IT’S TIME TO START THE MUSIC…

Every night Landon selects one of his DVDs to watch for a few minutes before he heads upstairs to slumber-land. Usually his selections are from his collection of Pixar movies, sometimes he chooses a Thomas the Tank Engine flick, and occasionally he’ll decide to inject a little education and watch his Letter Factory program from Leap Frog. Last night he requested the “silly green TVD” (his acronym for the TV and DVD synergy). I returned his request with a blank stare unsure of what he was referring to. He proceeded to open up the drawer in the cabinet and pull out our Season 1 Collection of the Muppet Show. I was stoked, and surprised, and completely unsure how he determined that the muppets were silly (which they undoubtedly are) since to the best of my knowledge he had never seen the show before.

I watched the Muppet Show as a kid and loved it. In high school I used to watch reruns whenever I could track them down on cable, some friends and I even held a search to try and find a girl who could hum the entire theme song. A few years ago when they released the first season on DVD I sent in a preorder. The muppets still take me to a place filled with happy memories.

So then it was with a little nervous trepidation that I loaded the muppet DVD into the player. I really wanted the boys to enjoy the fuzzy little creatures, but I was unsure how they would view these puppets compared to the impressive digital animation that they are accustomed to. A few scenes of Miss Piggy chasing Kermit around and tackling him with kisses that Landon didn’t completely understand started off the episode. Soon thereafter, Florence Henderson (that night’s guest host) and a gaggle of monsters belted out their rendition of the Turtles hit “So Happy Together”. Colt stood up from the floor and started dancing. Landon quickly followed suit, and giggles from both boys began to fill the room. It was awesome.

NUMBER TWO

On Sunday night after we returned home from a brief trip to the Irvine Spectrum, Landon announced that he had to ‘go poop’. We dropped our bags, and gently set down Colt, and hurried Landon into the downstairs bathroom where he proceeded to strip off all of his clothes. I left the room to keep an eye on his little brother as Landon perched on his plastic throne. A few minutes later he emerged jumping up and down with a proud smile plastered across his face. I was then escorted by his beaming face into the bathroom where four rounds turds sat on the bottom of his training toilet. We exchanged numerous high fives. Landon proceeded to race around the house exclaiming his new accomplishment. We called his grandparents so he could share the news with them. Then Landon began to list all of the trains he wanted us to purchase for him now that he had accomplished such a monumentous feat. For the past several months, anytime he has seen a toy, most often a toy train that he wants, we have informed him that he has to go poop first and then we’ll get him the toy/train he desires. Apparently he has been keeping a fairly extensive mental list. True to our word, yesterday Landon received a new toy train. More importantly, Landon made another solid deposit in the plastic potty – this time he was sure to display his creation to Rhiannon’s friend Amber. And again today we were off to the toy store for another locomotive reward.

So as the potty training moves forward there are still several hurdles in the way. Landon has successfully been diagnosing when he needs to take a pee at least some of the time. Unfortunately most of his decries that he needs to use the toilet come after he has been tucked into bed. Last night Landon galloped out of his room every hour between eight and eleven calling for his Dad to help him go use the toilet. All four times he did actually fire his squirt gun which is good; it’s just a little hard to be too supportive when it comes at the cost of his sleep. In regards to his squirt gun, another reoccurring problem is that Landon hasn’t spent much time at the firing range so his aim is a little off. If he sits on his plastic seat, the wall across the room usually gets showered, and if he stands on the regular toilet seat while his Dad keeps him steady (Landon’s preferred technique) then the back of the toilet seat gets wet. Typically in this scenario once the stream starts to flow I will try to point Landon’s entire torso in the direction of the toilet bowl, hoping that at least a little urine find it’s target. And even though Landon has made some significant steps forward toward becoming potty trained, he still refuses to wear anything other than traditional diapers, no pull-ups or underwear of any kind are permitted. On Sunday we also went to the local swimming lagoon, and Landon would only wear his swimming diaper over a traditional diaper, then over the top of those he had to wear a rubber diaper and then his swim trunks – talk about dressing in layers.

Unrelated to his excretory successes, Landon has continued to develop a strong will, which I guess he probably inherited from his parents. His tantrums have become significantly prolonged at times, to the point that he often has trouble calming down. It creates a difficult situation for parents like us that are still learning the rules to this whole discipline/development game. As he bawls his eyes out in anger my first impulse is often a hurried embrace and a feeble attempt to distract his attention away from whatever is bothering him, rather than to address the problem at hand and parent accordingly. Sometimes the fact that he is a three-year old boy, who can’t always reason and make his own proper decisions gets lost in the ruckus and we both suffer. Last night when I returned from home from work I expected to find a joyous child playing with his new train and still beaming with poop pride, instead I found a boy still waking up from his nap who within 5 minutes deteriorated into a screaming anger spiral that he maintained for the next hour. I tried my standard bait and switch distraction technique with limited success – his whining persisted and intensified. We even attempted to take him to the local park with the hope that a little fresh air might quiet his nerves. Halfway to the park the tantrum continued to rage, and our frayed nerves decided that it was time for the hammer to drop, so against Landon’s now raised screams we dragged him back home and directed him to his room, where he would stay, alone, until he could calm down. Ten minutes later we checked the monitor in his room and he was quietly playing. Thirty minutes passed and he exited his room and told his Mom that he figured out why he was angry and offered unsolicited apologies to both of us. Needless to say we were surprised and very pleased. Needless to say this whole parenting thing remains a complete mystery.

