavin had about the same reaction of shock and that Gavin was very good while she was cleaning it up, staying out of the way repeating, "Uh oh," over and over again. Laura attempted to wash my shoes. I have not yet been brave enough to investigate the results. It was truly one of those rare life lessons for Gavin who had no doubt never even considered pooping into shoes as possible before that day. It's better that he learn now, however, than wait to learn it from some drunk frat boy in college like so many other kids do.
So I'm on a major Mexico/drugs researching kick. The violence is all over the country and it's not just from the drug cartels. It's really complex and the media, which only covers about 15% of what really is going on, mostly blames the narcos so that tourists don't get scared off.
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