More SB Stories

1. We have been trying to teach SB some manners. For example, don't talk with your mouth full, and say "sir" or "ma'am" when addressing elders. The not talking while eating part she caught on to pretty quickly, which was rather surprising considering how much she loves to talk. However, sir and ma'am didn't catch on as quickly, and she seemed reticent to say those words especially when corrected.

SB is a pretty bright kid, which is not surprising considering her parentage, but even I was surprised at how she managed to get around the "yes ma'am" rule. When she responded to me one day with a "yes" I reminded her, "Say 'yes ma'am'." She frowned and said, "I gotta mouth full."

Clever girl.

2. SB is completely potty trained. I forgot to blog about that, but one day my mom kept her and told me afterward that SB told her every time she needed to potty and was definitely ready to train. She pretty much trained herself over a weekend, and now she is doing great. One minor irritation is that she knows she can use this to her advantage at bedtime, or whenever I give her a chore like cleaning her room. When she says she needs to go, we go. She will tell me that she needs to use the bathroom about four times in the span of 10 minutes or so. She can usually squeeze out a few drops each time before announcing, "I'm done!"

While I was in Texas visiting Meredith last month, Jack kept SB here for the weekend. They made a trip to Lowe's during which SB needed to potty. I had reminded Jack before I left that SB needed to use the potty before going anywhere, but if she had an accident, there would be a change of clothes in a bag that I would leave in his truck. I also asked him to be easy on her if she did have an accident because she might be embarrassed and not to make a big deal out of it. So Jack takes her to the men's bathroom at Lowe's, which is gross enough, but SB feels the need to take off most of her clothes: shoes, socks, shorts, panties in order to use the potty. The only remaining item that wasn't strewn around the men's bathroom floor was her shirt, which she somehow managed to pee on while wearing it. Thankfully, Jack remembered the change of clothes in his truck. After cleaning up and changing her clothes, they went back inside only to have SB announce that she needed to poo poo.

Back to the men's room. But before they got there, Jack noticed that SB was lagging behind. He turned around to see that she had stripped down in the middle of aisle 12 and was preparing to let it loose right there. They managed to make it to the bathroom before any messes were made. Jack said she only had one accident over the weekend, and it was while she was outside playing. I think Jack was a little distressed that SB didn't seem more sorry about wetting her pants.
He told me they went inside and got cleaned up and told me later, "I know you said not to make a big deal or whatever if she had an accident because she would be embarrassed, but she didn't care at all!" She just laughed and asked for some hanitizer.

3. She calls hand sanitizer "hanitizer."






4. SB loves to pull tissues out of the box and throw them away. She will grab a half dozen kleenex to wipe her nose and then gleefully toss them one by one into the cash can.

5. She calls the trash can the "cash can."

6. SB loves to sing Zacchaeus was a wee little man. The problem is that SB also loves the song about 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed. One always falls off and bumps his head. Instead of punishing the wicked little monkeys, the mama always calls the doctor and the doctor says, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"

So SB has added her favorite part of the monkey song to the end of Zacchaeus:

Zacchaeus was a wee little man
And a wee little man was he
He climbed up in a sycamore tree
For the Lord he wanted to see
And as the Savior passed that way
He looked up in that tree
And he said, NO MORE MONKEYS JUMPING ON THE BED!

7. SB gets a sucker as a reward every time she goes #2 in the potty. She was pretending to need to use the potty last night in order to delay bedtime. I was waiting impatiently while she sat there twiddling her thumbs. I finally told her we were getting back in bed.

SB: But I need to poo poo mommy.
Me: You already did that today.
SB: I did?? Really?
Me: Yes, right before your naptime.
SB: Did I get a sucker?
Me: Yes.
SB: That's great!!! Gimme five!