Colt is still a goofy little boy, who stumbles along with a smirk. The past week he hasn’t really understood that his Mom isn’t able to pick him up after her surgery, so frustrated by here rebukes he has come to me for solace and a more elevated view. I’ve enjoyed the extra time we get to spend together, his determined finger pointing the way to whatever object will comprise our next adventure. Colt’s vocabulary still remains largely understood only by himself, although new words continue to be produced daily for the rest of his family to understand as well. The other day he waddled up to Dakota and swatted her nose while emphatically squealing ‘no!’ a routine I’m sure he learned from observation. Colt is a mimic of his brother, intently watching his actions and then doing his best impersonation. The boys continue to get along better all the time. It brings a smile to my face every time I hear them giggling together in the back seat. I don’t dare to imagine the ridiculous adventures the year’s ahead have in store for the two of them together.

So life continues to be good, although a little extra smelly presently. Plastic training toilets without any water have an insidious odor. Trust me.

SUSHI, BANANAS AND FEATHERS

Wow, its already almost summer – time flies I think, whether you are having fun or not. The Buhr clan continues to do well, the boys are learning new skills and developing their identities, and Rhiannon hasn’t left me yet, so as far as I can report, all is well. Colt has left his crawling days behind him, and now exclusively walks from point A to point B, usually on stiff legs with unbent knees. A couple of weeks have slipped by – here are some recaps.

First, here’s a quick anecdote from last night. My Mom had watched the boys yesterday, and after Rhiannon and I returned home from work she generously offered to take us all out to dinner. When I asked Landon where he wanted to go he replied, completely unprompted – “sushi”, and said that he wanted some “edamame” as well. After I gave him a high five and a stoked smile of encouragement we packed some food for Colt who doesn’t seem to enjoy Japanese fare to much, and we headed to the restaurant. Upon arrival, we waited for my Mom in the plaza courtyard in front of the restaurant. The boys threw some stuff in the fountain until Colt realized that Ruby’s Diner was also located on the same courtyard. We frequent Ruby’s often, because it is very kid friendly, and has some pretty good burgers, not to mention the model trains that circle the restaurant ceiling. Colt began to waddle toward Ruby’s pointing and saying, “woo – woo, woo – woo”. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him so excited to go to a restaurant before. I was even more surprised that he remembered not only the exterior of the building, but that he was also able to associate that exterior with the trains that steamed around inside. We attempted to switch up our dinner plans to reward his enthusiasm, but Landon steadfastly repeated that he wanted sushi, so Colt had to pass on his train-enhanced dining experience for another time. Being the younger brother, with a very limited vocabulary definitely has its draw backs, hopefully he will forgive us.

Colt’s favorite food recently, as well as one of his favorite words is “banana”. His banana addiction has gotten so strong recently that it is impossible to carry him past our fruit basket without a demonstrative point and banana request. Well. As one might imagine, too many bananas is not necessarily a good thing for one’s digestive tract, and recently Colt’s production has been a little bit south of solid, so for the unforeseeable future he will be on sever banana rations.

Last week Landon had a pretty weird looking rash develop on his legs with a few patches spreading to his torso and under his arms. Although it didn’t appear to elicit any discomfort, he received a heavy dose of attention from his grandmother Sharp (Mimi) which eventually led him to the determination that the rash, in its entirety was the biggest owwie he had ever received. Since the rash persisted for a few days we took him to the pediatrician who diagnosed him with a viral infection and informed us that it would run its course within the next week. Landon was very excited to update us on the progress of his owwie as it slowly receded.

A few weekends back my Dad and I took the boys to the beach in La Jolla while Rhiannon and my Mom attended the triplets’ baby shower. We went to the same beach/tidepool area that we used to frequent when I was young. It was the first time I’d taken the boys there, and ended up being a nice trip down the good ol’ memory lane. The boys had fun looking for shells, and burying trains in the sand. Colt discovered that some of the sandstone rocks doubled as natural slides, so with hands raised and “weeeees” vocalized he slid around. My Dad found a large feather from what must have been a pelican and gave it to an excited Landon. On our way out I noticed a decaying bird carcass. My Dad swore that he did not collect the feather directly from the corpse, but to be honest I wasn’t entirely convinced - that being said, the feather is still somewhere in our house. Maybe the feather and the rash that developed the following week were related, I really don’t want to spend too much time thinking about that…

Last weekend I went fly fishing up in mammoth with some friends. The fishing, surroundings and company were all stellar. Numerous times I reflected how excited I am to get Landon and Colt up to the mountains for some laughs shared beneath mountains. Hopefully sometime in the month’s ahead I will at least get Landon out for his first camping experience. I doubt we’ll go far, but just a chance to sleep in a tent and sit by a campfire seems like a legitimate place to start his introduction to the nature that exists outside of the fences that surround our backyard.

Summer is just around the corner. Rhiannon will be done with work after this week and here and the boys can begin their adventures in the sun. This Friday will also be Landon’s last day of going to Stacey’s house for day care; we are keeping our fingers crossed that he will be ready for pre-school this fall. Hopefully this summer’s adventures include some successful trips to the toilet as well. We have planned a family trip to Maui in August which should be great. I hope to teach Landon how to swim before we leave, but since I’ve never tried this before, I am not too confident about how things will go. Right now Landon screams in the bath when he gets water in his eyes, which is probably not a positive sign.